Privacy, with clarity.

About this policy

This policy explains how Dear Cairo handles information when you use the iPhone app and contact us for support. Dear Cairo is a journal for thoughts, feelings and memories. Your writing, recordings and photographs are private by default.

You can use the journal without an account. Apple sign-in and cloud backup are optional and may not be available in every app version. The cloud sections below apply only when those features are available and you choose to use them.

Information you choose to keep

The app stores the content you create or import:

• Journal entries: writing, titles, dates, optional notes, saved recordings and any transcription you add or import.
• Memories: photos, captions, dates, stories, memory books, covers and the links you choose to make between memories and entries.
• Check-ins: the moods you select and your mood history. These may reveal sensitive information about your emotional wellbeing.
• Your space: an optional profile photo, preferences and local drafts or recovery copies.

Photos and recordings you import can contain original metadata, including dates and location information. Memory photos retain their original stored files. Profile photos are resized and re-encoded without their original metadata.

If you choose Apple sign-in, we use an Apple account identifier, a Dear Cairo account identifier and authentication credentials to maintain your session. The app does not request your Apple name or email address. If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever information you include.

How information is used

Your content is used to provide the features you select: save and find entries, play recordings, display memories, personalize affirmations using a selected mood, show mood history, and import, export or restore your content.

Mood selection and affirmation matching happen in the app. The app does not send journal content to a generative AI service. Listening uses device speech voices; it does not require sending your journal to a narration service.

We use account information to authenticate you and manage optional backups. Support messages are used to answer your request, investigate problems and handle privacy requests. Technical service information may be used to operate and secure the service.

Dear Cairo has no advertising or third-party analytics SDK in the app. It does not sell journal content, use it for targeted advertising, or automatically publish or share your entries with other users.

Device storage & optional backup

Without an account: your journal is saved in the app’s storage on your device. It is not automatically uploaded to Dear Cairo’s cloud service. Device-level backups and exports you choose may be handled by Apple or another storage provider under your settings.

With an account: an account journal is kept separately from your standalone journal. Signing in does not automatically copy the standalone journal. You choose whether to copy it, make a manual cloud backup or enable automatic backup.

Cloud backups include saved writing, recordings, photos, captions, stories, books, mood history, profile photo and journal-to-memory links. Unsaved drafts and recordings still in progress stay on the device. Automatic uploads run while the app is open and connected.

Cloud backup uses Supabase for authentication, database records and private media storage. Backups are recovery snapshots; they are not continuous live editing across devices. Signing out returns you to your standalone journal. Account files may remain on the device for use when you sign back into the same account.

Service providers & security

Apple provides the optional sign-in service and device permission and authentication features. Supabase processes optional account and cloud-backup information to provide those services. Our website and email providers process the information needed to deliver pages and support messages. We may also disclose information where required by law or necessary to protect the service and users.

Cloud transfers use HTTPS. Supabase provides encryption at rest, and the service uses account-specific access controls. Authentication credentials are stored in the device Keychain. Local app files use platform data protection. Optional app lock uses Face ID or device authentication.

Cloud backups are not end-to-end encrypted. Authorized service administrators may access stored information for service operations. App lock does not encrypt files you export. No storage or transmission method can be guaranteed completely secure.

Service providers may process information in countries other than yours. Their own service and privacy terms also apply to their processing. See Apple’s privacy information and Supabase’s privacy policy.

Retention & deletion

On your device: saved content stays until you delete it, clear the current journal’s data or remove the app. Up to seven local recovery versions can remain after individual edits or deletions. Removing the app is not a reliable way to delete cloud information.

In cloud recovery: older versions retain previous content, including items you later edit or delete. The newest 100 versions are shown in the app; earlier versions can remain in storage. In this version, remote recovery versions are retained until you delete the account.

Account deletion: use Account & backup → Delete account and cloud data. After identity confirmation, the deletion process removes the account, its active cloud backups and media, and its account journal on the current device. A failed deletion may need to be retried. Standalone journals, exports and offline copies on other devices are separate and remain under your control.

Provider disaster-recovery copies and operational records may remain for the provider’s applicable retention cycle or where legally required. We do not promise immediate erasure from every provider backup. Support correspondence is kept while needed to handle the request, resolve related issues or meet legal obligations. Contact us for help with retention or deletion questions.

Your choices & requests

• Skip check-ins, attachments and prompts, and use written or voice journaling on its own.
• Edit or delete entries, recordings, photos and books. Unlink a memory without deleting either original.
• Export your content through Settings → Privacy & your data.
• Turn off automatic cloud backup to stop future automatic uploads. This does not delete previously uploaded versions.
• Manage microphone access in your device settings and choose individual photos through the photo picker.
• Use the app’s account-deletion option, or contact us if you cannot access your account.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or obtain a copy of personal information, restrict or object to certain uses, withdraw consent, or complain to a relevant privacy authority. To make a request, email hello@dearcairo.app. We may ask for information needed to verify that a request concerns your own account. Do not send your password, Apple verification code, private journal or full backup.

Website visits & support email

The public Dear Cairo website is hosted on Netlify. Loading a page sends the information normally needed to serve a website, such as an IP address, browser information and the requested page, to the hosting service. Hosting and security services may maintain operational logs. These support and privacy pages do not ask you to upload journal content or create an account.

Email links open your email app. A message is sent only if you choose to send it; clicking a link does not subscribe you to a mailing list. Your email provider also handles your message under its own terms. Please keep support messages limited to the details needed to help.

Children & policy changes

Dear Cairo is intended for adults and is not directed to children under 13. If you believe a child has provided information through an account or support request, contact us so we can review and address it.

We may update this policy as the app changes. The date at the top shows the latest revision. Where required, material changes or new uses of information will be explained before they take effect and consent will be requested when needed.

Contact Dear Cairo

For privacy questions, account-access issues or data requests, contact Dear Cairo at hello@dearcairo.app.