SoftlyPrivacy Policy
The short version
- Softly works without an email address, phone number or password. We create an anonymous account for you so your settings can be backed up.
- We store only what the app needs: the first name you give (optional), where you are in your journey, the topics you choose, your reminder settings, the affirmations you save or read, and any photos you add to a custom theme.
- There are no ads, no analytics and no tracking. We never sell your data or share it for advertising.
- You can delete everything at any time in Settings → Delete my account and data.
1. Who we are
Softly is made by Proficient Eco Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 13103781), with its registered office at Unit 82a James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St Edmunds, IP28 7DE, United Kingdom.
We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. This means we decide how and why it is used. You can reach us about anything in this policy at contact@softlyaffirmation.com.
2. What we collect and why
Softly has no sign-up screen. The first time you open the app, it creates an anonymous account for you. This is a random identifier that is not linked to your name, email address, phone number or Apple or Google account. Everything below is stored against that identifier so the app can back up your settings and restore them.
| Information | Why we use it | Legal basis (UK GDPR) |
|---|---|---|
| Account identifier A random ID created on first launch, plus a sign-in key kept on your phone. |
To keep your data together, back it up and protect it so only your app can read it. | Performance of our agreement with you (Art. 6(1)(b)). |
| Your name (optional) The first name you type into your profile. |
To greet you and personalise the app. You can leave it blank. | Performance of our agreement with you. |
| Your stage Expecting, new mama or mama. The app starts on “new mama” as a general setting until you choose in your profile. |
To choose affirmations that suit where you are. | Your explicit consent (Art. 6(1)(a) and 9(2)(a)). Being pregnant or having recently given birth counts as health information, so the app explains this where you choose your stage, and we store your choice on that basis. You can change it or delete it at any time. |
| Focus topics For example Postpartum Anxiety, Sleep Deprivation or Body Healing. |
To fill your feed, reminders and widget with the affirmations you asked for. | Your explicit consent, because these choices can say something about your wellbeing. You can change or delete them at any time. |
| Preferences Reminder count and times, nap hours, appearance, background sound, mascot prompts and chosen themes. |
To make the app behave the way you set it up, on this phone and after a reinstall. | Performance of our agreement with you. |
| Activity in the app Affirmations you save, the affirmations you read each day, and the days you open the app. |
To show your saved list, your daily progress (for example 2 of 5 today) and your streak. | Performance of our agreement with you. |
| Custom theme photos Only photos you pick yourself to use as a background (up to 5 MB each). |
To show your own background in the app and restore it if you reinstall. Photos are stored privately and are never shown to anyone else. Photo files can contain details added by your camera, such as when or where they were taken. We do not read or use those details. | Performance of our agreement with you. |
| Technical data IP address, time of request and basic request details, recorded by our hosting provider whenever the app talks to our servers. |
To keep the service secure, prevent abuse (for example limiting how many accounts can be created from one network) and fix problems. | Our legitimate interests in running a secure service (Art. 6(1)(f)). |
You can withdraw consent at any time by changing your stage or topics in the app, or by deleting your data. Withdrawing consent does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it.
3. What stays on your phone
Some things never leave your device:
- Reminders are scheduled by your phone as local notifications. We do not use push notification services and do not collect a push token.
- The Home Screen and Lock Screen widget gets its affirmations from the app on your iPhone through Apple’s shared app storage.
- Background sound is built into the app. Softly never records audio.
- Your sign-in key is kept in your phone’s secure storage (the iOS Keychain or Android’s encrypted storage). On iPhone, the Keychain can keep this key after you delete the app, so reinstalling brings your data back. If you want your data gone permanently, use Delete my account and data rather than just deleting the app.
4. Phone permissions
- Notifications (optional): to show your reminders. You can turn them off in the app or in your phone’s settings.
- Photos (optional): only when you choose a picture for a custom theme. Softly receives only the photo you pick, never your whole library.
Softly does not ask for or use your camera, microphone, contacts, location, Apple Health, Health Connect or advertising identifier.
5. What we never do
- We do not show ads, and the app contains no advertising, analytics or tracking tools.
- We do not track you across other companies’ apps or websites.
- We do not sell your personal information, and do not share it for targeted advertising.
- We do not make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.
- We do not use your information to train artificial intelligence models.
6. Who we share data with
We share personal information only with the service providers we need to run Softly. They act on our instructions under written data processing agreements, and must protect your information to the same standard we do.
- Supabase, Inc. hosts our database, account system and private photo storage. All of the information in section 2 is stored with Supabase.
- Apple and Google distribute the app. When you download Softly, your use of the App Store or Google Play is covered by their own privacy policies. They give us summary figures such as download counts, and crash reports if you have chosen to share them with developers. These do not identify you to us.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect the safety or rights of our users or others, or as part of a sale or reorganisation of our business. If that happens, this policy will continue to apply to your information.
7. Where your data is stored
Our service providers may store or process your information outside the United Kingdom, for example in the European Economic Area or the United States. When that happens, we rely on the legal protections UK law requires: UK adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or the UK–US Data Bridge where it applies. You can ask us for details of these safeguards.
8. How long we keep it
- Your account and app data are kept while you use Softly, until you delete them.
- Unused accounts: if an account has no reading activity and has not been used for 90 days, we delete it and everything linked to it automatically.
- Deleted items: when you remove a saved affirmation or a custom theme, it is removed from our servers the next time the app backs up.
- Backups: our hosting provider keeps routine backups for disaster recovery. Deleted data is erased from these as the backups expire, within 30 days.
- Technical logs are kept for a limited period for security and troubleshooting, and are then deleted automatically.
9. Deleting your data
In the app, open Settings and tap Delete my account and data. After you confirm, Softly permanently deletes your account, profile, preferences, saved affirmations, reading history and custom theme photos from our servers, and clears them from your phone. This cannot be undone.
If you no longer have the app, see Delete your Softly data for other ways to ask us to delete it.
10. How we protect it
- All data between the app and our servers is encrypted in transit using HTTPS (TLS).
- Database rules make sure each account can only read and change its own data.
- Theme photos are kept in private storage that only your account can access.
- Your sign-in details on the phone are encrypted, with the key held in the phone’s secure storage.
No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal information, we will tell you and the regulator where the law requires it.
11. Your rights
Under UK data protection law (and the EU GDPR if you live in the EU), you have the right to:
- access the personal information we hold about you and get a copy of it;
- correct information that is wrong or incomplete (you can edit your name and stage in the app);
- delete your information (see section 9);
- restrict or object to how we use it;
- data portability: receive the information you gave us in a machine-readable format;
- withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on it.
To use any of these rights, email contact@softlyaffirmation.com. Because accounts are anonymous, please include the Account ID shown at the bottom of the Settings screen so we can find your data. We will reply within one month and will not charge you.
If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, please talk to us first. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk (0303 123 1113), or to the data protection authority where you live.
12. If you live in the United States
Some US states, including California, give residents extra privacy rights. In the past 12 months we have collected the categories of information described in section 2: identifiers (the anonymous account ID and IP address), personal information you give us (your first name), sensitive personal information (pregnancy or postpartum stage, which you choose to give us), app activity, and photos you choose to upload. We collect these only for the purposes described above.
We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. We do not use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you. You have the right to know what we hold, to correct it and to delete it, and we will not treat you differently for using these rights. Contact us as described in section 11.
13. Children
Softly is made for adults and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13 (or the minimum age in your country). If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.
14. This website
softlyaffirmation.com does not use cookies, analytics or tracking. It loads fonts from Google Fonts, which receives your IP address in order to send the font files. Our website host may record standard server logs, such as IP addresses and pages requested, for security.
15. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when the app or the law changes. We will change the date at the top of this page, and if a change significantly affects how we use your information, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect.
16. Contact us
Proficient Eco Limited
Unit 82a James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St Edmunds, IP28 7DE, United Kingdom