Privacy Policy
Last updated 6 September 2026
The Way of Life is a private space for reflection. What you write in it is yours. This policy explains exactly what we collect, why, who else ever sees it, and how to get rid of it.
This service is operated by THEWAYOFLIFE LTD (company number 17385267), a company registered in England and Wales, referred to here as "we" or "us". We are the data controller for the personal data described below.
1. The short version
- You can use the app without giving us your name or email.
- We do not sell your data, and we do not run advertising.
- Your reflections are sent to AI providers to generate your reflections back to you – never to train their models.
- You can export everything, and delete everything, at any time.
2. What we collect
Information you give us
- Account details. If you create an account: your email address, and if you sign in with Google or Apple, the basic profile information they return (name, email, and a provider identifier). You can also use the app anonymously, in which case we hold no contact details at all.
- Your reflections. Category scores, daily and weekly check-in answers, intentions, journal entries, saved memories, and any free text you write.
- Voice recordings. If you use the voice features, audio you record is sent for transcription and then discarded; the resulting text is saved as part of your reflections.
Information collected automatically
- Basic usage events. Anonymous, aggregate-level events such as "a reflection was completed" – used to understand whether features work, not to build a profile of you.
- Technical data. Standard server logs from our hosting provider (IP address, device/browser type, timestamps), retained briefly for security and diagnostics.
- Error reports. If something crashes, diagnostic information about the failure.
- Your country. Worked out from your IP address, so we can show you crisis support numbers for the right country. We store the country only – never your IP address, and nothing more precise than the country itself. You can change it yourself at any time on the Account screen.
We do not collect: your precise location (we work out your country only – see above), your contacts, advertising identifiers, or data from other apps. We do not track you across other websites.
3. Special category data – and why we ask your permission
Reflections about your mood, wellbeing, relationships and inner life can reveal information about your mental health. Under the UK GDPR this is special category data (Article 9) and gets stronger protection than ordinary personal data.
Our lawful basis for processing it is your explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a)), given when you choose to use the app and write a reflection. We rely on consent rather than "legitimate interests" precisely because this data is sensitive and the choice should be yours.
You can withdraw that consent at any time by deleting your account, which erases the underlying data. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that already happened lawfully before you withdrew it.
4. Why we process it
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Saving your reflections so they are there next time | Contract – providing the service you asked for |
| Generating AI reflections and prompts from what you write | Explicit consent (special category data) |
| Transcribing voice input into text | Explicit consent |
| Sending reminder notifications you switched on | Consent – withdraw by turning them off |
| Keeping the service secure and diagnosing faults | Legitimate interests – running a reliable service |
| Processing subscription payments | Contract |
5. Who else processes your data
We use a small number of providers to run the service. Each acts as our processor under contract, handles data only on our instructions, and none of them are permitted to use your reflections for their own purposes or to train AI models on them.
| Provider | What they handle |
|---|---|
| Supabase | Database and authentication – where your account and reflections are stored |
| Vercel | Application hosting and server logs |
| Anthropic | AI text generation for reflections |
| Google (Gemini AI) | AI text generation for reflections and guided sessions |
| Groq | Voice transcription |
| Google / Apple | Sign-in (if you choose it), push notification delivery, and app store payment processing |
| RevenueCat | Subscription status – receives a pseudonymous user identifier, never your reflections |
| Sentry | Crash and error diagnostics |
Some of these providers process data outside the UK, including in the United States. Where that happens, transfers are protected by the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or an applicable adequacy decision.
6. Your privacy controls inside the app
The app's Your Data screen gives you switches controlling which categories of your reflections may be sent to AI providers. Anything you switch off is still saved for you – it simply never leaves our systems for AI processing. With everything switched off, reflections are generated from your numeric wheel scores alone.
7. How long we keep it
- Your reflections and account: until you delete them. There is no automatic expiry – the point of a journal is that it persists.
- Voice audio: discarded immediately after transcription; only the text is kept.
- Server and error logs: typically 30–90 days.
- After account deletion: your data is erased from live systems immediately and from routine encrypted backups within 30 days.
8. Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to:
- Access your data – use Export as CSV in the app for an immediate copy.
- Delete your data – use Delete account in the app, which is immediate once you confirm, or the web deletion form if you no longer have the app, which asks you to click a link sent to your email first before it deletes anything. Either way, once carried out it cannot be undone.
- Correct anything inaccurate. Saved memories can be edited directly in the app at any time. Daily and weekly reflections cannot currently be edited in place – if one needs correcting, email us and we will fix or remove it.
- Withdraw consent at any time.
- Object to or restrict processing, and to data portability (the CSV export is a portable format).
- Complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk if you think we have handled your data badly. We would rather you told us first so we can fix it.
9. Security
Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest. Access to the production database is restricted, and database-level row security rules mean one account cannot read another's data. No system is perfectly secure, but we take this seriously – it is the whole premise of the app.
10. Children
The Way of Life is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it.
11. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy materially, we will update the date at the top and – where the change affects how we use your reflections – tell you in the app before it takes effect.
12. Contact us
Email contact.thewayoflife.app@gmail.com.
THEWAYOFLIFE LTD, registered in England and Wales, company number 17385267. Registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, registration number ZC234852.