Balance works fully without an account. Your tasks and settings are then saved only on your device.
An account is optional. It syncs your tasks and settings between your devices through Google Firebase.
No ads, no analytics, no tracking. We never sell your data.
You can delete your account and its cloud data at any time in the app: About → Account → Delete account.
1. Who is responsible
Balance is made by [Your name] (“we”, “us”). We decide how the data described here is used, so we are responsible for it (the “controller”).
Contact: [your email] [Postal address: needed if you offer Balance in the EU or UK; otherwise delete this line]
2. On your device (no account needed)
Balance saves your data in its own storage on your device: inside the iPhone app, or in your browser’s storage on the website. This includes:
the tasks you complete: which task, when, and its minutes, plus your hobby’s name when you log a hobby;
your settings: task swaps, up to 5 hobby names, your optional 45-day habit, reminder times, theme, and whether haptics are on;
a draft of an activity suggestion you haven’t sent yet;
when you’re signed in: which account the data belongs to (its user ID), and Firebase’s sign-in session and offline copy of your synced data, so syncing also works without a connection.
The website also keeps an offline copy of its own files, so it opens without a connection. This copy holds no personal data.
Data on your device stays there until you remove it (see Keeping and deleting). We can’t see it.
3. With an optional account
To sync your devices you can create an account with email and password, Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google. Accounts run on Firebase Authentication, a Google service. We then store:
Account details
your email address (with Apple’s Hide My Email, a private relay address that forwards to you);
a user ID that Firebase creates, your sign-in method, and when the account was created and last used;
your password goes straight to Firebase, which stores it in protected (hashed) form. We never see it;
Google or Apple may also pass on your name (Google also a link to your profile picture). Firebase keeps it with the account; Balance doesn’t use or show it.
Synced data
Stored in Cloud Firestore (Google) and linked to your user ID:
your completed tasks (as in section 2). When you remove a task, a small marker with its time stays, so your other devices remove it too;
your settings: task swaps, hobbies, 45-day habit, reminders on or off and their times, theme, and the date you started.
We use this only to sign you in, keep your devices in sync, and send the password-reset emails you ask for (sent by Firebase). We don’t send newsletters or marketing.
4. Activity suggestions (optional)
When you’re signed in and send an idea with About → Suggest an activity, we store what you wrote (activity name, description, area and minutes), your user ID, the time, and a review status. A small counter with your user ID and the time of your last idea keeps sending to 5 ideas a day, at least 30 seconds apart.
Only we can read suggestions, in the Firebase console; other people using Balance never see them. An idea reaches the app only if we add our own version of it by hand. Please keep personal details out of your ideas.
5. Reminders, haptics, sharing and backups
Reminders. In the iPhone app, reminders are local notifications that your iPhone schedules by itself; their texts and times aren’t sent anywhere (your chosen times are part of your synced settings when you’re signed in). iOS asks for permission when you turn reminders on, and you can change it any time in Settings → Notifications → Balance. On the website, reminders appear as a card inside Balance.
Haptics. Gentle taps from your iPhone’s Taptic Engine (or your browser’s vibration). No data is involved; the on/off choice stays on your device.
Invite a friend. Opens your device’s share sheet, or copies the text for you. We don’t see whom you send it to.
Backups. Export backup saves a file on your device; Import backup reads a file you pick. Balance doesn’t upload these files (imported entries sync like any others when you’re signed in).
6. What we never do
No advertising, and no analytics or tracking tools in the app or on the website.
We don’t track you across other companies’ apps or websites.
We don’t sell or rent your personal data, and we don’t share it for advertising or marketing.
Balance doesn’t access your location, contacts, photos, camera, microphone or Apple Health.
7. Service providers
Google Firebase (Authentication and Cloud Firestore) stores account details and synced data on our behalf, as our processor under Google’s data processing terms. Database location: [Firestore location, e.g. eur3 (Europe) or nam5 (United States)]. Google may process data in other countries, with the safeguards described in its terms. See Privacy and Security in Firebase and Google’s privacy policy.
Apple and Google sign-in. When you choose Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google, Apple or Google shows its own sign-in screen and its privacy policy applies to that step (Apple, Google).
Website only. When accounts are available, the website loads Firebase’s code from Google’s servers (gstatic.com). Like any web request, this shares your IP address and browser details with Google. The iPhone app has this code built in. Our web host, [your web host], keeps standard server logs (IP address, browser, pages requested, time) to deliver and protect the site.
Apple App Store. Apple distributes the iPhone app. If you turn on “Share with App Developers” in iOS settings, Apple shares crash reports and anonymous usage statistics with us, under Apple’s privacy policy.
8. Why we use your data (legal bases)
Where laws such as the EU or UK GDPR apply, we rely on:
providing the service you ask for (contract): your account, sign-in and sync;
legitimate interests: keeping Balance safe and fair, such as the daily limit on suggestions and Firebase’s protection against misuse, and reviewing the ideas you choose to send.
9. How long we keep data, and deleting it
On your device
Your data stays until you remove it. About → Your data → Delete all entries (tap twice) removes your completed tasks.
Signing out clears your entries and settings from Balance on that device. They stay safe in your account.
To remove everything Balance saved on a device, delete the iPhone app, or clear this website’s data in your browser settings.
In your account
Your account and synced data stay for as long as you keep the account. We don’t delete accounts on our own.
About → Account → Delete account (tap twice) deletes your synced tasks and settings, your suggestion counter and your sign-in account straight away.
With Sign in with Apple, Apple first asks you to confirm, and Balance then asks Apple to end Balance’s sign-in for your Apple Account. Where the website can’t open Apple’s window (for example a home-screen web app on iPhone), you can also do this yourself in Settings → Apple Account → Sign in with Apple.
The copy on the device you used stays, so you can keep using Balance there. Remove it as described above whenever you like.
Google may keep deleted data in its backups for a limited time before it is erased for good.
Suggestions
We keep ideas you sent while we review them and plan activities. They hold your user ID but no email address; once your account is deleted, that ID no longer belongs to anyone. Email us and we’ll delete yours.
10. Your choices and rights
Use Balance without an account: your Balance data then stays on your device.
Get a copy: Export backup in About → Your data, or ask us for everything stored in your account.
Correct: change your settings in the app, or contact us.
Delete: in the app (section 9), or contact us.
Depending on where you live (for example the EU, the UK or California), you may also have the right to restrict or object to how we use your data, to data portability, and to complain to your data protection authority.
Write to [your email]. We reply within one month. We never sell personal data, so there is nothing to opt out of.
11. Security
All connections use HTTPS. Firestore security rules let each account read and write only its own data, and suggestions can only be created from the app, never read back. Passwords are handled by Firebase. No system is perfectly secure, so please choose a strong password you use only for Balance.
12. Children
Balance isn’t directed to children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal data from them. If you’re under 13, or under the minimum age for online accounts where you live, please use Balance without an account. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we’ll delete it.
13. Not medical advice
Balance is a playful model inspired by ideas about brain chemistry. It does not measure real hormones or neurotransmitters, and it is not medical, psychological, or health advice. If you’re struggling, please talk to a qualified professional.
14. Changes to this policy
If we change how Balance uses data, we’ll update this page and the effective date at the top, and describe important changes in the app’s release notes before they apply.