Privacy Policy

Introduction

This Privacy Policy describes the types of personal information StoryBound Tech LLC and its affiliates (collectively, "StoryBound," "we," or "us") collects, as well as how it's used, disclosed, protected, and retained through our websites, mobile applications, social media pages on third-party platforms, email, text, and any offline business interactions you have with us (collectively, our "Services"). It also explains your privacy choices and rights, as well as how to exercise them.

When you visit our websites, use our mobile applications, and use our Services, you trust us with your personal information. We take your privacy very seriously. In this Privacy Policy, we describe our privacy practices. We seek to explain to you in the clearest way possible what information we collect, how we use it, and what rights you have in relation to it.

By accessing or using our Services, you signify your acceptance of this Privacy Policy and consent to the collection, use, disclosure, and other handling of your personal information as described herein. If there are any terms in this Privacy Policy that you do not agree with, please discontinue use of our Services immediately.

Collection of Personal Information

We collect and process different types of information about you, including information that identifies, relates to, describes, or can be associated with you (known as "personal information"). This includes information that we collect directly from you, through automated collection technologies, from other sources, or personal information we derive based on other types of personal information we collect.

Personal Information You Disclose to Us

Name and Contact Data. We collect your first and last name, email address, postal address, phone number, and other similar contact data.

Payment Data. We collect data necessary to process your payment if you make purchases, such as your payment instrument number and the security code associated with your payment instrument. All payment data is stored by Stripe. You may find their privacy policy at: Stripe Privacy Policy.

Account Information. We collect your username, password (stored securely), profile photo, and account preferences.

Journal and Content Data. We collect information you choose to provide through our journaling apps, including text entries, uploaded photos, milestones, and other content you create within our Services.

Communications. We collect information when you contact us for support, provide feedback, or communicate with us through the Services.

Information Automatically Collected

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the Services. This information does not reveal your specific identity but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Services, and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Services, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies. See our "Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies" section below for more details.

Use of Personal Information

We use personal information collected via our Services for a variety of business purposes. We process your personal information in reliance on our legitimate business interests, in order to enter into or perform a contract with you, with your consent, and/or for compliance with our legal obligations.

We use the information we collect or receive to:

• Provide and maintain our Services. We use your information to deliver the core functionality of our apps, including journaling, photo storage, and content features.
• Fulfill and manage your orders. We may use your information to fulfill and manage your orders, payments, returns, and exchanges.
• Send you marketing and promotional communications. We may use the personal information you send to us for our marketing purposes, if this is in accordance with your marketing preferences. You can opt out at any time.
• Send you notifications. We may send you service-related notifications, updates, and communications (with your consent where required by law).
• Request feedback. We may use your information to request feedback and to contact you about your use of our Services.
• Improve our apps and develop new features. We analyze usage patterns to enhance our Services and create new features.
• Respond to your support requests. We use your information to respond to your inquiries and solve any potential issues.
• Enforce our terms, conditions, and policies. We may use your information for business purposes, legal reasons, and contractual obligations.
• Respond to legal requests and prevent harm. If we receive a subpoena or other legal request, we may need to inspect the data we hold to determine how to respond.

We may use and store information in aggregated and anonymized form so that it is not associated with individual end users and does not include personal information. We will not use identifiable personal information without your consent.

Disclosures of Personal Information

We may process or share data based on the following legal basis:

• Consent: We may process your data if you have given us specific consent to use your personal information for a specific purpose.
• Legitimate Interests: We may process your data when it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests.
• Performance of a Contract: Where we have entered into a contract with you, we may process your personal information to fulfill the terms of our contract.
• Legal Obligations: We may disclose your information where we are legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process.
• Vital Interests: We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person, and illegal activities.

More specifically, we may need to process your data or share your personal information in the following situations:

• Vendors, consultants, and other third-party service providers. We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. Examples include: payment processing (Stripe), data storage and hosting (Supabase, Vercel), email delivery, customer service, and marketing efforts.
• Business transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes.

Retention of Personal Information

We retain your personal information only for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or allowed by law. When we determine that we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will take steps to delete, anonymize, or aggregate it.

The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:

• The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you and provide the Services to you
• Whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject
• Whether retention is advisable in light of our legal position (such as in regard to applicable statutes of limitations, litigation, or regulatory investigations)

You can delete your account at any time through your account settings, which will permanently remove all associated data, including all content, journal entries, and photos.

Data Security

We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process, including:

• Secure connections (HTTPS/TLS) for all data transmission
• Secure authentication systems
• Regular security audits
• Limited access to personal information on a need-to-know basis
• Secure infrastructure provided by industry-leading cloud services

However, please also remember that we cannot guarantee that the internet itself is 100 percent secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk. You should only access the Services within a secure environment.

Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

Cookies are files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit certain pages on the internet or use certain applications. They can be used to "remember" when your computer or device accesses our Services.

Most cookies won't collect information like a name or email address that directly identifies you as a person and will instead be used to collect more general information such as how visitors arrive at and use our Services.

Categories of Cookies

• Strictly Necessary Cookies. These cookies are necessary for the website to function. They are usually only set in response to actions you take, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in, or filling in forms.
• Performance Cookies. These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our Services.
• Functional Cookies. These cookies enable the Services to provide enhanced functionality and personalization, including remembering your preferences and maintaining your session.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of our Services.

Third-Party Services

Our Services integrate with third-party providers who have their own privacy policies:

• Stripe: For payment processing. We do not store credit card information. All payment data is handled directly by Stripe in accordance with PCI compliance standards.
• Supabase: For database and authentication services. Data is stored on secure servers with encryption.
• Vercel: For hosting and content delivery. May collect basic analytics for performance monitoring.

We encourage you to review the privacy policies of these third-party services to understand how they handle your information.

California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), including:

• The right to know what personal information we collect about you
• The right to know whether we sell or share your personal information (we do not)
• The right to request deletion of your personal information
• The right to opt out of the sale of your personal information (not applicable as we do not sell personal information)
• The right to non-discrimination for exercising your CCPA rights

To exercise these rights, please contact us at hello@storyboundtech.com.

International Data Transfers

Please be advised the Services are hosted in the United States. If you access the Services from the European Union, Asia, or any other region of the world with laws governing personal data collection, use, or disclosure that differ from applicable laws in the United States, then through your continued use of the Services, you are transferring your data to the United States, and you expressly consent to have your data transferred to and processed in the United States.

Your information may be transferred to and maintained on servers located outside of your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where data protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.

Use of Services by Minors

We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to individuals under 13 years of age. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 13 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent's use of the Services.

If we learn that personal information from users less than 13 years of age has been collected, we will take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we have collected from individuals under age 13, please contact us at hello@storyboundtech.com.

User-Generated Content

You retain all rights to the content you create and upload through our Services, including journal entries, photos, and other materials. By using our Services, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive license to:

• Store and back up your content
• Display your content back to you within the Services
• Process your content to provide our Services

We will never use your personal content for marketing or advertising, or share it with third parties without your explicit consent, except as required by law.

Your Privacy Rights

You have the right to:

• Access your personal information
• Correct inaccurate data
• Request deletion of your data
• Export your data in a portable format
• Opt out of certain communications
• Withdraw consent for data processing

Cookies and similar technologies: Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to do so, this could affect certain features or services of our Services.

Controls for Do-Not-Track Features

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems include a Do-Not-Track ("DNT") feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected.

No uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this Privacy Policy.

Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, StoryBound Tech LLC shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenues, whether incurred directly or indirectly, or any loss of data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses resulting from your use of our Services.

Governing Law

This Privacy Policy shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States and the State of Maryland, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes arising under or in connection with this Privacy Policy shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in Maryland.

Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last Updated" legend at the bottom of this page indicates when this Privacy Policy was last revised. Any changes will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy on the Services.

We will notify you if the policy changes in any material way by placing a prominent notice on our website or providing additional notice through the app or via email.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, requests, concerns, complaints, or suggestions about this Privacy Policy, or otherwise need to contact us, please reach out at: