Gladden — Privacy Policy
Last updated: 2 August 2026
Gladden is a private gratitude journal. This policy explains exactly what it collects, why each piece is needed, and what you can do about it.
The short version: Gladden collects what it needs to show your entries back to you on the right day, on whatever phone you're holding, and nothing else. There is no advertising, no analytics, no tracking, and nothing is sold or shared with anyone.
What Gladden stores, and why each thing is needed
| What | Why it's needed | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Your email address | To sign you in, and to reach you if you forget your password | Our database |
| Your password | Stored only as a one-way hash — we cannot read it | Our database |
| The entries you write | They are the app | Our database |
| Photos you attach | Same | Our file storage — see below |
| Category, mood, and names you type | So you can search and filter your own entries | Our database |
| Your time zone | So a memory arrives in your evening, not somebody else's | Our database |
| A notification token | So your phone can be sent a memory. It identifies the app on your device, not you | Our database |
| Your streak and grace days | To show the streak | Our database |
| Which memories have been sent | So the same one isn't sent twice | Our database |
| App version and OS version | So a bug report can be matched to a build | Sent with the notification token only |
That is the complete list. If something isn't on it, Gladden doesn't collect it.
What Gladden deliberately does not collect
- No analytics or usage tracking. No record of which screens you open, how often you write, or how long you spend in the app.
- No advertising identifiers, no ad networks, no third-party trackers.
- No contacts. When you choose someone to thank, your contacts are read on your device to show you the list, and the one you pick is put into a draft message for you to send yourself. No contact data is ever uploaded, and Gladden never sends a message on your behalf.
- No location data. Gladden never reads or records where you are, and the photos you attach have their location stripped before they leave your phone.
- No microphone, no camera access except when you take a photo for an entry.
Where photos are kept
Photos are uploaded to our storage, on the same servers as the database. They have to be: it's how a photo you attached on your phone still appears when you sign in somewhere else, and how a memory can come back to you complete years later on a device you haven't bought yet.
They are not published. The storage is closed — there is no public address for your photos, and none can be reached by guessing. Each file sits in a folder belonging to your account, which the storage itself enforces, and the app fetches them using links that expire shortly after they're issued.
Photos are resized before upload, which also removes any location, camera, and timestamp data the original carried. That happens to every photo, always, and is not something you can turn off.
Who can see your entries
You can. Your account is the only one that can read your entries through the app. This is enforced by the database itself, not just by the app — every row is locked to the account that created it.
We can, technically. Being straight with you: your entries are encrypted in transit and encrypted at rest on disk, but they are not end-to-end encrypted. That means whoever operates Gladden's database has the technical ability to read them. We don't, we have no interest in doing so, and there is no process that does. But an honest policy says what is possible, not just what is intended.
Nobody else can. Your entries are never sold, shared, licensed, published, or used to train anything.
Companies involved in running Gladden
Gladden can't work without a few services. Each one gets the minimum it needs:
- Supabase — hosts the database, file storage, and sign-in. Your entries and photos live here, on servers in the United States (Oregon).
- Expo — delivers push notifications. Receives the notification token and the text of the memory being sent, because that text is what appears on your lock screen.
- Apple (APNs) and Google (FCM) — carry the notification the last step to your phone. Same content as above.
- An email provider — sends confirmation and password-reset emails. Receives your email address and nothing else.
None of these are given your entries for any purpose of their own.
How long it's kept
Until you delete it.
- Delete a single entry — removed from your device and our database, and its photo removed from storage.
- Delete all entries — Settings. Empties the journal, keeps the account.
- Delete your account — Settings. Removes your entries, photos, notification tokens, settings, and the account itself. This cannot be undone, and we keep no copy afterwards.
Backups of the database may hold deleted content for up to 30 days before rotating out.
Your rights
- See your data — it's in the app.
- Take it with you — Settings → Export entries produces a file you keep.
- Correct it — any entry can be edited.
- Delete it — as above.
If you're in the UK, EU, or a jurisdiction with similar law, you also have the right to object to processing and to lodge a complaint with your data protection authority. Write to us first and we'll try to sort it out.
Children
Gladden isn't intended for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect anything from them. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we'll remove it.
Changes to this policy
If what Gladden collects ever changes, this policy changes with it, and the date at the top changes too. Anything that meaningfully expands collection will be told to you in the app before it takes effect — not buried in a document you'd have to check.
Contact
privacy@gladden.app