Privacy Policy
Effective and last updated: October 31, 2026
Thought is a poetry and reflection app made by Poetic Thought, an independent business based in Ontario, Canada ("we", "us"). This policy explains what information the Thought app (the "App") and this website collect, why, how it is protected, and the choices you have, including how to delete your account.
The short version: your journal is private. We don't sell your information, we don't show ads, and you can delete your account and data at any time.
1. Information we collect
Information you give us
| Type | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Account | Email address, password (handled by Google Firebase Authentication; we never see or store it in readable form), first name and username. |
| Preferences | The poem themes you choose, reminder time, display settings such as dark mode and text size. |
| Journal | Journal titles and names, entry text, the date you write for an entry, photos you add to entries, formatting choices, and which journal an entry belongs to. |
| Mood tags | The optional mood colour you can choose when writing an entry. Choosing one is never required. |
| Poem activity | Poems you save, like or add to collections, and the collections you create. |
Information created as you use the App
| Type | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Daily poem & progress | Which poems you've been shown, your streaks, trophies, and counts such as how many entries you've written. |
| Notifications | A device token that lets us send your daily reminder and occasional reminders, plus when the last one was sent. |
| Time zone | Your device's time zone, so your new poem arrives at your local midnight. |
| Performance information | We use Google Firebase Performance Monitoring to see how quickly the App starts, loads screens and connects to our servers. It collects technical details such as device model, operating system, app version, network type, approximate country (from IP address), timing measurements and an app installation identifier. It does not collect your journal content, poems or account details. We do not use Google Analytics or any advertising tools. |
| Crash reports | We use Google Firebase Crashlytics so we can find and fix problems when the App crashes or hits an error. A crash report includes technical details such as the error and where in the App it happened, device model, operating system, app version and an app installation identifier. It does not include your journal content, poems or account details. |
We do not collect your precise location, contacts, or advertising identifiers, and we do not track you across other apps or websites.
2. Device permissions
The App only asks for these when you use the related feature, and you can turn them off in your device settings at any time.
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Microphone & speech recognition | For voice-to-text in your journal. Your speech is converted to text by your device's built-in speech service (provided by Apple or Google, which may process audio under their own privacy policies). We keep only the resulting text you choose to save, never audio recordings. |
| Photos & camera | To add photos to journal entries. Only the photos you choose are uploaded. We don't access the rest of your library. |
| Save to photos | To save poem images you create to your camera roll. These images stay on your device unless you share them yourself. |
| Notifications | To send your daily poem reminder and occasional gentle reminders. You can turn reminders off in the App or in your device settings. |
3. How we use your information
- To create and secure your account, including email verification.
- To choose and deliver your daily poem based on the themes you picked.
- To save and show your journals, entries, photos, saved poems and collections.
- To track streaks and award trophies.
- To send reminders you've turned on and a small number of helpful notifications (for example, if your streak is about to end).
- To keep the App working, fix problems, prevent abuse and improve the experience.
- To respond when you contact us.
We do not sell your information, use it for advertising, or use your journal writing to train artificial intelligence models.
4. Anonymized research
Thought is built with care for mental wellbeing. To better understand how reflection and poetry support wellbeing, we may share anonymized, aggregated mood data with academic or research partners, or publish general findings.
- Shared data is combined across many users and has names, email addresses, usernames and other identifiers removed, so it cannot reasonably be linked back to you.
- Your journal text and photos are never shared for research.
- Mood tags are optional. If you never choose one, no mood data is recorded for you.
5. Who we share information with
We share personal information only with service providers that help us run the App, and only as needed:
- Google Firebase / Google Cloud: account sign-in, database, file storage for journal photos, notifications, server functions, app performance monitoring, crash reporting, and App Check (which verifies requests come from the genuine App).
- Apple and Google: app distribution, push notification delivery, and device speech recognition.
We may also disclose information if required by law, to protect the safety of users or others, or as part of a sale or merger of the business, in which case this policy would continue to apply to your information.
6. What's public and what's private
- Private: your journals, entries, photos, mood tags, saved poems, collections, streaks and profile. Only you can see them.
- Public, anonymously: a poem's total like count. Your name is never shown next to a like.
7. Where your data is stored and how it's protected
Your information is stored with Google Cloud (Firebase) on servers in the United States, so it may be subject to the laws of that country. We protect it with encrypted connections, Google's security infrastructure, and access rules that let each person read and change only their own data. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we work to protect your information and limit who can access it.
8. How long we keep it and how to delete it
We keep your information for as long as your account exists. You can delete your account at any time:
- In the App: from your settings, choose Delete Account.
- On the web, without the App: visit our account deletion page.
- By email: write to thethoughtapp@gmail.com from your account's email address.
Deleting your account permanently removes your profile, journals, entries, photos, mood tags, saved poems, collections, likes, trophies, streaks and notification tokens. Poem like counts are kept only as anonymous totals. Information already included in anonymized research data cannot be removed, because it is no longer linked to you. Limited records may remain briefly in our service providers' system logs before being automatically erased.
9. Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live (including under Canada's PIPEDA and, for users in the European Union or United Kingdom, the GDPR), you may have the right to access, correct, download or delete your information, to withdraw consent, and to object to certain uses. You can edit most information directly in the App, or contact us and we'll respond within 30 days. You may also complain to your local privacy authority, such as the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
10. Children
Thought is intended for people aged 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.
11. Changes to this policy
We'll update this page when our practices change, for example when new features are added, and change the date at the top. If changes are significant, we'll let you know in the App before they take effect.
12. Contact us
Questions or requests about your privacy:
Poetic Thought, Ontario, Canada
thethoughtapp@gmail.com