privacy policy

effective september 23, 2026

the short version: l8ly exists so you can share your week with real friends — not with advertisers, algorithms, or the public. we collect only what the app needs to work, we never sell your data, there are no ads, and you can delete everything with one tap.

what we collect

your phone number. it's how you sign in (via a text-message code) and how friends who already know you can find you. we never display it to other users.
your date of birth. collected once to confirm you're old enough to use l8ly. it's stored privately, never shown to anyone, and never used for anything else.
your profile. the name, username, photo, and day of the week you choose.
your content. the photos, videos, notes, reactions, and comments you add. everything is private to you until your weekly reveal, and even then it's only ever visible to friends you've accepted.
your friendships and invites. who you're connected with, invite codes you create, and who invited you.
contacts — only if you allow it, and they stay on your phone. if you use "find friends," your address book is read and scrambled (hashed) entirely on your device to check for matches. your contact list is never uploaded or stored on our servers. if you also turn on "tell me when my contacts join," we keep only those anonymous fingerprints (never names, notes, or readable numbers) so we can notify you when a contact signs up — you can turn this off anytime, which deletes them.
notification tokens. so we can send the notifications you've turned on (like "your friend's day just revealed"). notifications never contain your private content.
usage and device data. basic analytics (which screens are used, crashes, device type) so we can fix bugs and improve the app.
reports. if you report content or a person, we keep the report so we can act on it.

how we use it

to run l8ly: signing you in, storing your week, revealing it to your friends on your day, sending notifications you've enabled, keeping the community safe, and fixing what breaks. that's the whole list.

who can see your content

l8ly has no public profiles, no followers, and no discover page. your content is visible only to you until your weekly reveal, and after that only to friends you've accepted. server rules enforce this — it's not just an app setting. unfriending or blocking someone cuts off their access.

what we never do

we never sell your data or share it with advertisers. there are no ads.
we never make your content public or searchable.
we never read your messages or content to target you with anything.
we never show your phone number or birthday to other users.

service providers

l8ly runs on Google Firebase (Google LLC) for sign-in, storage, databases, and notifications, and is distributed through Apple's App Store. these providers process data on our behalf under their own security and privacy commitments; they don't get to use your content for their own purposes.

deleting your data

delete your account any time from settings inside the app. this permanently removes your profile, your entire archive of weeks, your photos and videos, your friendships, and your sign-in — from our servers, not just your phone. there is no recovery after deletion. you can also email us at hello@l8ly.io and we'll do it for you.

how long we keep things

as long as your account exists, so your archive of past weeks stays yours to revisit. when you delete your account, it's all removed. reports may be retained after the reported content is removed, so we have a record of moderation decisions.

children

l8ly is for people 13 and older. we ask for your date of birth when you join, and we don't knowingly keep accounts or data belonging to anyone under 13 — if we learn of one, we delete it. if you believe a child under 13 is using l8ly, tell us at hello@l8ly.io.

security

your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, access is enforced by server-side security rules, and sign-in uses one-time codes instead of passwords (nothing for anyone to steal or reuse). no system is perfect, but privacy is the product here — it gets first priority.

your choices

edit your profile, day, and notification settings in the app at any time.
skip contact access entirely — you can add friends with invite links instead.
block or report anyone, and unfriend anyone, at any time.
delete your account and all of your data, at any time.
email hello@l8ly.io to ask what we have about you, or to exercise privacy rights under the laws where you live.

changes to this policy

if we change this policy in a meaningful way, we'll update the date at the top and let you know in the app before the change takes effect.

contact

questions, requests, or concerns: hello@l8ly.io