Privacy Policy

What we collect

When you create an account we store your name, email address, and a securely hashed password (we never store your password in plain text). As you use Houseful we store the content you create — events, reminders, lists, notes, birthdays and anniversaries, your chosen display color, and which shared "circles" you belong to. We store a small session token on your device to keep you signed in, the time your account was last active, and your time zone so reminders and the morning digest arrive at the right local time.

You can optionally add your birthday month and day to your profile; no birth year is requested. It is private unless you choose to share it with people in your circles, including circles you join later. You can change or clear it, or stop sharing, in Settings → Account. Other members can see it only while you share a circle.

If you turn on notifications, we store the push token Apple gives your device so we can send your reminders, the morning digest, and circle invitations to it. Notifications go only to your own devices.

If someone invites you to a circle by email, we send you one email with a link to join, through our email delivery provider, Resend. Resend receives your email address and that message, which includes the name of the person who invited you and the circle's name. The link works once and for up to 30 days. If they invite you again, you get a new email and the earlier link stops working. We store only a protected form of the link, not the link itself. We hold your address until the invitation is used or withdrawn, or until it expires after 30 days. Declined invitations are kept for up to 30 days to prevent repeated invitations, and inviting you again during that time sends nothing.

We verify ownership of your email before showing invitations sent to it. When you request a verification code or password reset, our email delivery provider, Resend, receives your email address and the message needed to deliver it. Verification codes expire after 10 minutes. We store protected challenge records and limited abuse-prevention counters, not plain-text codes.

If you add something by voice, Apple's speech recognition turns it into text on your iPhone or on Apple's servers, and is given the names and a few words from your calendar so it hears them right (in a web browser, the browser's own speech service does this instead). Houseful never receives or stores the audio, only the text you choose to save.

If you opt in, we may email you about Houseful updates. You can turn this off any time in Settings.

How we use it

Your data is used to provide the app: to show your calendar, sync it among the people in your shared circles, send the reminders you set up, and keep your account secure. Content you put in a shared circle is visible to the other members of that circle. Your private "Personal" circle is visible only to you.

We also look at totals to understand how Houseful is doing and what to improve, such as how many accounts were active this week or how many people joined a shared circle. Our server counts these from the records described above, including when each account was last active, and keeps daily tallies of a few actions, such as how many invitation emails were sent and how many people joined a circle through one. The totals contain no names, email addresses, or anything you wrote, are seen only by the Houseful team, and are never sold or shared. We use no advertising or third-party analytics services.

Scanning photos, files, and text

Houseful can pull events out of a screenshot, a photo of a flyer, a PDF, or some text. This is optional. Before sending anything for scanning, Houseful explains the transfer and asks you to confirm, whether you start on Today or share from another app.

When you scan, the image, PDF, or text you chose is sent to our server and then to Anthropic, the company that runs the Claude model, which reads it and returns the events it finds. Anthropic processes it for us for that purpose. We do not add your account name, email address, or session details to that request, but any personal information already in the content you choose is included. Anthropic handles that content under its applicable service terms and retention policies. On Houseful, we do not keep the original image, PDF, or text: it is not stored on our server and it is not shown to anyone in your circle. You then see the events it found and pick the ones to add. We keep only the events you chose to add, like any other event you create, plus a usage count for each scan (who ran it, when, what kind of thing was scanned, and how large the request was), because scans are limited to 30 per person each month; it also goes into the totals described above. That count never includes what you scanned.

Importing from other calendars

In Settings you can import events from the calendars already on your iPhone, such as Apple Calendar and any Google or work calendars it shows, into a circle. If you choose to, iOS asks for permission to read your calendars. Houseful reads only the calendars and the date range you pick, on your device, and sends those events to our server so they appear in the circle you chose. We store them like any other event, along with the name of the calendar they came from. Houseful never changes or writes to your other calendars, and it does not keep a copy of anything you did not import. You can turn off calendar access at any time in your iPhone's Settings.

Event locations

When you search for an event location on iPhone, Apple Maps provides suggestions. If you choose a place and save the event, Houseful stores its name, address and coordinates with that event so you can find it again or open directions. These follow the event's sharing settings. Houseful does not request or track your device's current location.

Widgets and the Lock Screen wallpaper

The Houseful widgets and the Lock Screen wallpaper are drawn on your device from a copy of your upcoming events that the app saves in a private area only Houseful can read. Nothing is sent anywhere to draw them. If you pick a photo as the wallpaper background, that photo stays on your device. When you save a wallpaper, Houseful asks for permission to add it to your Photos; it never reads the rest of your photo library.

Subscribe link

In Settings you can get a private link to see your Houseful events in Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or another calendar app. The link is a long random address unique to you and works without signing in, so anyone who has it can read the events and birthdays from all of your circles. Treat it like a password and do not post it. If it gets out, contact us and we will replace it; the old link stops working as soon as it is replaced. The link is read only and one way. It never reads or changes the other calendar. Birthdays shared from member profiles are not included in this link.

What we don't do

We do not sell or rent your data. We do not show ads. We do not use third-party advertising or tracking. We do not access your contacts. We only read the photos, files, and calendars you pick for a scan or an import, and we only write to Photos when you save a wallpaper. Notifications are delivered through Apple's push service to your own devices only.

Storage & security

Your data is stored on secured servers (hosted on Render) and transmitted over encrypted HTTPS connections. Passwords are hashed with bcrypt. Apple delivers your notifications, and Anthropic handles a scan only when you start one, as described above. We take reasonable measures to protect your information, though no system can be guaranteed perfectly secure.

Your choices & deletion

You can edit or delete your events, lists, reminders, and dates at any time in the app. You can delete a circle you administer, which removes it and its contents. Calendar, camera, microphone, speech recognition, and Photos permissions can be turned off at any time in your iPhone's Settings. You can permanently delete your account from Settings → "Delete account"; this removes your profile and your data, deletes any circles where you are the only member, and removes your content from shared circles.

Children

Houseful is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

Contact

Questions about your privacy or this policy? Email contact@housefulcalendar.com. If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the date above.