Privacy Policy

The short version

• Your journal is encrypted on your phone. An encrypted backup of it is kept with your account, so it comes back if you reinstall Serene or change phones.
• We keep only what the app needs to work: your account, your settings, and the wins, notes, check-ins and encrypted journal backup.
• AI messages are written by Anthropic's Claude. It receives your feelings and settings, never your name or email.
• You can delete everything, at any time, from Profile → Delete account.

What we collect

Account details. Your email address, and the first name you give us (or that Apple or Google shares when you sign in with them). These are held by our sign-in provider, Firebase Authentication. If you use a password, it is stored only as a salted, one-way hash; we can never see it.

Settings. The kinds of messages you like (motivation, affirmations, mindfulness), and, if you choose to tell us, how you've generally been feeling lately.

What you save in the app. Your small wins (Wins), notes to yourself, and mood check-ins (which feeling you picked, and when).

Service records. Daily usage counts (so we can keep the service fair and affordable), which messages you've recently been shown (so they don't repeat), your invite code and whether you joined with one, and whether you have Premium.

Days you journaled (subscribers only). If you have a paid Premium subscription, the app notes which days you wrote in your journal, so we can count your days for Seasons of journaling. That's only the date: never what you wrote, how much, or how you felt. We keep it to give you the reward, along with which seasons' rewards you've claimed.

Purchases. Payments are handled entirely by Apple or Google; we never see your card. RevenueCat, our subscription provider, receives a random account ID and your store purchase records so we can confirm Premium.

Device checks. Each request includes an Apple App Attest or Google Play Integrity token, which proves it came from the genuine Serene app. It doesn't identify you.

Your journal

Your journal and weekly reflections are stored on your device, encrypted with AES-256 using a key kept in your phone's secure keychain.

Your journal is backed up automatically. Each entry is encrypted on your phone with a separate backup key, and the encrypted entries and that key are stored with your account, so your journal comes back if you reinstall Serene or change phones. The backup is stored with your account and used only to restore your journal to it. Deleting your account deletes the backup straight away.

If you delete your account, your journal is gone from our servers. It stays on your phone until you delete the app.

Reminders are scheduled on your phone. We don't use push-notification tokens.

Our website

The home page of serene.day and our ad landing page (serene.day/checkin) use the Meta Pixel to measure our own Facebook and Instagram ads. It tells Meta that someone visited the page and whether they tapped through to the App Store or Google Play, along with standard technical details such as the browser and IP address, which Meta may link to a Meta account. It never receives anything from the app, or anything about how you feel: the feeling you pick on these pages stays in your browser. Our legal and account pages don't use it.

You can turn this off at serene.day/privacy-choices. We also treat a Global Privacy Control signal from your browser as an opt-out.

How AI is used

Messages in Heart, cheers for finished goals, and Premium weekly reflections are written by Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic, which processes this content for us as our service provider.

• Heart: the feeling you picked, your message preferences, the feeling you told us you've generally had lately, and (for Premium) your recent messages so new ones feel fresh. Free accounts get messages from a shared nightly collection, so nothing about you is sent.
• Wins: the text of the small win you finished.
• Weekly reflection (Premium, only when you ask): the past week's journal entries. They are sent once, used to write your reflection, and not stored by us.

Your name, email and account ID are never sent to Anthropic. Anthropic's commercial terms do not allow it to train its models on this content. It may keep it for a limited time for safety and abuse monitoring, as described in its own privacy policy.

AI messages can be imperfect. They are encouragement, not professional advice.

Why we use it (legal bases)

• To provide the app you asked for: your account, settings, saved items and AI messages (contract).
• Feelings and mood check-ins can be health-related information. We use them only to support you in the app, with your explicit consent, which you give when you create an account and can withdraw by deleting the information or your account.
• To keep Serene secure, prevent abuse and keep costs fair, e.g. device checks and usage limits (legitimate interests).
• To meet legal obligations, such as tax records kept by the app stores for purchases.

Who we share it with

We share data only with providers who help run Serene, under contracts that limit them to doing so:

• Google Firebase / Google Cloud: sign-in, database, servers and device checks.
• Anthropic: writing AI messages, as described above.
• RevenueCat: confirming subscriptions.
• Apple and Google: sign-in (if you choose them), app distribution and payments.
• Meta: measuring our ads, from the serene.day home page and ad landing page only (see Our website).

We'll only disclose data otherwise if the law requires it. We never sell or rent personal data. The only advertising-related sharing is the website measurement described above, which you can opt out of.

Where it's stored and how it's protected

Our servers are run by Google Cloud in the United States. If you're elsewhere, your data is transferred there with safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

All data travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS) and is encrypted at rest. Database rules mean only you can read your own records, and fields that affect Premium or limits can only be changed by our servers. Secret keys are kept in Google Secret Manager, never in the app.

No system is perfectly secure, but we work hard to protect your information and will tell you and the relevant authorities about a breach where the law requires.

How long we keep it

We keep your account data until you delete it. Deleting your account removes your profile, wins, notes, journal backup, mood history, days journaled and season rewards, counters, message history, invite records, subscription record at RevenueCat and your sign-in account straight away. Copies in encrypted backups are overwritten within about 30 days.

You can also delete individual goals and notes, and clear your mood history, in the app at any time. Records Apple or Google keep about purchases are covered by their own policies.

Your choices and rights

Depending on where you live (including under US state privacy laws such as California's, the Philippine Data Privacy Act, the GDPR and UK GDPR), you can ask to access, correct, download, or delete your data, object to or restrict how we use it, and withdraw consent. Most of this you can do yourself in the app. For anything else, email us at support@serene.day. We'll reply within 30 days and won't treat you differently for asking.

Under laws such as California's, measuring our ads on the website can count as "sharing" for advertising; you can opt out at serene.day/privacy-choices or with Global Privacy Control. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority (in the Philippines, the National Privacy Commission).

Consumer health data

Some US states (such as Washington, Nevada and Connecticut) give extra protection to information about your health. For Serene, that means the feelings you check in with, how you've generally been feeling, and anything you write. We collect it only to provide the app to you, with your consent; we never sell it or use it for advertising; and we share it only with the service providers listed above. You can see and delete it in the app, or ask us at support@serene.day, and you can withdraw consent at any time by deleting it or your account.

Children

Serene is not meant for children under 13 (or the minimum age for digital consent where you live, if higher), and we don't knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has an account, contact us and we'll delete it.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the date above, and tell you in the app before any important change takes effect.

Contact

Serene, based in the Philippines. Email: support@serene.day. Website: https://serene.day