PonderPonder
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Privacy Policy

Effective Date: November 10, 2025 · Last Updated: November 10, 2025

Overview

Ponder ("we", "our", or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information when you use the Ponder mobile application.

Information We Collect

Information You Provide

  • Phone Number: Used for account creation and authentication via one-time password (OTP)
  • Username and Display Name: Your chosen identity within the app
  • Profile Photo: Optional avatar image you upload
  • Answer Content: Your responses to daily questions (280 character limit)
  • Comments: Your comments on friends' answers (500 character limit)
  • Social Connections: Friend relationships you establish within the app

Automatically Collected Information

  • Usage Data: Information about how you interact with the app (via Sentry error tracking)
  • Device Information: Device type, operating system version, and app version
  • Session Data: Authentication session tokens stored locally on your device

How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

  • Authenticate your account via phone number OTP
  • Display your profile to accepted friends
  • Show your answers to accepted friends only
  • Enable social features (friend requests, comments, likes)
  • Maintain your answer streak and statistics
  • Improve app performance and fix bugs (via Sentry)
  • Send daily question notifications (if enabled)

Data Sharing and Disclosure

What We Share

  • Friend Visibility: Your profile, answers, and comments are visible ONLY to users you've mutually accepted as friends
  • Public Profile Data: Your username, display name, and avatar are visible to other users for friend discovery

What We Don't Share

  • We do NOT sell your personal information to third parties
  • We do NOT share your answers with non-friends
  • We do NOT use your data for advertising

Service Providers

We use the following third-party services:

  • Supabase: Backend database and authentication
  • Twilio: Phone number verification for OTP delivery
  • Sentry: Error tracking and performance monitoring
  • Apple App Store: App distribution and updates

Data Storage and Security

  • Your data is stored on Supabase's secure cloud infrastructure
  • Passwords are NOT used — we use secure OTP authentication
  • All data transmitted between the app and servers is encrypted (HTTPS/TLS)

Your Privacy Rights

You have the right to:

  • Access: View all your personal data within the app
  • Edit: Update your username, display name, and profile photo
  • Delete: Remove individual answers or comments
  • Account Deletion: Permanently delete your account and all associated data — see our Account Deletion page

Data Retention

  • Active Accounts: We retain your data as long as your account is active
  • Deleted Content: Deleted answers and comments are permanently removed from our database
  • Account Deletion: Upon deletion, all your data is permanently deleted within 30 days

Children's Privacy

Ponder is not intended for users under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will delete such information immediately.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy and posting the new policy here. Your continued use of Ponder after any changes indicates your acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or want to exercise your privacy rights, please contact us at helpwithponder@gmail.com.

Legal Compliance

This Privacy Policy complies with:

  • Apple App Store Review Guidelines
  • General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) principles
  • California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) principles
  • Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)