Privacy Policy
Last updated September 23, 2026 · applies to the frienminder beta
The short version
- frienminder helps you keep in touch with friends. To do that, it needs to know when you're busy, not what you're doing. It never uploads the titles, notes or attendees of your calendar events.
- Phone numbers, yours and your contacts', are scrambled on your phone before anything is sent. We never see or store a raw phone number.
- How often you want to see each friend is private. Your friends never see your goal for them.
- We don't sell your information, show ads, or use analytics or tracking tools.
- You can delete your account and everything we hold about you from inside the app, at any time.
What we collect and why
Your account
Your email address and password, used only to sign you in and to email you a code if you forget your password. Your password is stored only in scrambled (hashed) form, so we can't read it. Your email is never shown to other users.
Your profile
The name you type, the home city you enter (turned into approximate map coordinates and a metro area such as "Washington, DC"), and your phone's time zone. We use these to show you to friends, to tell whether a friend is close enough to meet up or better for a call, and to suggest times in the right time zone. frienminder never tracks your location.
Your phone number
You enter your mobile number so friends who have it saved can find you. Your phone scrambles it with a one-way function before sending, and our server scrambles it again with a secret key before storing it. We keep only that scrambled version. It can't be turned back into your number, and it's never shown to anyone, including you.
Your contacts
If you allow contacts access, the app scrambles your contacts' phone numbers on your phone and sends only those scrambled values to check which of your contacts are on frienminder. Nothing from that check is stored.
If you choose to add or invite a specific contact, we keep their scrambled number and the name you've saved for them, so frienminder can remind you to reach out and connect you when they join. We keep these only for the people you pick, never your whole address book. Contacts' street addresses, used to spot friends near a place you're traveling to, are read only on your phone and never sent.
Your calendar
If you allow calendar access, the app reads your calendar on your phone and sends two things:
- Busy times: the start and end times of busy periods for about the next six weeks, so frienminder can find times you and a friend are both free. Past busy periods are deleted the next time your app syncs.
- Trips: when an event looks like travel (for example "Flight to Chicago"), the app works out the destination on your phone and sends only the city, its approximate coordinates, the dates, and the calendar's internal ID for that event, so updates to the same trip are recognized. The event's actual title and text are not sent.
Event titles, descriptions, attendees, notes and exact addresses never leave your phone.
Friends and activity
- Who you're friends with, pending friend requests, and anyone you've blocked.
- Your goal for how often to connect with each friend or contact, and any break you've set. These are private to you.
- Catch-ups you log (the date and whether it was a call or a get-together), and any note you add. Notes are private to you; friends never see them.
- Plans you propose or accept, and your answers when a friend says they're coming to your town.
- Who invited you, if you joined through an invite. We use this to understand how the beta spreads.
Notifications
If you allow notifications, we store a push token for your phone, a random identifier that lets us send it notifications. We also keep a record of the notifications we send you (their text and when they were sent) so you don't get the same one twice.
Invites
When you invite someone, the invite text is sent from your own Messages app. frienminder doesn't send texts and doesn't store the message.
What your friends can and can't see
| Friends can see | Friends can't see |
|---|---|
| Your name and home metro area | Your email, phone number, or exact home location |
| Times you're both free, when frienminder suggests getting together | Your calendar or what you're busy with |
| When you two last caught up | Your notes about a catch-up |
| Your trip's city and dates, only if you choose to let them know | How often you want to see them |
| — | Whether you declined, paused, removed or blocked them (these are silent) |
Someone who already has your phone number saved can see that you're on frienminder, as with most messaging apps.
Services that handle data for us
frienminder uses a few companies to run the app. They process data only to provide their service:
- Supabase hosts our database and sign-in, in the United States. Everything described above is stored there.
- Expo and Apple deliver push notifications. They receive your push token and the notification's text, which can include a friend's first name.
- Apple also turns place names (your home city, or a trip's destination) into map coordinates on your iPhone. Apple receives the place name, not your location.
- Resend sends password-reset emails. It receives your email address and the one-time code.
How we protect it
Data travels over encrypted connections. The app can reach your information only through a fixed set of server functions, each of which checks who's asking. Nobody's app can read the database directly. Phone numbers are stored only in scrambled form, with a secret key kept on the server.
How long we keep it
- Busy times: only upcoming ones are used; past ones are deleted whenever your app next syncs, and all of them when you delete your account.
- Friend requests that go unanswered: they fade from both people's lists after 60 days.
- Everything else: for as long as you have an account.
Your choices
- Turn off access to your calendar, contacts or notifications at any time in your iPhone's Settings. frienminder keeps working with less information.
- Change your name, phone number or home city in the app's Settings.
- Delete your account in the app: Settings → Delete account. This permanently removes your login and everything frienminder holds about you. Friends aren't notified; you simply stop appearing for them.
Children
The beta is for invited adults. frienminder isn't meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has an account, contact us and we'll delete it.
Changes
frienminder is in beta and may change. If we change how we handle your information, we'll update this page and the date at the top, and tell beta testers about significant changes.
Contact
Questions or requests: privacy@frienminder.com