Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 16, 2026

GatherHour is a group scheduling app: you tell it when you’re free, and it tells your groups when you all match. This policy explains what we collect, why, and what happens to it. The short version: we collect only what the product needs to work, we don’t run ads, we don’t sell data, and you can delete your account — and everything personal in it — from inside the app at any time.

What we collect

• Account: your email address (used to sign in with one-time codes — we never store a password), a username, an optional display name, your timezone, and your quiet-hours preference.
• Availability: the routines and free-time slots you enter, and which groups you choose to share them with. Group members see the times where your availability overlaps with theirs; your individual scoping choices (for example, excluding a group) are never shown to anyone.
• Groups and plans: the groups you belong to, invites you create, plans you propose or respond to, and the matches the app computes for your groups.
• Messages: what you write in your group chats, visible to the members of that group.
• Device: a push notification token and platform (iOS/Android) so we can send you notifications, and a log of the notifications we sent you.
• Technical: We store IP addresses with sign-in request records to rate-limit sign-in attempts. The website sets no cookies and uses no analytics or tracking.

How we use it

Only to run the service: computing when your groups match, delivering notifications and sign-in emails, and showing your groups the plans and messages you share with them. We do not sell or rent your data, show ads, or use your data for advertising or profiling of any kind.

Who processes it

Your data lives on servers we rent from Hetzner (EU). Two other processors touch specific pieces: Google Firebase Cloud Messaging delivers push notifications (it handles your device token and the notification content), and Resend delivers our sign-in code emails (it handles your email address). No other third party receives your data.

Deleting your account

In the app: Profile → Delete account. This permanently deletes your personal data — availability, devices, sign-in tokens, plan responses, notification history. Messages you wrote and plans you proposed remain visible to your groups as part of their history, but with your name removed (“deleted user”). Groups you owned pass to their longest-standing member; groups where you were the only member are deleted entirely. Deletion is immediate and cannot be undone.

Retention

We keep your data for as long as you have an account. Invites expire after 7 days. Sign-in codes expire after 10 minutes and are stored hashed; their associated request records are used for rate limiting.

Children

GatherHour is not directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we’ll delete it.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, we’ll say so in the app before the change takes effect. The date at the top always reflects the current version.

Contact

Questions or requests about your data: [email protected].