Privacy policy

Thwonk ("the App") is made and run by Fireguy.NET, an independent app developer ("we," "our," or "us"). Thwonk is a home maintenance tracker that a household shares. This policy explains what information the App collects, why, who helps us handle it, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. It applies to the Thwonk apps for iPhone, iPad and Android.

By using Thwonk, you agree to the practices described here. If you don't agree, please don't use the App.

The current version of this policy is always at thwonk.fireguy.net/privacy.

The short version

• We collect what Thwonk needs to work: your account, your home's details, the tasks and things you add, and your subscription status.
• We don't sell your information, we don't show ads, and we don't track you across other apps or websites. Thwonk has no analytics or advertising tools built in.
• Everything in a home is shared with the people you invite to that home, and with no one else.
• You can export your records at any time and delete your account from inside the App.

1. Information we collect

Your account

• Email address. You sign in with a one-time code sent to your email, so we need your address to create your account and send the code.
• Sign in with Apple or Google. If you use one of these, Apple or Google tells us a unique account ID, your email address and, if you share it, your name. With Apple's "Hide My Email," we only see a private relay address. Apple and Google handle the sign-in itself under their own privacy policies.
• Display name. We use the name Apple or Google provides, or the first part of your email address. You can change it at any time. People in your home see this name.
• Account ID. We give every account a random ID, which links your data together and to your subscription.

Your home

• Home profile: the name you give your home, its type (house, condo and so on), the year it was built or its rough age, its climate zone, and features such as a furnace, gutters, a septic tank or a pool.
• Country and postcode. We use these to guess your climate and to put seasonal jobs in the right months. Thwonk is offered in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. We never ask for your street address.
• Tasks and history: the jobs you track, how often they repeat, who they're assigned to, when they were done and by whom, and any notes or costs you type in.
• Items: the things in your home that you choose to add, such as appliances, with details like brand, model, serial number, room, purchase date, warranty end date, a link to the manual, and notes.
• Pros (contractors): the name, trade, phone number, email, website and notes for any tradespeople you add. Please only add details you're comfortable storing. Thwonk never reads your phone's contacts.
• Photos and files: pictures you take or pick from your library, plus PDF manuals and receipts you upload. Photos are resized and saved as JPEG files before upload. We don't use any location information from your photos.

Reminders and settings

• Reminder preferences: your reminder time, quiet hours, weekly digest day, and whether email reminders are on.
• Time zone. The App reads your device's time zone so reminders arrive at the right local time. You can set it by hand in Settings.
• Notifications are scheduled on your device. Thwonk doesn't use a push notification server and doesn't collect push tokens.

Subscriptions

• When you subscribe, Apple or Google handles the payment. We never see your card or bank details.
• RevenueCat, our subscription provider, receives your account ID, the ID of the home the plan covers, your purchase and renewal history, and your store region and currency. We use this to know whether your household's plan is active.

Technical and security information

• Our hosting provider records standard technical details when the App talks to our servers, such as your IP address, device or browser type, and request times. These help us keep the service running and secure.
• If someone who isn't signed in enters an invite code that doesn't match, we briefly keep the IP address so we can block code guessing.

What we don't collect

• No precise location (GPS).
• No address book or contacts access.
• No microphone or audio.
• No advertising IDs.
• No analytics or crash-reporting tools.
• No payment card details.

What stays on your device

These stay on your phone and aren't sent to us:

• A short-term copy of your home's data, so the App works offline. It's kept for up to 24 hours and cleared when you sign out.
• Jobs waiting to sync.
• Your notification schedule.
• PDF and spreadsheet exports, until you choose to share them.

2. How we use information

We use your information to:

• Create and secure your account, and sign you in.
• Show your home's plan, items, history and records, and keep them in sync for everyone in your home.
• Build your starter task list and set due dates based on your home's type, age, climate and location.
• Send the reminders you've chosen, by notification and, if you turn them on, by email.
• Run the free trial and subscriptions, and decide which features your household's plan includes.
• Prevent abuse, such as invite-code guessing, and keep the service secure and working.
• Answer you when you contact us.
• Meet our legal obligations.

We don't use your information for advertising, profiling or marketing. We don't sell it, and we don't "share" it for cross-context behavioral advertising, as California law defines that term.

3. Household sharing

Thwonk is built for sharing a home, so here is exactly who sees what.

• People in your home see everything in it: the home profile, tasks, items, photos, files, pros, notes, costs, and the history of who did what. They also see your display name and role (owner or member). Your email address is visible to you in Settings and isn't shown to other members.
• Invites. When you invite someone, you get a six-character code and a link that last 7 days. Anyone with the code or link can see your home's name, the name of the person who invited them, and when the invite expires. They can do this before signing in. Only share invites with people you trust.
• Leaving or being removed. If you leave a home or are removed from it, you lose access to it. Jobs you logged stay in that home's history without your name. Any tasks assigned to you go back to "anyone."
• Exports. PDF and spreadsheet exports are made on your device. Where they go after you share them is up to you.

4. Service providers

We use a small number of trusted providers to run Thwonk. They process information on our behalf and only as needed to provide their service.

Their privacy policies are here:

• Supabase: https://supabase.com/privacy
• RevenueCat: https://www.revenuecat.com/privacy/
• Apple: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/
• Google: https://policies.google.com/privacy

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect someone's safety, or to investigate fraud or security issues. If Thwonk is ever sold or merged, your information may move to the new owner, who must keep the promises in this policy.

5. Email reminders

• Email reminders are off by default. You can turn them on in Settings.
• Once on, they send at most a weekly digest plus one nudge when a task becomes overdue.
• Every email has a one-click unsubscribe link, which turns email reminders off straight away.
• We don't send marketing email.
• You'll still get sign-in codes, and we may occasionally send an important notice about your account or this policy.

6. How long we keep information

We don't keep separate backup copies of the database.

7. Deleting your account

You can delete your account in the App under Settings → Delete account. What happens depends on your role.

• If you're the only person in your home: your home is deleted along with everything in it (tasks, items, history, pros, photos and files), and then your account is deleted.
• If you're a member of someone else's home: you leave that home and your account is deleted. Jobs you logged stay in the home's history without your name.
• If you own a home that other people share: you'll need to remove the other members first, so their records aren't deleted without warning. After that, deleting works as above.

Deleting your account signs you out everywhere and removes your sign-in details.

Deleting your account doesn't cancel an App Store or Google Play subscription. Please cancel it in your Apple Account or Google Play settings.

You can also ask us to delete your account by emailing us from the address you sign in with. Step-by-step instructions, and what is kept and for how long, are at thwonk.fireguy.net/delete-account.

8. Security

We protect your information with:

• encryption in transit (HTTPS);
• database rules that only let members of a home see that home's data;
• private file storage, with links that expire after an hour;
• secrets kept out of the App's code.

No system is perfectly secure, but if a breach affects your information, we'll tell you and the relevant regulator where the law requires it.

9. Your rights and choices

Wherever you live, you can:

• See and correct your information. Most of it can be edited right in the App.
• Get a copy. Export your home's records as a PDF or spreadsheet from History, or ask us for a copy of what we hold about you.
• Delete your account in the App, or by asking us.
• Turn things off. Notifications, email reminders, camera and photo access can each be switched off in the App or in your phone's settings.
• Withdraw consent wherever we rely on it, at any time.
• Complain to us, and to your local privacy regulator (listed below).

To make a request, email thwonk@fireguy.net from the address you use with Thwonk, with "Privacy Policy Inquiry" in the subject line. We may need to confirm it's really you. We'll reply within 30 days, or sooner if your local law requires it. We won't treat you differently for using your rights.

United States, including California

• Your rights. California residents have the right to know what personal information we collect, use and disclose; to delete it; to correct it; and to opt out of its sale or sharing. We don't sell or share personal information, so there's nothing to opt out of. We don't use or disclose sensitive personal information to infer anything about you.
• What we collect (California categories):
• identifiers (email, account ID, IP address);
• customer records (name);
• commercial information (subscription purchases);
• general location (country and postcode, not precise location);
• audio and visual information (photos you add);
• other information you add about your home.

All of it comes from you, your device, Apple or Google, and is used only for the purposes in section 2. - Retention: see section 6. - Authorized agents. You can use an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. - Do Not Track. Thwonk doesn't track you across apps or websites, so browser "Do Not Track" signals don't change anything. - Policy changes. Under CalOPPA, we'll post changes on this page and update the effective date (see section 12).

Canada (PIPEDA)

• We collect, use and disclose your information with your consent and only for the purposes in this policy. Fireguy.NET is responsible for privacy for Thwonk, and you can reach us at the contact address below.
• You can ask to see and correct your information.
• Your information is stored and processed in the United States, where authorities there may be able to access it under US law.
• If you're not happy with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: https://www.priv.gc.ca.

Mexico (LFPDPPP)

• We handle your information in line with Mexico's federal personal data protection law.
• Your information is stored and processed in the United States (section 4). We take reasonable steps to make sure our providers protect it.
• You can ask to see, correct or delete your information, and to limit how we use it.
• If you have a complaint, contact us first. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can contact Mexico's data protection authority: https://www.gob.mx/inai.

United Kingdom (UK GDPR)

• Data controller: Fireguy.NET, contactable at thwonk@fireguy.net, is the controller of your information.
• Legal bases. We rely on:
• contract, to run your account, your home and your subscription;
• legitimate interests, to keep the service secure and prevent abuse;
• consent, for camera and photo access, notifications and email reminders;
• legal obligation, where it applies.
• Your rights. You have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability and objection, and the right to withdraw consent.
• International transfers. Your information is transferred to the United States. We rely on our providers' data processing terms, which include safeguards approved for UK transfers, such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.
• Complaints. You can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office: https://ico.org.uk.

Australia (Privacy Act 1988)

• We handle your information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles.
• Your information is disclosed to providers in the United States (section 4) to run the App, and we take reasonable steps to make sure they protect it.
• You can ask to see or correct your information.
• If you have a complaint, contact us first. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner: https://www.oaic.gov.au.

New Zealand (Privacy Act 2020)

• We handle your information in line with the Information Privacy Principles.
• Your information is sent to providers in the United States (section 4). We rely on their contractual commitments to protect it in ways comparable to New Zealand law.
• You can ask to see or correct your information, and we'll respond within 20 working days.
• If you're not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Privacy Commissioner: https://www.privacy.org.nz.

10. Children

• Thwonk is meant for adults looking after a home. It isn't directed at children.
• We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, or under the minimum age for online consent where you live.
• If you think a child has given us information, email us and we'll delete it.

11. Where your information is stored

Your information is stored in the United States, mainly with Supabase in California. If you live elsewhere, it will be transferred to and processed in the US, where privacy laws may differ from yours. We protect it as this policy describes wherever it's processed.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Thwonk changes or the law does. When we do:

• we'll update the effective date at the top of this page;
• for meaningful changes, we'll let you know in the App or by email.

If you keep using Thwonk after a change takes effect, you're accepting the updated policy. If you don't agree, you can delete your account at any time.

13. Contact us

Questions, requests or concerns about your privacy:

Fireguy.NET Email: thwonk@fireguy.net

Please put "Privacy Policy Inquiry" in the subject line.

For help using the App, see thwonk.fireguy.net/support.

14. Governing law

This policy is governed by the laws of the State of California, United States. That doesn't take away any rights you have under the privacy laws of the country where you live.