Binate Journal Privacy Policy

At A Glance

• Your journal content is not sold and is not shared with advertisers.
• AI processing is optional. It stays off until you allow it, and you can change that choice in the app at any time.
• When AI processing is on, eligible journal text and limited journal context are sent through OpenRouter to an OpenAI model to create Lessons, Memories, and People insights.
• Binate uses Firebase to provide accounts, cloud storage, syncing, support, and backend features.
• Binate uses PostHog for product analytics, but does not intentionally send journal text, search text, transcripts, people names, or AI evidence quotes in analytics events.
• Apple processes App Store payments. RevenueCat helps Binate manage subscription access.
• Face ID and Touch ID biometric data stay with Apple and your device. Binate receives only the authentication result.
• Binate does not use advertising trackers or track you across other companies' apps or websites.

1. Who We Are

Binate Journal is a Work and Personal reflection app. This Privacy Policy explains what information Binate Journal collects, why it is used, when it is shared, and the controls available to you.

This policy applies to the Binate Journal iOS app and related support interactions.

2. Information We Collect

Account And Profile Information

Binate automatically creates an anonymous Firebase guest account identifier on first use so the journal and cloud sync can work before you create or link a permanent account. Guest journal data uses the same Firebase cloud services described in this policy. Depending on how you use Binate, we may also collect:

• A Firebase account identifier
• Your name or display name
• Your email address
• Your selected sign-in method
• Authentication-provider identifiers and account-verification status

If you choose Sign in with Apple or Google, that provider supplies the account information you authorize it to share. Binate does not receive your Apple or Google password.

Journal And Other User Content

We collect the content you choose to create or attach, including:

• Journal text, guided-reflection answers, Daily Prompt responses, and text formatting
• Work or Personal space, categories, dates, and timestamps
• Optional photos, voice recordings, and speech transcripts
• Names or relationships you write about
• Lessons, Memories, People patterns, emotions, evidence excerpts, and other insights generated from your entries
• Search tokens and index data used to find your own entries
• Learning, review, progress, habit, and gamification activity

Journal content can include sensitive personal information because journaling is open-ended. You decide what to write and attach.

AI Preference And Processing Records

We store your per-account AI-processing choice and operational records needed to process eligible entries, enforce usage limits, diagnose failures, and prevent duplicate processing. These records can include entry identifiers, status, provider/model information, timestamps, and usage counts.

Subscription And Purchase Information

When a Firebase guest or signed-in session starts, Binate configures RevenueCat with that session's Firebase account identifier. RevenueCat then loads the available subscription offer, customer information, and entitlement state so Binate can show the correct access level.

When you view, start, restore, or manage Binate Journal Plus, RevenueCat may also process:

• Your Binate account identifier
• The subscription product selected
• Purchase and subscription history
• Trial, renewal, cancellation, billing-retry, and expiration status
• Store environment and transaction-related identifiers

Apple processes App Store product and transaction information and your payment method through StoreKit. Binate does not send your Firebase account identifier to Apple as part of the current StoreKit configuration, and Binate does not receive your full card or bank details.

Product Activity, Device, And Analytics Information

Binate uses product analytics to understand whether app flows work and where users encounter problems. This can include:

• App screens and features used
• Event timestamps and interaction outcomes
• Entry type, journal space, word-count totals, and whether an attachment was used
• Search length and result counts, but not the search words
• AI-choice and subscription-flow outcomes
• App version, platform, iOS version, and app environment
• A Firebase account identifier or app-generated installation identifier
• Internet Protocol address and network-derived approximate location when processed by the analytics service

Binate does not intentionally include journal text, search text, prompt text, voice transcripts, people names, email addresses, passwords, tokens, evidence excerpts, or attachment contents in analytics events. Failed analytics events can remain in a bounded queue on your device until they are delivered, displaced by newer queued events, or removed when the app's local data is cleared.

Support Information

If you contact support or send an in-app request, we collect the information you choose to provide. Depending on the request, this can include:

• Reply email address, topic, and message
• Bug summary, reproduction steps, expected behavior, and frequency
• Feature-request title, product area, requested behavior, benefit, and importance
• App version, build version, iOS version, and device model
• Screenshots or other information you voluntarily send outside the in-app form

Journal content is not attached to an in-app support request automatically.

Device-Only Preferences

Some information stays on your device, including the biometric-lock preference, locally scheduled notification settings, recent local caches, and interface preferences. Apple controls notification permission and biometric enrollment.

3. How We Use Information

We use information to:

• Create and authenticate your account
• Save, sync, search, edit, and display your journal
• Provide Daily Prompts, Lessons, Memories, People, Learn, Insights, and review features
• Process optional photos, voice recordings, and speech transcripts
• Generate AI insights when you have enabled AI processing
• Enforce Free and Plus access, trials, purchase restoration, and usage limits
• Keep the app secure, prevent abuse, and diagnose failures
• Understand product performance without intentionally analyzing journal content through analytics
• Answer support requests
• Meet legal obligations and protect users, Binate, and the public

4. AI Processing

AI processing remains off until you make an explicit choice. You can select Allow AI processing or Continue without AI during onboarding. You can change the per-account setting at any time under Settings → Privacy & Security.

When AI processing is on, Binate's Firebase Cloud Functions send eligible journal text and limited context to OpenRouter, which routes the request to the selected OpenAI model. The request can include:

• The journal body or guided-reflection text
• Prompt text
• Entry identifier, entry type, timestamp, and category identifier
• Existing Lesson or Memory category labels used to keep insights consistent

Binate does not intentionally include your email address, Firebase account identifier, photos, or audio files in the AI request. A voice transcript can be processed if its text becomes part of the journal entry.

OpenRouter states that it does not use API inputs or outputs to train models. OpenAI states that API data is not used for model training by default. Unless stronger retention controls apply to the routed request, OpenAI may retain prompts and responses for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring, or longer when legally required or necessary to prevent harm. Provider practices can change, so their current policies also apply.

When AI processing is off:

• New journal entries still save normally.
• New entries are not sent for AI insight generation.
• Previously generated Lessons, Memories, People, and other insights remain until you delete the related data or your account.

AI-generated insights can be incomplete or incorrect. They are reflective aids, not medical, mental-health, legal, financial, or emergency advice.

5. Photos, Voice, And Speech Recognition

Camera, photo-library, microphone, and speech-recognition access is requested only when you use a feature that needs it.

Photos and voice recordings you attach are stored with your journal data in Firebase Storage. Speech recognition may be processed by Apple's speech-recognition service and is not guaranteed to occur only on your device. A resulting transcript can be stored with the journal entry.

You can revoke these permissions in iOS Settings.

6. Face ID, Touch ID, And Notifications

If you enable biometric unlock, iOS performs the Face ID or Touch ID check. Binate does not receive or store your biometric template, face scan, or fingerprint. The app receives only whether authentication succeeded and stores the lock preference on your device.

Binate's journal reminders are scheduled locally on your device. The current app does not collect an Expo push token for remote marketing notifications. You can turn reminders off in Binate or manage notification permission in iOS Settings.

7. Subscriptions And Payments

Apple processes App Store transactions. RevenueCat processes subscription and purchase status so Binate can display products, restore purchases, and provide Plus access. Binate links RevenueCat to your Firebase account identifier so access can be recognized for that Binate account.

Deleting your Binate account does not cancel an Apple subscription. Manage or cancel it separately through your Apple Account subscription settings.

8. When We Share Information

We share information only as needed for the purposes described in this policy:

Service	Purpose	Information Involved
Google Firebase	Authentication, database, file storage, Cloud Functions, security, and operations	Account identifiers, account data, journal content and attachments, preferences, support requests, and operational records
OpenRouter and OpenAI	Optional AI insight generation	Eligible journal text and limited journal context described in Section 4
RevenueCat	Subscription offer loading, customer and entitlement state, purchase restoration, and Plus access	Binate account identifier, product, purchase, subscription, and entitlement information
Apple App Store and StoreKit	App Store product display, transactions, subscription management, and payment processing	App Store product, transaction, subscription, and payment information
PostHog	Product analytics and reliability analysis	Account or installation identifier, product interactions, app/device context, and network-derived metadata
Apple or Google sign-in	Authentication when selected	Provider identifier and profile information you authorize
Apple Speech Recognition	Optional speech-to-text processing	Audio used for transcription and the resulting transcript

Camera, photo-library, microphone, notification, and biometric access are mediated by iOS. Face ID and Touch ID templates stay with Apple and your device. Media you choose to attach is shared with Firebase as described above; using the camera or photo picker does not otherwise send that media to Apple through Binate.

We may also disclose information:

• When required by law, court order, or valid legal process
• To investigate fraud, abuse, security incidents, or threats
• To protect the rights and safety of users, Binate, or the public
• In connection with a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, subject to appropriate protections
• At your direction or with your consent

Service providers process information under their own terms and privacy policies.

9. No Sale, Advertising, Or Cross-App Tracking

Binate does not sell your personal information or journal content. Binate does not share journal content with advertisers. The app does not use an advertising SDK, the Apple advertising identifier, or App Tracking Transparency permission, and does not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

10. Retention And Deletion

We keep account and journal data while your account is active and as needed to provide the app. Retention can be longer where reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, legal compliance, or enforcement of agreements.

You can delete individual journal entries in the app. You can also use Delete Account in Settings to request deletion of your Binate account. The account-deletion process:

• Deletes the primary Firestore account record and its nested journal, insight, support, progress, and profile data
• Attempts to delete uploaded photos and voice recordings stored under your account
• Deletes the Firebase Authentication account

Some information can remain after account deletion:

• Apple and RevenueCat purchase or transaction records
• PostHog analytics already delivered to the service
• Security, rate-limit, webhook, audit, support, backup, and service logs
• Records a provider or Binate must keep for legal, fraud-prevention, accounting, or dispute-resolution purposes
• Data stored locally on your device until it is cleared or the app is uninstalled

We retain these exceptions only for the applicable purpose and for as long as reasonably necessary. Account deletion does not cancel an Apple subscription.

To request help with deletion or another privacy request, email support@binatejournal.com.

11. Your Choices And Rights

You can:

• Turn AI processing on or off under Settings → Privacy & Security
• Enable or disable biometric unlock
• Manage camera, photo-library, microphone, speech-recognition, and notification permissions in iOS Settings
• Edit or delete journal entries where supported
• Manage or cancel your Apple subscription
• Delete your Binate account in Settings
• Contact us to request access, correction, deletion, or a copy of information associated with your account

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights to object to or restrict certain processing, withdraw consent, or appeal a privacy-request decision. We may need to verify your identity before completing a request. You may also have the right to contact your local data-protection authority.

12. Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational safeguards designed to protect information. These include authenticated access controls and transport protections provided by Binate's platform services. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Binate is not a medical-record service and should not be used for emergencies or information that requires a regulated health-record system.

13. International Processing

Binate and its providers may process information in the United States and other countries. Privacy protections and government-access rules can differ from those in your country. Where required, providers use legal safeguards for international transfers.

14. Children's Privacy

Binate Journal is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us so we can investigate and take appropriate action.

15. Changes To This Policy

We may update this policy as the app, providers, or law changes. We will post the updated policy at the Privacy Policy URL and change the effective date. If a change materially affects how journal content is processed, we will provide additional notice where required.

16. Contact

For privacy questions or data requests, contact:

Sumana N
support@binatejournal.com
https://binatejournal.com/support/