Softly NotedPrivacy
Privacy policy
How Softly Noted handles your data.
Updated October 29, 2026 · Covers app version 1.0.0
The short version
Your journal stays on your device. Softly Noted works local-first. There are no advertising SDKs and no cross-app or advertising tracking. Signing in uses a free account, and what you write is not sent to JPott Studios. When the app's optional server configuration is present, Softly Noted can send anonymous usage counts how often a feature is used, plus app version and platform, tied to a random per-install tag that is not linked to any account or person. These counts never include your journal entries, moods, notes, photos, audio, name, or location. The app asks you once whether to share anonymous usage. Nothing is sent unless you say yes, you can change it anytime in Settings, and sending happens at most once per day. With the same switch on, the phone app also sends anonymous app use (which screens are opened, how long the app is open, and steps such as viewing Premium or finishing a purchase) and crash reports to our analytics service, PostHog, in the United States. This never includes your name, email, journal entries, moods, or anything you write, and IP addresses are not stored. The same “Share anonymous usage” switch in Settings turns it off.
Network processing happens only when a feature that needs it is used, verifying a subscription with the app store, or optional encrypted sync if you turn it on.
What Softly Noted stores on your device
The app keeps the following in private app storage on your phone:
- Journal entries, moods, and the factors you attach to a day
- Notes you write and photos you choose
- Reminder choices and theme
- App-lock settings, if you set one up
- Onboarding state and widget data
- Local activity counters used to power your own progress display
These power your own in-app progress display. Only the anonymous counts, app use and crash reports described above ever leave the device, and only with “Share anonymous usage” on; your entries never do.
Encryption on your device
Your journal records are encrypted at rest with a key specific to this device.
Photos are handled differently from your writing. When you choose a photo, Softly Noted copies it into the app's private documents area on your device. The app does not claim those image files are separately encrypted at rest. They are protected by your device's own storage protections and any app lock you set.
You can add a PIN, or use biometrics where your device supports it, so the app locks whenever it leaves the foreground. Face or fingerprint matching is done by the operating system, the app only receives the result. Encryption reduces exposure, but no security measure is perfect. Keep your device, passcode, and backup passwords secure.
Optional encrypted sync
Sync is optional and off unless you turn it on. The core app never requires it.
If you enable sync, an account email address and authentication records are processed by the sync provider so the service knows the records are yours. Your journal records are encrypted on your device before they are uploaded. Your local photo files are not uploaded by this flow. You can delete the service copy from the app's sync settings. See the data deletion guide.
A separate sync passphrase may be used to derive an encryption key on your device. If you lose it, encrypted records may be unrecoverable.
Subscriptions
Softly Noted Premium is a monthly or yearly subscription. Apple or Google processes the payment and provides purchase information. The app uses RevenueCat to fetch available products, validate receipts, restore access, and check whether Premium is active.
JPott Studios does not receive your payment-card details. RevenueCat and the app store may process a store receipt, product identifier, subscription status, country or storefront information, and an app-user identifier. See RevenueCat's privacy policy, Apple's privacy policy, and Google's privacy policy.
Permissions
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Notifications | An optional daily reminder that you schedule. You can decline this, or turn it off later in device settings, and the app still works. |
| Photo library | Choose photos to attach to a journal entry. Access is requested when you start the photo feature, and the selected photo is copied into the app's private storage. |
| Biometrics | An optional app lock. Face or fingerprint matching is performed by the operating system; the app receives only the authentication result. You can use a PIN instead, or no lock at all. |
Softly Noted uses the microphone only when you start voice-to-text or save an audio memory, and the camera only when you choose Take photo. It does not request your contacts, location, or calendar.
Exports and backups
You can create a backup, or export a PDF or CSV report, at any time. Your device then offers destinations such as Files, email, messaging, or cloud storage. JPott Studios does not receive that file.
Softly Noted backup files are password-encrypted, and may include your journal photos and audio memories. Keep the password somewhere safe. Without it, the backup cannot be opened, by you or anyone else. PDF and CSV reports are not encrypted and contain readable personal content, so store and send those carefully. Once you save any file somewhere, that destination's own terms and privacy practices apply.
Keeping and deleting data
Local data stays until you delete entries, use the in-app Delete local journal data control, replace data during a restore, or remove the app's data from your device. Operating-system backups and any copies you export are controlled by you and the platform you chose.
If you enabled sync, the app provides a control to delete the service copy. See the data and account deletion guide.
Children
Softly Noted is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under 13. JPott Studios does not knowingly use the app to solicit personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided account information through sync, contact us so we can investigate.
This website and the desktop version
This website and the desktop (browser) version of Softly Noted count visits anonymously so we can see what helps people. Each page view, or tap on a store button, sends a small note: which page, whether the device is a phone, tablet or computer, and on the first page of a visit, the name of the site that sent you here (for example Google or Instagram). It uses no cookies and stores nothing in your browser, and we do not keep your IP address or anything that identifies you. The notes are kept in our own database, hosted by Supabase.
Our web host, Vercel, also counts visits with Vercel Web Analytics, which uses no cookies and does not follow you to other sites. Like any web host, Vercel handles standard request details such as IP address, the page asked for, browser type and time, for security and delivery.
Google Analytics helps us see which articles and pages are read and which app links are used. Its advertising features are turned off and it does not follow you to other sites. If you are in the European Union, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, it stays off until you choose Allow on the small cookie notice; choosing No thanks keeps it off. Everywhere else it is on when the page loads, and it sets Google Analytics cookies to tell a new visit from a returning one. It sends Google the page you viewed, the page that sent you here, taps on app store buttons, and your device type. We never send the full web address with its extra details. You can change your choice at any time with the Cookie choices link at the bottom of every page. Google says GA4 uses IP addresses only to work out a rough location and discards them before the data is stored. Google handles this data under its own Privacy Policy. The desktop (browser) version of the app does not use Google Analytics. The anonymous first-party counter and Vercel Web Analytics described above use no cookies.
Changes and contact
This policy may be updated as features, service providers, or legal requirements change. The published date above changes whenever it is revised.
Privacy questions: jpottstudios@gmail.com. Please don't email journal entries or passwords. General help is on the support page. This policy covers Softly Noted; the other JPott Studios apps have their own at apps.jpottstudios.com/privacy.