Privacy & Terms

What we collect

• Account data:your email address and authentication details. You can sign in with a password, or with “Continue with Apple” or “Continue with Google”, in the iPhone app and on the web - in that case Apple or Google shares the name and email address you approve. The Android app uses email and password. If you use Sign in with Apple, we keep the Apple refresh token only so we can revoke it when you delete your account.
• Content you create:goals, actions, journal entries, identity and vision notes, reviews, daily check-ins (mood, energy, sleep hours you enter), focus sessions, and accountability commitments (deadlines, evidence you submit, and who you've chosen to notify if you miss one). Text you write in these areas is sent to our AI coach (Anthropic) when you use the coach, so it can give you relevant advice - see “AI coach” below.
• Profile details: your name and profile photo, which other members of your circles can see, and your birthday, country, city and gender, which are stored privately for your account and are not shown to anyone else. These details are optional for ordinary use. On the website, a birthday is required to check age eligibility before creating a real money stake. You can change or clear your details in Edit profile.
• Photos & images: vision-board images and commitment proof photos you upload. These are stored in cloud storage and, if you ask the AI coach to caption or verify one, the image is sent to Anthropic for that single request.
• Voice recordings (only if you use dictation or voice notes):on the iPhone, dictation into text boxes uses Apple's on-device speech recognition (Apple speech recognition), which is handled by Apple and your device. On Android, dictation uses the speech recognition service built into your phone (provided by Google), and Pledger receives only the text it returns. Coach voice recordings are uploaded to OpenAI (Whisper) to convert them to text only in the web version or when you use the coach's voice mode; we don't keep the audio after transcription. If you turn on spoken replies, the text of the coach's reply is sent to OpenAI to be turned into speech. Voice messages and photos you send in a circle chat are different: they are stored so the members of that circle can play or view them, at an unlisted web address (anyone who has the exact link could open it). They are removed when you delete the message or your account.
• Circle & community data:if you join or create an accountability circle, other members can see your display name, streak, and the commitments you've chosen to make visible to that circle. Chat messages you post in a circle are visible to that circle's members. You can block another member or report a message from inside the circle. If you switch on WHOOP sharing for a circle, members of that circle can see your recovery, sleep, HRV and strain for the last 7 days; it is off by default and you can turn it off at any time.
• Health & biometric data (special category, only if you connect WHOOP): if you choose to connect WHOOP, we retrieve recovery score, sleep stages and hours, heart-rate variability, resting heart rate, blood oxygen (SpO2), skin temperature, respiratory rate, strain, workouts, and the height/weight on your WHOOP profile, so the app can show wellbeing insights and your coach can factor them into your plan. We use this data for wellbeing insights only, never for advertising. When you use the coach, your WHOOP data is sent to Anthropic as part of the context for that request. This is optional, and disconnecting stops further collection at any time.
• Time-tracking data (only if you connect RescueTime or Tempo): if you add your RescueTime API key, we retrieve your daily time summary (total, productive and distracting hours, a productivity score, and top categories) to show it in the app. The RescueTime API key you enter is stored with your synced settings. If you connect Tempo, our macOS time tracker, the activity summaries it shares are shown in the app in the same way. You can disconnect at any time.
• Apple in-app purchase data (only if you subscribe in the iPhone app):Apple processes the payment and we never see your card or Apple payment details. We store your Apple transaction id, the product, the expiry date, whether it is a free trial, and the renewal status on your profile, and Apple's server notifications keep these up to date.
• Google Play purchase data (only if you subscribe in the Android app):Google Play processes the payment and we never see your card or Google payment details. We store your Google Play purchase token, order id, the product and plan, the expiry date, whether it is a free trial, and the renewal status on your profile, and Google Play's server notifications keep these up to date.
• Payment data (website only, if you subscribe or use money stakes): our payment processor (Stripe) handles your card details directly - we never see or store full card numbers. We keep the subscription/stake status and billing history needed to run your account.
• Support messages: if you contact us through the support form, we keep your name, email address, message and basic device information until the request is resolved.
• Ratings & feedback: any in-app rating or feedback you choose to submit.
• Referrals:your referral code, and who referred you if you joined with someone's code.
• Sign-up questions:your answers to the questions when you start (your goal, why it matters, what happens if nothing changes, what stopped you before, your first actions, your name and your identity sentence) are stored with your account and used as context for your coach. The “Suggest actions with AI” option sends the goal, reason, what happens if nothing changes and obstacles you typed to Anthropic, including before you create an account, and only after you agree on a consent screen that names Anthropic.
• Cancellation reasons and retention messages: if you cancel or pause on the website we store the reason you pick and any note you add. We also keep a log of which retention messages we sent you, so we never repeat one. Both are deleted with your account.
• Push notification details (only if you allow notifications):see “Push notifications” below.
• Usage & device data: basic app interactions and technical identifiers (like device type and app version) needed to make features work, keep the service reliable, and diagnose errors you report to us. We also use your IP address for abuse rate limiting only (kept for about 2 days), and it appears in our hosting logs. On Android this also includes the device push token and the Firebase installation ID that Firebase Cloud Messaging uses to deliver notifications.

AI coach

The AI coach is powered by Anthropic (Claude). When you use it, we send Anthropic the message you type or say, plus relevant context you've chosen to keep in the app - goals, identity and vision notes, journal entries, recent check-ins, your answers to the sign-up questions (goal, why it matters, what happens if nothing changes, obstacles, first actions, your name and identity sentence), and (if connected) your WHOOP data - so it can give you a grounded answer. Photos you ask it to caption or verify are sent to Anthropic for that request. Voice notes are first transcribed to text by OpenAI, and if you use spoken replies the coach's reply text is sent to OpenAI to be read aloud. Anthropic and OpenAI process this data to generate a response; they do not use it to train their models, and we do not send data to them for any purpose other than answering you.

Other AI features send Anthropic only what that feature needs:

• Patterns: a summary of your calendar and task history, mood, energy and sleep entries, recent journal entries, your written reviews, your recent coach chats and Brain Vault notes, and WHOOP data if connected, so it can point out what it notices across them.
• Review coaching: the answers you write in your weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly reviews.
• Text polish: the text of the box you ask it to tidy up.
• Goal planning and suggested actions: the goal details and sign-up answers described above.

We store your coach chat history, and a short coach memory of lasting things you told it (facts about you, promises you made and advice it already gave) so it can refer back to them. You can see, edit and delete the memory in Settings → AI / Coach, and you can delete a conversation yourself.

Before the coach is used for the first time, a consent screen names Anthropic and OpenAI and asks you to agree. There is a single on/off switch for AI features in Settings → AI / Coach; turning it off stops all of the above from being sent, and you can turn it back on at any time.

Push notifications

Only if you allow notifications, the iPhone app registers a device push token with Apple's push notification service (APNs), the Android app registers a device token with Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), and on the web your browser creates a push subscription. We store these in our database, along with your notification preferences and, for the focus timer, a Live Activity token. We use them to tell you about circle activity, to deliver coach check-ins you schedule, to show the focus timer as a Live Activity (iPhone only), and to send a single “you've been quiet” nudge after 4 or more days away (at most once a week, and only if reminders are on). You can turn notifications off any time in Pledger Settings or in your phone's Settings (iPhone or Android).

Why we process it (legal basis)

• Performance of a contract- to provide the features you've signed up for (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
• Explicit consent - for WHOOP health data and any marketing communications (Art. 9(2)(a) and Art. 6(1)(a)). You can withdraw this at any time without affecting the rest of the service.
• Legitimate interests - for basic security, fraud prevention, and improving reliability (Art. 6(1)(f)), balanced against your rights.
• Legal obligation- for payment and tax records we're required to keep (Art. 6(1)(c)).

We do not use your content to train third-party AI models, and we do not use health data for advertising.

Other people's data

Circles and commitments involve other people by design - that's the point of the feature. When you miss a commitment, the notice is posted in the circle chat you chose, where that circle's members can see it. Only put commitments in circles you are comfortable sharing with.

Who we share data with (processors)

We use the following processors under data processing agreements. A full, current list with purpose and location is kept at /subprocessors. In short: Supabase (database, auth, storage - Mumbai, India), Anthropic (AI coaching replies and AI suggestions, including photos you ask it to caption or verify), OpenAI (voice-note transcription and spoken replies), RescueTime (time-tracking data, only if you connect it), Google and Apple (sign-in, only if you use those buttons; Google Calendar, only if you connect it), Apple (App Store payments for in-app subscriptions, and push notifications), Google (Google Play payments for Android subscriptions, and Firebase Cloud Messaging push notifications on Android), PostHog (anonymous usage statistics and error reports), Vercel (hosting), Stripe (payments and money stakes, website only, once used), Brevo (account emails such as sign-in links and password resets, support-request emails, moderation report emails to our team, deletion notices, a one-off note if you turn off your subscription's renewal, and AI-spend alerts to our team. Used to send account, billing and product emails; product emails can be turned off in Settings or with the unsubscribe link), and WHOOP (health data, only if you connect it).

International transfers

Your account data and content are stored in Supabase's data centre in Mumbai, India (AWS ap-south-1), and our servers run in Singapore, so if you are in the EU, UK or elsewhere your data is transferred outside your country. Other processors (e.g. Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Apple, WHOOP, RescueTime) may also process data in the United States or elsewhere. Where that happens we rely on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses or an equivalent adequacy mechanism to protect your data.

Your rights (EU/UK GDPR)

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate data.
• Erase your data - you can do this yourself from Settings → Delete account, or request it without opening the app at usepledger.com/delete-account.
• Export your data in a portable format. On the website: Settings → Sync & backup, or Brain Vault → Export vault (.md). On iPhone: Brain Vault → Copy all, or sign in at usepledger.com and export from there.
• Object to or restrict certain processing.
• Withdraw consent (e.g. disconnect WHOOP) at any time.
• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

To exercise any of these, email hello@usepledger.com. We'll respond within one month, as required by GDPR.

Data retention & security

We keep your data while your account is active. Deleting your account is immediate and permanent, and removes your content from our production systems (backups are purged on their normal rotation). The one exception: if you have an active commitment with the account-deletion delay lock switched on, deletion completes 7 days after you request it. Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and at rest where our processors support it.

How long we keep things:

• Account data and content: until you delete your account. It is then removed from our systems, and backups rotate out within 30 days.
• Support messages: until the request is resolved, and after that until your account is deleted.
• Cancellation reasons and retention-message logs: until your account is deleted.
• AI usage logs (token counts, no message text): until your account is deleted.
• Anonymous usage events and error reports (PostHog): up to 12 months.
• Push tokens and Live Activity tokens: until you turn notifications off or delete your account.
• Hosting logs and the IP addresses in them: about 2 days.

Your US state privacy rights (CCPA and similar)

We do not sell personal information. If you opt in to advertising measurement on the website, Google and Meta receive limited ad-attribution and conversion data as described below. You can withdraw that choice at any time. If you live in California or another US state with a privacy law, you can ask for access, correction and deletion of your personal information at hello@usepledger.com or in the app.

Anonymous usage statistics

To see which parts of Pledger are used and where people get stuck, we use PostHog (United States). It receives anonymous events such as which screen was opened and which sign-up step was reached, plus technical error reports when something breaks, tied to a random id stored on your device. It never receives your name, email, account id or anything you write, we ask it not to keep your IP address, and we do not record your screen. This data is kept by PostHog for up to 12 months. It is used only to improve Pledger, never to target or track you for advertising, and it is not shared or sold. You can turn it off any time in Settings, under Privacy & Accountability.

If you arrive from one of our own ads or links, we also keep the campaign label from that link (for example “google” or “instagram”) on your device for up to 30 days and add it to those anonymous events, so we can see which of our ads work. Our PostHog attribution does not keep or send the ad network's click id, and the label is never used to follow you to other sites. The separate, optional Google Ads tag below may process an ad click id if you allow it.

Optional Google Ads conversion measurement

On the website only, you can choose whether to allow a Google Ads tag. If you allow it, Google may use an ad click identifier and cookies to connect an ad visit to a verified Pledger Pro trial or purchase. We send the conversion type, an opaque transaction ID and, for a paid checkout, the amount paid. Google may also receive technical data such as your IP address and page URL. We do not send your goals, coach chats, WHOOP data, name or email, and we do not enable ad personalization. If you reject, the Google Ads tag is not loaded.

Your choice is stored on this device. You can change it at any time: Change advertising measurement choice. See our Cookie Policy for details.

Optional Meta (Facebook and Instagram) ad measurement

On the website only, the same choice covers Meta. If you allow it, Meta's pixel loads and may use its own cookies (such as _fbp and _fbc) to connect a visit from one of our Facebook or Instagram ads to a Pledger Pro trial or purchase. We report public page views, an account being created, a verified trial start and a verified payment, from your browser and also from our servers, which is why Meta may receive the event type, an opaque event ID, the page address, for a payment the amount, Meta's own browser identifiers, and technical data such as your IP address and browser type. We save your choice and those browser identifiers with your subscription so the charge that ends a free trial can be reported later. We switch off Meta's automatic matching, so it does not read form fields. We do not send your goals, coach chats, WHOOP data, name or email, and we do not enable ad personalization from our side. Nothing loads in the iPhone or Android app, and nothing loads before you choose Allow. You can change your choice at any time: Change advertising measurement choice. Meta's own policies govern what it does with data it receives.

Cookies

Pledger uses essential session and authentication cookies. If you allow optional advertising measurement, Google and Meta may also set advertising-measurement cookies on the website. Our anonymous PostHog statistics use on-device storage, not cookies. The Focus page is another exception: focus music and soundscapes play through an embedded YouTube player, and YouTube (Google) may set its own cookies and receive technical data such as your IP address when that player loads. See our Cookie Policy for details.

Children

Pledger is not directed to children under 16.

Changes to this policy

If we make a material change, we'll update the date above and, where required, notify you in-app or by email.

Contact

Questions, requests or reports of abuse: hello@usepledger.com.