Privacy Policy

Overview

Folio is a quiet digital notebook for closing the day, developed by PurposeLab Studio. We believe your words are yours alone. This policy explains what data we collect (very little), how we handle it, and your rights.

This policy applies to both the Android (Google Play) and iOS (App Store) versions of Folio.

Data We Collect

Folio does not require an account, email address, phone number, or name to use its core features. If you choose to send feedback, you may optionally provide an email address so we can reply.

The App collects the following limited data:

• Crash reports (via Firebase Crashlytics) — Stack traces and device metadata when the app crashes. This data cannot identify individual users. No journal content is ever included.
• Basic usage analytics (via Firebase Analytics) — Anonymous, aggregated events such as screen views and feature usage patterns. No PII or journal content is collected. Advertising ID collection is disabled. Anonymized user properties (such as active palette, acquisition source, and feature-usage buckets) are set for aggregate analytics — none contain journal text or PII.
• Install attribution (Android only, via Play Install Referrer) — On first launch, the App reads the install referral parameters (UTM source, medium, campaign) provided by Google Play. This is a one-time, anonymous read used solely to understand how users discover Folio. No PII is collected.
• Feedback and support notes (optional, via Cloud Firestore) — If you tap “Share your thoughts” and press Send, we receive the note you typed, its category, an optional reply-to email, app version, platform, locale, submission identifier, and submission time. We use this only to answer support requests and improve Folio. Journal entries and other notebook content are never attached.

Data Storage

Your journal entries, moods, habits and marks, monthly themes, tags, bookmarks, things to do, photographs, voice notes, and preferences are stored locally in Folio's private app sandbox. The operating system protects the app sandbox and device storage; you can also enable Folio's App Lock.

By default, notebook content stays on your device. It leaves only when you deliberately choose one of these actions: back up to your personal cloud account, export a copy, or share something through another app. For export and sharing, you choose the destination and that destination's privacy terms apply.

Home screen widgets: If you add Folio widgets to your home screen, a subset of your data (recent entries, habit marks, moods, open todo titles, and palette colours) is shared from the App to the widget extension through on-device shared storage (SharedPreferences on Android, App Group container on iOS). This widget data is not sent to Folio or PurposeLab servers.

Purchases & Entitlements

When you make an in-app purchase or subscribe to Folio Plus, the transaction is processed entirely by Apple (via StoreKit) or Google (via Play Billing). Folio never sees, collects, or stores your payment card details, billing address, or financial information.

Locally on your device, the App stores your entitlement status (e.g. "purchased", "subscribed", relevant dates) so it can unlock paid features offline. This information is not transmitted to any server. There is no server-side receipt validation — the App trusts the purchase confirmation delivered by the platform store.

Founding Circle (Cloud Firestore)

Folio offers a limited, free Founding Circle membership to early users. Claiming a membership increments a single anonymous global counter stored in Google Cloud Firestore (document path: counters/founding). This counter contains only a running integer — no user IDs, emails, names, journal content, or any other identifying information is written. The interaction is a one-time atomic increment; no ongoing connection to Firestore is maintained.

Feedback & Support (Cloud Firestore)

Sending feedback is optional and always initiated by you. Your note is stored in Cloud Firestore and reviewed by PurposeLab for support and product improvement; Folio does not provide an in-app screen for browsing submissions. If the network is unavailable, the note is kept in the App's private on-device storage and retried later. Choosing “Erase everything” deletes any feedback still waiting on the device.

Feedback is normally retained for up to 12 months for support and product-improvement purposes. If you included an email address, you may request early deletion by contacting us from that address and providing the approximate submission date. Anonymous notes may not be identifiable after submission.

Backup & Sync

If you enable backup, Folio copies your notebook only to the personal Google Drive or iCloud account you choose. A backup can contain journal entries, moods, habits, themes, tags, bookmarks, things to do, photographs, voice notes, and the settings needed to restore the notebook. Folio stores these as a database snapshot and separate attachment files.

Google Drive Backup (Android & iOS): Backup files are transferred directly between your device and a visible Folio Backups folder in your personal Google Drive. Folio requests the limited Drive access needed to create, read, and remove the backup files it manages.

iCloud Backup (iOS): Backup files are transferred between your device and Folio's private folder in your personal iCloud Drive account.

PurposeLab cannot browse or read either personal account. Notebook content is never sent to Folio or PurposeLab servers, and it is not shared with unrelated third parties. Google or Apple stores the copy you asked for under the terms and security of the account you chose.

Backup is optional. Folio's core writing, attachment, habit, mood, and todo features work offline without a backup account.

Authentication

Google Sign-In: Used solely to authenticate your identity for Google Drive backup and restore. We access only your basic profile (name and email) to display which account is connected. We do not store your Google credentials, and your account information is not transmitted to our servers or used for any other purpose. You can disconnect at any time from the App's settings.

Remote Configuration

On launch, the App fetches a small static configuration file from GitHub Pages (a PurposeLab-controlled URL) to check for available updates and feature announcements. No user data, device identifiers, or journal content is sent in this request — it is a simple HTTPS GET. The response is cached locally for approximately 12 hours.

Permissions

The App may request the following permissions:

• Notifications (Android 13+ / iOS) — To send a gentle evening reminder to write your daily page. You can deny or disable this at any time in device Settings.
• Biometric / Face ID / Device Credentials — Only requested if you enable App Lock. Used solely to authenticate you locally — no biometric data is collected, stored, or transmitted by the App.
• Selected photographs — Folio uses the Android or iOS system photo picker, so you choose each photograph the App may import. Folio does not request broad access to your photo library. Imported photographs are resized, converted to JPEG, and stored without location, camera, or other embedded metadata.
• Microphone — Requested only when you choose to record a voice note. Recordings are stored locally by default and are included only in a backup you explicitly enable to your personal Google Drive or iCloud account.
• Internet Access — Required only for optional backup (Google Drive / iCloud), in-app purchases, Founding Circle claim, feedback you choose to send, remote configuration, and crash/analytics reporting. The core journaling experience works fully offline.

Third-Party Services

• Firebase Crashlytics (Google) — Anonymous crash reports to help us fix bugs. No PII is collected. Advertising ID collection is disabled.
• Firebase Analytics (Google) — Anonymous, aggregated usage events and user properties. No PII or journal content is collected.
• Cloud Firestore (Google) — Used for the anonymous Founding Circle counter and for feedback/support notes you explicitly send. Feedback may contain an optional reply-to email and the limited technical context listed above; it never includes journal content automatically.
• Google Sign-In — Authentication for Google Drive backup only. Basic profile info (name, email) is used locally to show the connected account.
• Google Drive API — Used only if you opt into Google Drive backup. Folio creates and reads the backup files it manages in your personal Drive.
• Apple iCloud Drive — Used only if you opt into iCloud backup on iOS. Folio stores backup files in its private iCloud container.
• Google Play Billing / Apple StoreKit — Used for subscriptions or one-time purchases. Google/Apple processes payment information directly — Folio never sees or stores your payment details.
• Play Install Referrer (Google, Android only) — One-time anonymous read of install referral parameters on first launch.
• In-App Update (Google, Android only) — Checks for available app updates via the Play Store. No user data is shared.

Data Sharing

We do not sell or trade your data, serve advertisements, or use ad tracking or retargeting. Your notebook is never sent to Folio or PurposeLab servers or shared with unrelated third parties. Google or Apple receives notebook content only as the storage provider for a backup you explicitly place in the personal account you choose.

Analytics, crash reports, the anonymous Founding counter, and feedback you choose to send are separate from notebook backup and are processed by Google Firebase under its data-processing terms. Folio never attaches journal text, todo titles, photographs, voice recordings, tags, moods, or habit names to analytics, crash reports, or feedback automatically.

Children's Privacy

Folio is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. A parent or guardian who believes a child submitted feedback can contact us to request deletion.

Your Rights

You have full control over your data:

• Delete app data — Clear the app's storage in your device Settings, or uninstall the app.
• Delete Google Drive backup — Use Folio's backup controls to remove the copies it manages, or remove the Folio Backups folder from your personal Drive.
• Delete iCloud backup — Use Folio's backup controls to remove the copies it manages, or manage Folio's iCloud storage through iOS Settings.
• Revoke Google Sign-In — Disconnect from the App's settings, or revoke access from your Google Account permissions page.
• Cancel subscriptions — Manage or cancel your Folio Plus subscription at any time through your device's account settings (App Store or Google Play).
• Delete submitted feedback — Contact us from the optional email included with the note and provide the approximate submission date. Feedback still queued on your phone is deleted by “Erase everything,” clearing app storage, or uninstalling.

Data Retention

Crash reports and analytics data are retained by Firebase according to the configured retention period, normally up to 90 days. Feedback is normally retained for up to 12 months unless it is needed longer to resolve an active support issue or meet a legal obligation. The Founding Circle counter is a single integer with no expiry and contains no personal information.

Security

Your journal data is stored in the app's private sandboxed storage, inaccessible to other apps. If you enable App Lock, biometric or device credential authentication is required to access the app. Backup transfers use encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS), and the copy is protected by the personal Google or Apple account you chose. Folio does not add separate end-to-end encryption to backup files, and App Lock does not encrypt the cloud copy. Anyone who can access that cloud account may be able to access its Folio backup files.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, contact us at: purposelab.studio@gmail.com

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of the App constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.