Dote privacy policy

Dote exists so two people can share small moments privately. That only works if you can trust where those moments go, so this policy is written to be read: short sections, plain words, nothing hidden in the small print.

Who we are

Dote is made by O9Tech ("we", "us"). For anything in this policy, write to support@dotelove.com. A human reads it.

What we store

Your account. When you start, we create an anonymous account: a random ID, your display name (whatever you type, a nickname is fine), your timezone (so your partner can see your local time), and a device push token with its platform (iOS or Android) so notifications can reach your phone. No email or phone number is required. If you choose Sign in with Apple or Google, we receive the account ID and email address that provider shares, and use them only to sign you in and bring your couple back on a new phone.

What you two share. Photos, notes, drawings, voice notes, moods, reactions, "thinking of you" taps, countdown events (a label, an emoji, a date), and your relationship start date. Photos, drawings and voice notes live in a private storage bucket and are served only through short-lived signed links.

Delivery telemetry. When a moment is delivered we record which couple it belonged to, the moment type, how many milliseconds delivery took, the platform, and whether the app was open at the time. Never the content. We use this to keep widget delivery fast.

Safety reports. If you report something from inside the app, we store the report so we can review and act on it.

Purchases. If you get Dote Plus, payment happens entirely through the App Store or Google Play, so we never see card numbers. We receive your subscription status (product, price, expiry, store identifiers) through our subscription processor, RevenueCat, so Plus can unlock for both of you.

Analytics

To learn which parts of Dote people use and where they get stuck, the app sends usage events to PostHog (hosted in the EU) and Google Analytics for Firebase. An event is something like "app opened", "pairing completed", "photo sent" or "paywall viewed", together with your random account ID and couple ID, your device model, operating system, app version, language and country. Events never contain what you wrote, drew, said or photographed. Screen recording (session replay) is turned off.

If the app crashes, Firebase Crashlytics receives a crash report (the error, device model, operating system, app version and your random account ID) so we can fix it. Firebase Remote Config lets us turn features on or off without an app update.

Ads

If you don't have Dote Plus, you see a small banner ad on the History and Us screens. Ads never appear inside a moment or in the send flow, and your content is never used to choose them. Ads are served by Google AdMob, which may fill them through its partners Unity Ads and Liftoff.

To show and count ads, these networks receive your IP address (from which they can estimate your rough area, like your city), device and app details, and how you interact with the ads. They receive your device's advertising identifier (IDFA on iPhone, Advertising ID on Android) only where you allow it.

• On iPhone, after setup Dote shows a short note about ads, then iOS asks whether Dote may track you. If you allow it, ads can be personalised. If you don't, ads are not personalised and your advertising identifier is not shared. You can change this any time in Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking.
• In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, Google's consent form asks for your choices first. You can change them later in the Us tab under Ad privacy choices.
• On Android, you can reset or delete your Advertising ID in your phone's settings (Google > Ads, or Privacy > Ads).
• Dote Plus removes ads for both of you.

Measuring our own ads

We promote Dote with ads on TikTok. The TikTok Business SDK in the app tells TikTok when Dote is installed and opened and when a few steps happen (creating an account, pairing, starting a trial or buying Plus, with its price and currency), so we can see which of our campaigns work. It sends your device and app details and your IP address, plus your advertising identifier where you allow tracking. Your account ID is linked to these events only where you have agreed to tracking. TikTok never receives your moments.

What we never collect

• No contact-list upload. Ever.
• No GPS or precise location. Your timezone is a setting you choose.
• No browsing history or activity in other apps.
• No recordings of your screen.
• This website sets no cookies, runs no analytics, and loads nothing from third-party servers.

Who can see what

Your partner sees what you share with them, plus your display name, timezone, and current mood. They never see technical details like your push token. That is excluded at the database layer.

Nobody else sees your content. Access is enforced with row-level security scoped to your couple: the rule that "only these two accounts can read these rows" lives in the database itself, not just in the app. Our own access is limited to running the service and reviewing content that has been reported to us.

We do not sell your data for money, and we never share your moments with anyone. The analytics and ad companies listed here receive only the usage, device and ad data described in this policy.

Where your data lives and how it moves

Dote runs on Supabase (managed database and file storage), encrypted in transit and at rest by our providers. To reach your phone quickly, moments travel through the platform push services, Apple Push Notification service on iOS and Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging, so a moment's text and a short-lived link to its image pass through Apple's or Google's delivery systems the same way your other notifications do. This website is served by Cloudflare.

That's the whole list. Each of these companies handles data under its own privacy policy, and some may process it outside your country.

On your phones

So your widget works instantly and offline, the most recent moment (including its image) is cached on both partners' devices in the app's private container. Uninstalling Dote removes it.

How long we keep things, and deletion

• While you're paired: your shared content stays until one of you deletes it or you unpair.
• Deleting a moment removes it from both partners' apps immediately, and the stored record and media are permanently erased within 30 days.
• Unpairing: you'll be offered an export first. Then your couple's data is archived for a 30-day grace window, in case you change your minds: either of you can invite the other to rejoin and everything comes back. After 30 days it is permanently deleted, photos included. Rejoining after that isn't possible, because the deletion is real.
• Deleting your account (Us > Delete account, or by emailing us) removes your account and everything owned by it.
• Delivery telemetry and reports are deleted along with the couple they belong to.
• Analytics events and crash reports are tied to your random account ID, not your name, and are kept for a limited time under each provider's retention settings. Ask us and we'll delete the ones linked to your ID.

Legal bases

Where the law asks us to name one (GDPR and similar laws): we process your content and account data to provide the service you asked for (delivering moments between the two of you); delivery telemetry, analytics, crash reports, safety reports and non-personalised ads under our legitimate interest in keeping Dote working, safe and free; personalised ads, tracking and ad measurement only with your consent (the iOS tracking prompt or Google's consent form), which you can withdraw at any time; and notifications only with the permission you grant in your phone's settings.

Your rights

Wherever you live, we honor GDPR- and CCPA-style rights: ask us to access, export, correct, or delete your data, and we'll do it. Most of this you can do yourself in the app (export, edit your name, unpair, delete account); for anything else, email support@dotelove.com. You can also say no to tracking and personalised ads at any time, as described under Ads.

California: we don't sell personal information for money. Personalised ads may count as "sharing" under California law. You can opt out by declining tracking on iPhone, deleting your Advertising ID on Android, or getting Dote Plus.

If you believe we've mishandled your data, you can complain to your local data-protection authority, but we'd appreciate the chance to fix it first.

Children

Dote is for people in a relationship and is not directed at children under 13 (or the higher minimum age where you live). We don't knowingly collect data from children; if we learn we have, we delete the account.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update this page and its effective date. If a change is material, we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect, not after.

Contact

support@dotelove.com