1. Information We Handle and Why
Your account
- Your email address, first name and a password (stored only in scrambled, hashed form).
- Password-reset links we email you (single-use, and they expire), and a list of your linked devices so you can disconnect them.
Why: to give you an account you can use on any device, and to help you get back in if you forget your password.
Your journey
- The answers you give in onboarding (for example, what you'd like more of together and your relationship stage), your reminder time and time zone.
- Your lesson answers, polls, guesses, journal entries and Companion replies; your answers to question packs; which lessons and questions you've completed and when; and your streak.
- Your Love Manual and any extra steps picked for you.
- Love notes you send and receive, and the mood you share, if you use them.
- The dates you add as a couple (such as when you met or your first trip away), if you add them.
Why: to run the app, show your progress, send reminders, and give you your journal.
How we tailor your journey: we use your onboarding answers and the choices you make in lessons (for example, your poll answers, and, for some steps, the answers you and your partner both gave) to decide which lessons, extra steps and question packs you see. This happens automatically on our servers, using simple rules set by our team. No AI is involved in these choices, and they have no legal or similarly significant effect on you.
Sensitive information: what you write about your relationship may reveal sensitive things about you, such as your feelings, your emotional wellbeing, your sex life or your sexual orientation (for example, in the After Dark or Proud Together packs). Data protection law treats this as "special category data", and we only process it with your explicit consent, which you give when you start your journey. You can withdraw it at any time by deleting your account (see section 7).
Settings and support
- Your settings (notifications, haptics, Companion on or off, what your partner can see where the app gives you a choice).
- Messages you send us through in-app support, and our replies.
Technical information
- Basic information our servers record when the app connects, such as IP address, device type and time, kept for security and to fix problems.
- Simple usage events (such as finishing onboarding, a lesson or a day, or linking with a partner), tied to your account number, so we can see where the app works well and where people get stuck. These events are deleted after 30 days.
- Anonymous, combined statistics about how the app is used, to improve it.
2. Travelling Together: What Your Partner Sees
Linking: when you invite your partner and they accept (or you accept their invite), we record that your two accounts are linked, when, and the first names you each gave. Either of you can unlink at any time in Settings.
When you are linked, your partner can see:
- your first name;
- your answers to steps and questions marked "for two" (choices, guesses and shared reflections), once you have both answered, or, for steps where you take turns, once you have written yours;
- any reflection you choose to share with them;
- the love notes you send them, and the mood you choose to share (a mood shows for up to 18 hours, until you change or clear it);
- the dates either of you adds as a couple, and your story (below);
- whether you've done today's step, and your shared streak;
- which step you're on, only if you both choose to show it;
- the question packs and add-ons either of you has opened.
Your partner never sees: your private journal entries (including private questions in packs), your Companion replies, your Love Manual, your onboarding answers, your account details, or anything you wrote before a step was shared.
Love notes: we keep the most recent 50 notes between the two of you, so you can look back at them, and delete older ones. Our team does not read them.
When the link ends: if either of you unlinks or deletes their account, the link ends for both straight away and neither of you can see the other's answers any more. Each of you keeps your own answers in your own journal. Your love notes, moods and dates are deleted for both of you.
Inviting your partner by email: if you give us your partner's name and email address, we use them to send one invitation email on your behalf, saying that you have invited them and giving them your invite code. We don't keep their email address afterwards or send them anything else. Their name is kept on your account, so the app can greet them by name when they join. We rely on our legitimate interest in letting you invite someone you know. If you receive an invitation and don't want it, simply ignore it, and contact us if you'd like us to remove your name.
3. The Companion and Your Love Manual (AI)
When the Companion is on and you answer a lesson's reflection, we send your answer to our AI provider, OpenAI, so it can write a reply. It may include a few of your earlier reflections, so the reply can connect your thoughts. We send it with the lesson's theme and day number only. Your name, email address and account details are never sent.
Steps for two: when you and your partner have both answered a step for two, and both have the Companion on, the Companion's reply to each of you may take the other's shared answer into account. So your shared answer to that step may be sent to OpenAI as part of your partner's reply. Your private journal entries are never sent for your partner. If you switch the Companion off, your answers are not used in your partner's replies either.
OpenAI processes this on our behalf. It does not use it to train its models, and it may keep it for up to 30 days to detect misuse before deleting it. The reply is saved in your journal. You can switch the Companion off at any time in Settings.
Your Love Manual: about once a week, while the Companion is on, we send your recent lesson reflections and poll answers, the choices you've made in the app (as short labels), and the previous version of your manual to OpenAI, so it can update a short summary of what you're learning about loving and being loved. Your partner's reflections and your question pack answers are not used. It is saved in your Toolkit, where only you can read or print it. The same protections apply: your name, email address and account details are never sent, and nothing is used to train its models. Switching the Companion off also stops your manual being updated. The manual is written by software and is not a professional assessment.
The Companion is software, not a person, a counsellor or a therapist. Don't rely on it in a crisis.
4. Notifications and the Home Screen Widget
Notifications: if you allow them, we send reminders and updates through our notification provider, OneSignal, using a device identifier (never your journal). Some mention your partner by first name, for example "Sam has done today's step" or "Sam sent you a note". A note's words are not put in the notification, so they don't show on your lock screen. When your partner sends a note late at night, we wait until your next reminder to tell you. Anyone who can see your lock screen may see notifications. You can turn notifications off in Settings or on your phone.
The widget: if you add the Love Explorer widget to your home screen, your phone fetches a small picture from our servers through a private link. It shows your next step, your streak and, if you're linked, your partner's first name, whether they've done today's step, the mood they've shared, and the words of a love note they've sent you (for up to 12 hours). It never shows your answers. The link is unique to you and works without signing in, so please don't share it. You can reset it in Settings at any time, which stops the old link working.
Beacons: when you open "Send a Beacon" (a picture of your journey to share), we draw a picture on our servers from your streak and simple counts (such as how many times you and your partner picked the same answer, or how many steps you've taken). It never includes your answers, journal, notes or moods, and first names appear only if you tick "Show our first names". We don't keep the picture. Where it goes after you share it is up to you, so please only show your partner's name if they're happy for you to.
Your story (Couple Wrapped): at the end of the course and on your anniversaries, the app shows the two of you a short story of what you've done together: days you both showed up, how often you picked the same answer or guessed each other right, how many love notes you've sent, your most shared mood, the pack questions you've both answered and your dates. It is made from your shared answers and simple counts that only you two see. It may show one answer you both picked, but never your journal, your notes' words or anything you haven't already shared. Its share card shows a few numbers only.
The quiz (our website): anyone can make a quiz at our quiz page without an account. When you make one, we keep the first name you give and your answers. When someone takes it, we keep the first name they give, their guesses and their score. Anyone with a quiz's link can take it, and anyone with a result's link can see that result (the two first names, the questions, the answers and the guesses), so only share links with people you're happy to see them. The maker gets a private link listing everyone who has taken their quiz. Making a quiz also makes an invite code, so if you both later join the app, you can be linked without typing it. We delete quizzes, results and invite codes after 30 days. We don't ask for emails. We set one cookie with a random number, to count visits to the quiz and stop it being misused, and briefly keep a scrambled version of your IP address to limit how many quizzes can be made from one place; neither is stored with your quiz. Your browser also remembers your own quiz links on your device, so you can find your results again.
5. Who We Share Data With
Your partner, as described in section 2, and only while you are linked.
We only share what's needed, with providers who work on our behalf under contract:
- Hosting: Hetzner stores our servers and backups in Nuremberg, Germany.
- Email: Mailgun (EU region) sends password-reset, account and invitation emails.
- Notifications: OneSignal sends reminders to your device, if you allow them.
- AI: OpenAI, for the Companion and the Love Manual (section 3).
- Payments: Apple or Stripe, if you subscribe or buy an add-on. They handle your payment; we never see or store your card details. We receive a transaction reference to unlock your purchase.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it.
International transfers: some providers (such as OpenAI, OneSignal and Stripe) process data in the United States. When data leaves the UK, we rely on the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (the "UK-US data bridge") where the provider is certified under it, and otherwise on the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, as set out in each provider's data processing agreement.
6. How We Protect and Keep Your Information
- All communication between the app and our servers is encrypted.
- Passwords and recovery codes are stored only in hashed form.
- Access to our systems is limited to authorised personnel, for maintenance and security.
- We keep daily backups for disaster recovery.
We keep your data while your account exists, and delete it when you delete your account. Answers your partner has already seen are deleted from their view too, because the link ends. If your account is inactive and your subscription has ended, we keep your account so you can pick up where you left off, until you delete it. You can delete it at any time in Settings, or by emailing us. Unused invite codes expire after 24 hours. Server logs are kept for 14 days, and backups are overwritten within 90 days.
7. Your Choices and Rights
Under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 (and, if you live in the EU, the EU GDPR), you have the right to:
- Access your data: download your journal and account data from Settings > Export at any time, or ask us for a copy.
- Delete your data: delete your account from Settings. This is permanent, and unlinks you from your partner.
- Correct your data, restrict or object to how we use it, and take it elsewhere (portability).
- Withdraw consent at any time, by switching off the Companion, unlinking, or deleting your account.
- Complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk), or your local data protection authority. We'd appreciate the chance to help first.
Your rights cover your own data. Your partner's answers belong to them, so an export includes your own answers, not theirs.
Deleting your account does not cancel your subscription. Cancel it with the App Store or Stripe, wherever you subscribed.
8. Age
Love Explorer is for adults aged 18 and over. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone younger, and if we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18 we will close it and delete its data.
9. Changes to This Policy
If we make significant changes, we'll let you know in the app or by email before they take effect.
10. Contact Us
Questions or requests: mail@myloveexplorer.com