Privacy Policy

This policy explains what the Hygge Today mobile app and this website do with your information: what we hold, why we hold it, and how you get rid of it. It applies to the app on iOS and Android and to hygge.today.

The short version

• Your journal is yours. We do not sell it, we do not advertise against it, and no one at Hygge reads it as a matter of course.
• What you write is stored in your own account so it can sync between your devices and survive a lost phone.
• Some features send a piece of your writing to an AI service so it can answer you. That text is not used to train anyone's model.
• The cycle tracker is different from everything else: it is encrypted and kept on your phone, and it is never sent to our servers.
• Your data is stored and processed in the United States.
• You can delete your account from inside the app, and everything goes.

Who is responsible

Hygge Today is operated by the developer of the app, who is based in the European Union and is the data controller for the purposes of the GDPR. For any privacy question, correction or complaint, write to contact@hygge.today and we will answer within 30 days.

What we collect, and why

Your account

When you create an account we store your email address and the first name you give us. You can sign up with an email address and password, or with Google. If you sign in with Google we receive your email address, name and profile picture from Google; we never receive your Google password.

You can also use Hygge as a guest, without an account. A guest still gets an anonymous identifier so your writing can be saved and returned to you on that device, and you can turn a guest into a full account later without losing anything. We use the account identifier to keep your data separated from everyone else's, and to enforce access rules on our servers.

What you write

Journal entries, notes, moods, folders, tags, saved verses, highlights, trackers, reminders and settings are stored in your account so they reach your other devices and survive a reinstall. Photos you attach and voice memos you record are stored the same way. Entries are written to your device first and uploaded in the background, so the app keeps working with no signal.

Voice memos and transcripts

Voice memos are recorded on your device and stored in your account with the entry they belong to. If you ask for a transcript, the speech recognition runs on your device, using the recognition built into the operating system. The audio is not sent anywhere to be transcribed.

Health data

If you allow it, Hygge reads a small set of health records so trackers you link to a health goal can complete themselves: steps, sleep and exercise minutes, and, only if you switch on health sync in the cycle tracker, menstrual flow and basal body temperature. If you allow it, Hygge also writes back: the mood you log with a note is saved as a state-of-mind entry, and, again only with health sync on, the cycle entries you log.

Health data is used only to provide these features. We do not use it for advertising or marketing, we do not mine it, we do not sell it, and we do not share it with third parties. You can withdraw access at any time in your device's health settings, and Hygge will simply stop reading it.

The cycle tracker

Cycle entries are held in an encrypted store on your device, protected with strong industry-standard encryption and a key kept in your device's secure storage. They are not uploaded to our servers, they are not included in analytics, and they are not written to diagnostic logs. If you turn on health sync they are also written to your device's health app, where that platform's own privacy terms apply. If you use the cycle assistant, the question you type is sent to the AI service described below; the stored cycle history is not.

Location

If you set a place-based tracker reminder, Hygge stores the place you chose so it can nudge you when you arrive or leave. We do not build a location history and we do not track you in the background beyond the places you picked. You can remove a place, or revoke the permission in your device settings, at any time.

Photos and camera

The photo library and camera are used only when you choose to attach a photo to an entry or a tracker log, and only for the photos you pick.

Notifications

Daily reminders are scheduled by your own device; the times you choose stay on that device. If you turn on the weekly summary push, we store a notification token so our server can send it. Turning the setting off removes the token.

Analytics and diagnostics

We use a product analytics service to understand which parts of the app are used, and we keep diagnostic logs (screens opened, errors, timings) to find bugs. Both are tied to your account identifier so we can investigate a problem you report. Neither contains the text of your journal, and cycle activity is excluded from analytics entirely. Diagnostic logs are deleted automatically after 30 days.

Hygge does not use the advertising identifier, does not show ads, and does not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

AI features

Several features answer you in words: the daily and evening reflections, the weekly summary, the writing companion, the "Reflect on this" prompt, and the cycle assistant. To do that, the relevant text (your entry, your question, or a summary of the week) is sent over an encrypted connection to our server, which passes it to a third-party AI service and returns the answer to you.

That provider processes the text on our behalf, under a written contract, for the sole purpose of producing the reply. Under our commercial terms with them, your content is not used to train their models. We keep the generated reflections in your account so you can read them again; you can delete them like any other entry.

These features are a companion for reflection. They are not therapy, not medical advice, and not a crisis service. If you are in danger or in crisis, please contact your local emergency number or a crisis line.

Who else touches your data

Running an app of this kind means relying on a small number of specialist providers. We use them in these categories, and only these:

• Cloud hosting and storage: running our servers and holding your account and its contents.
• Authentication: creating and verifying your sign-in.
• Notification delivery: sending the pushes you turn on.
• Product analytics and crash reporting: understanding which features are used and finding bugs.
• AI processing: generating the reflections and answers described above.
• App distribution: the mobile app stores you install Hygge from.

Each provider is bound by a written contract that limits it to processing your data on our instructions, for that purpose only. We do not name them individually in this policy. If you need that detail for a compliance review or a data protection assessment, write to us and we will provide it.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, as those terms are used in California law.

Where your data is stored

Your data is stored and processed in the United States. That is where our servers, our storage and the AI processing all sit. The developer who operates Hygge Today is based in the European Union, but the data itself is not held there.

Because of that, personal data is transferred out of the European Economic Area. Those transfers rely on the safeguards European law requires, such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or a provider's certification under an approved transfer framework, together with the technical protections described under Security below.

How long we keep it, and how to delete it

We keep your account and its contents for as long as your account exists.

You can delete your account from inside the app: open the profile tab, scroll to the bottom, and tap Delete account. Deletion is not instant on purpose. Your account is marked for deletion and locked, and after 30 days a scheduled job permanently removes your entries, photos, voice memos, reflections, trackers, settings and sign-in record. Within those 30 days you can sign in again to cancel it. Anything held only on your device, including the cycle store, is removed when you delete the app.

Diagnostic logs are deleted after 30 days regardless. Backups roll off within a further 30 days.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to give you a copy of your data, correct it, delete it, or restrict how we use it, and you can object to processing. In the EEA these are your rights under the GDPR; in California they are your rights under the CCPA as amended. You will never be treated differently for exercising them.

Most of this is faster in the app itself: your entries are readable and editable there, and account deletion is one tap. For anything else, write to contact@hygge.today. If you are in the EEA and you are unhappy with our answer, you may complain to your national data protection authority.

Legal bases

Where the GDPR applies, we rely on: contract, to give you the app you signed up for, including storing and syncing what you write; consent, for health data, location, notifications and the camera and microphone, each of which you grant on your device and can withdraw there; and legitimate interests, for keeping the service secure, fixing bugs, and understanding in aggregate which features are used.

Children

Hygge Today is not directed at children. You must be at least 13 years old to use it, or at least 16 where local law requires it. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone below that age; if you believe a child has created an account, write to us and we will delete it.

Security

Traffic is encrypted in transit, storage is encrypted at rest, and our server rules allow an account to read and write only its own documents. The cycle store adds a second layer of encryption on your device. No system is perfect, so if a breach ever affects you we will tell you and the relevant regulator as the law requires.

Changes to this policy

We reserve the right to update this Privacy Policy at any time, as the app changes and as the law does. When we do, we will change the date at the top, and for anything significant we will tell you in the app before it takes effect. Continuing to use Hygge after a change takes effect means you accept the updated policy; if you would rather not, you can delete your account as described above.

Contact

Questions, requests, or complaints: contact@hygge.today.