Important note: this policy is split into two parts. Part 1 covers features that exist in the app today. Part 2 covers features that are planned but not yet built (sign-in, analytics, crash reporting, ads). Part 2 is not yet in effect.
Contact us at after.support@gmail.com with any questions.
Depending on which features you use, you may enter: your name and pronouns; one or more anchors' names and phone numbers (people notified if you reach out to your ex or break no-contact — you may select these from your device Contacts); your ex's name and receipts & standards entries; journal content including written entries, saved-but-unsent drafts, voice recordings, photos, and letters to your future self; an optional personal photo; photos and playlists you choose to review or remove in the clean-out section (including connecting your Spotify account); daily check-in data (mood, sleep, eating, drinking, outside-time); your loose ends checklist; your progress/mood entries; and any feedback text you choose to send us.
You can delete any of this information at any time within the App, or remove all of it by uninstalling the App. Feedback you've already sent to us is retained on our server as described in Section 5; contact us to request its deletion.
| Permission | Why we ask |
|---|---|
| Location (foreground only) | Used momentarily to detect whether you're outdoors, for the daily check-in. Not stored or transmitted. |
| Camera | Used only when you choose to photograph a page from a physical journal or notebook to attach to a journal entry or letter. Not transmitted anywhere — stored locally like any other journal content. |
| Microphone | Used only when you actively record a voice note. |
| Photo Library | Used to select a photo for "I am," to attach a photo to a journal entry or letter, and to browse/manage photos in the clean-out section. We do not receive copies of your photos. |
| Contacts | Used only to select your anchors' names and phone numbers. We don't read, store, or transmit any other contacts. |
| Notifications | Used to schedule local daily reminders (e.g. check-in, journal prompts) directly on your device. These are scheduled on-device — we don't operate a push notification server, and no data is sent to us through this. |
The content described in Section 2 — your journal, voice notes, photos, letters, anchor information, receipts, and check-in data — is stored locally on your device. We cannot see, access, back up, or recover it, because it never reaches us in the first place, with the two narrow exceptions in Section 5. Deleting the App permanently deletes all locally stored After data.
We operate a lightweight backend server for a small number of specific features. It does not have a database of your personal content — the only things it ever receives, and what happens to each, are described below.
Mood insights. If you're a Premium subscriber, the Progress tab automatically generates a short written observation about your recent patterns. To do this, we send your check-in data — mood scores as plain numbers (0–4), your no-contact streak, days using the app, check-in count, and days marked no-contact or relapsed — to Anthropic's Claude API, which writes the observation. No journal text, voice notes, or anything you've written is included. This request is not logged or stored on our server; it exists only for the moment it takes to generate your insight.
AI song suggestions. In the music detox section, you can optionally enable AI-generated suggestions for songs similar to ones you're avoiding. This is off by default and only turns on if you explicitly opt in, after being shown what it sends. When you request suggestions, the titles and artists of the songs you've quarantined or marked "healing" (not your journal, mood, or anything else) are sent to Anthropic's Claude API to generate similar suggestions. This request is not logged or stored on our server.
Feedback. If you use the in-app feedback box, the text you write is sent to and stored on our server so we can read it. Unlike the two features above, feedback text is retained (not just transiently processed) until we act on it or you ask us to delete it. Don't include anything in feedback you wouldn't want stored — it's the one place in the App where written text is not kept only on your device.
Both AI features call Anthropic's Claude API to generate their responses; Anthropic processes that request under its own privacy policy. Both endpoints are rate-limited per device and contain no data that identifies you personally beyond your IP address, which is used only for that rate limit and is not stored.
The "Contact anchor" and "I broke contact" features draft a text message and open your device's native Messages app, addressed to your anchor's phone number. This message is sent directly from your device through your own carrier — it does not pass through, or get logged by, any server operated by After. By entering someone's contact information as your anchor, you confirm you have their permission to store their information for this purpose and to message them through the App.
If you connect your Spotify account, After uses Spotify's official authentication to access playlist information you authorize. We do not store your Spotify credentials — authentication is handled by Spotify directly. Your use of Spotify through After is also subject to Spotify's Privacy Policy.
Payment is processed entirely by Apple through the App Store and your Apple ID. After does not receive or store your payment card details. We use a subscription-management provider to manage subscription status and entitlements, which may receive a device identifier and purchase/subscription status (not payment details).
Because almost all of your personal content is stored locally rather than transmitted to us, protecting your device (passcode, Face ID/Touch ID) is the primary safeguard for your data. For the limited data described in Section 5, we rely on standard transport encryption (HTTPS) and our infrastructure provider's security practices; the AI requests themselves are not stored by us, and feedback text is stored on infrastructure we control and do not share with third parties beyond what's needed to host it.
You can access or review your data by opening the relevant section in the App, delete specific entries using the delete controls within each section, or delete all locally stored data by uninstalling the App. To request deletion of feedback you've sent us, email after.support@gmail.com. If you're located somewhere with data protection laws (EU/UK, California, etc.) and have questions about how these rights apply, contact the same address.
After is rated 16+ and is not intended for children. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under the required age.
After is a self-guided personal tool, not a medical, psychological, or crisis service, and cannot respond in an emergency. If you're in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, contact a crisis line (in the US: call or text 988) or emergency services in your area.
The following are planned but not yet built: account sign-in (with Sign in with Apple offered alongside any third-party option), analytics, crash reporting, and advertising. This Privacy Policy will be updated to reflect each of these before they become active in the App.