Phill — Privacy Policy

Effective date: [EFFECTIVE DATE]

This Privacy Policy explains what information the sole proprietor ("Phill," "we," "us") collects when you use phill.chat and the Service, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. By using Phill, you agree to this Policy.

Plain-terms summary: We collect your email, what you write (journal entries and conversations), and basic usage analytics. We send what you write to our AI provider so the characters can respond. We do not train AI on your content, and we do not sell your data. We don't routinely read your entries — only when we truly have to (legal reasons, disputes, security, or safety). You can delete your account and data anytime.

1. Information we collect

• Account information: your email address (and any name you choose to provide) for signup, login, and account management.
• Your Content: your journal entries and your conversations with the AI characters, including in Council conversations.
• Payment information: handled by Stripe. We receive limited billing details (such as subscription status and the last four digits/brand of your card) but we do not store your full card number — Stripe does.
• Usage and analytics data: how you interact with Phill (pages/features used, actions, session and device/browser info, approximate location from IP), collected via PostHog to understand and improve the Service.
• Safety signals: automated screening (see Section 5) may generate limited "safety event" records (such as a category and timestamp) used to route you to help and to keep the Service safe.
• Cookies: essential cookies and analytics cookies only — see our Cookie Notice. No advertising or marketing cookies.

2. How we use your information

We use your information to:

• provide and operate the Service — including sending Your Content to our AI provider (Anthropic) to generate the characters' responses;
• create and manage your account and authenticate you;
• process subscriptions, payments, trials, and renewals (via Stripe);
• run automated safety screening and, where appropriate, show you crisis-support resources;
• understand usage and improve the Service (via PostHog);
• communicate with you about your account, billing, security, and important changes;
• protect the Service, enforce our Terms, prevent fraud and abuse, and comply with the law.

3. We do not train AI on your content

We do not use Your Content to train, fine-tune, or improve any AI model, and our AI provider does not use content sent through our account to train its models under the commercial terms we use. Your entries and conversations are sent to the AI only to generate the response you asked for.

4. When we access your content

Your entries and conversations are private to your account. We do not routinely read them. We access Your Content only where reasonably necessary to:

• comply with a legal obligation, court order, or valid legal request;
• investigate or resolve a dispute, or enforce our Terms;
• detect, prevent, or address security, fraud, or technical problems; or
• protect the safety or rights of you or others.

5. Automated safety screening (and its limits)

To help keep users safe, messages you send may be automatically screened by software to detect signs of a crisis or serious risk. If something is flagged, the app may step out of character and show you crisis-support resources, and we may log a limited, content-light safety record (for example, a risk category and timestamp) for safety and audit purposes.

Important: this screening is automated, not human monitoring. We do not continuously watch your conversations, we cannot catch everything, and this feature is not a monitoring, emergency, or intervention service. It does not create any duty for us to act, and it is not a substitute for professional help or emergency services (see our Not-Therapy Disclaimer).

6. Who we share information with (service providers)

We share information only with vendors who help us run Phill, under agreements that limit their use of it. We do not sell your personal information. Our main providers:

We may also disclose information if required by law, to enforce our Terms, in connection with a merger or sale of our business (with notice), or to protect rights and safety.

7. International data transfers

Phill and our providers process and store data in the United States. If you access Phill from outside the US, you understand your information will be transferred to and processed in the US, where privacy laws may differ from those in your location.

8. How long we keep your information

We keep Your Content and account information until you delete it or delete your account. When you delete content or your account, we remove it from our active systems; residual copies may persist briefly in routine backups before being overwritten. We may retain limited records longer where required for legal, tax, accounting, security, or dispute-resolution purposes (for example, billing records).

9. Your rights and choices

• Delete: you can delete your account and associated content at any time in your account settings. This is a full deletion, subject to the limited retention above.
• Access / correct: you can view and update your account information in-app, or contact us.
• Analytics: see our Cookie Notice for cookie/analytics choices.
• Regional rights: depending on where you live, you may have additional rights (such as to access, correct, delete, or port your data, or to object to certain processing). To exercise any right, email [legal@DOMAIN] — we'll respond as required by applicable law. We won't discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

10. Security and breach notification

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information (including access controls and encryption in transit and at rest through our providers). No system is perfectly secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security. If a data breach affects your personal information, we will notify you and any regulators as required by applicable law, without undue delay.

11. Children

Phill is for users 16 and older, and users under 18 must have a parent or guardian's agreement (see our age requirement at signup). We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child under 16 has given us information, contact [legal@DOMAIN] and we'll delete it.

12. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy. If changes are material, we'll take reasonable steps to notify you. The "Effective date" shows the latest version; continued use means you accept it.

13. Contact

Privacy questions or requests: [legal@DOMAIN] · the sole proprietor, phill.chat.