Privacy Policy

• Account Data: We collect your name, email address, and profile picture when you sign in with Google.
• User Content: We store the Tasks, Events, Notes, and Chat Logs you create within the app.
• WhatsApp Data: If your household connects Homies to a WhatsApp group, we process the new messages sent in that group after Homies joins (see Section 4). This can include messages from group members who do not have a Homies account.
• Technical Data: We collect IP addresses and basic device information to ensure the app functions correctly and securely.

• To Run the App: We use your Account Data and User Content to display your household plan, sync items between members, and manage your login.
• To Power the AI: When you use the chat assistant or mention Homies in WhatsApp, your message and relevant context (e.g., today's tasks) are processed to generate a response.
• To Sync Integrations: If you connect Google Calendar or Todoist, we use the API to synchronize items between Homies and those services.

A household can add Homies to its WhatsApp group so it can help without anyone opening the app. Because this involves reading a group chat, we hold ourselves to strict data-minimisation rules:

• What we read: Homies processes new messages sent after it joins the group. We do not import your old chat history.
• No stored transcript: We do not keep a durable copy of your conversation. Message content is held only in a short-lived, encrypted buffer for processing, de-duplication, and retry, and is automatically deleted on a short retention timer (target: within 72 hours). Messages we do not act on are discarded after the processing decision.
• When Homies acts: Homies only replies when it is mentioned (@Homies) or replied to. When it acts, we keep a record of what was asked and what changed (e.g. an Item created), and the reply Homies sent, not the surrounding conversation.
• What Homies learns (opt-in): If your household turns on passive learning, Homies periodically sends your group's recent messages, not only the ones that mention it, to an AI provider (see Section 5) to extract structured household patterns (such as routines or reminder preferences) as short factual observations with a confidence score. It never stores verbatim chat snippets. This is off by default. The observations are shown to you in the app, where you can confirm, reject, or delete them. Homies does not infer sensitive categories (such as health, finances beyond explicit household admin, religion, politics, or relationship conflict) by default.
• Media and voice: Homies does not auto-download media. Media is fetched only when a message needs it to be actioned, and the file is deleted after processing. Voice-note transcription is disabled by default.
• Scheduled messages: Homies only sends scheduled messages (such as a weekly household brief or an event reminder) if your household explicitly opts in, and these can be paused at any time.
• Consent: When Homies joins a group it posts a message explaining what it reads, stores, and when it replies. The household member who adds Homies is responsible for informing the other members of the group.

We never sell your data. We only share data with third parties in the following strictly necessary cases:

• AI Providers: We send chat prompts and mentioned WhatsApp messages to Large Language Model providers (including OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter) to generate answers. If your household opts into passive learning (Section 4), we also send your group's recent messages to an AI provider to extract household patterns.
• WhatsApp Connectivity: We use Whapi.Cloud as our technical provider to connect Homies to WhatsApp and receive the messages your household's group sends.
• Infrastructure: We use trusted vendors to host our application, database, and content delivery (Laravel Forge, Netlify, Cloudflare).
• Legal: We may disclose data if required by law.

• WhatsApp content: Raw message content lives only in the short-lived encrypted buffer described in Section 4 and is purged on its retention timer. We retain only the household state Homies creates: Items, the action record of what changed, outbound Homies messages, and structured observations.
• Observations: Every learned observation is visible in the app and can be rejected or deleted at any time.
• Hard Deletion: When you delete a specific Task or Event, it is permanently removed from our database.
• Account Deletion: If you delete your personal account, your private data is permanently deleted.
• Shared Data Exception: To keep the application intact for other members, items you created in a Shared Household (e.g., a family event) will remain visible to that household even after you leave. If the Household itself is deleted, all data is permanently removed.

We use industry-standard encryption (HTTPS) for data in transit and secure database practices to protect your information and ensure your data remains private. WhatsApp message content held for processing is stored encrypted and on a short retention timer.

You have the right to access, correct, or request the deletion of your personal data. You can export your data or delete your account directly within the app settings. If you are a member of a WhatsApp group that uses Homies but do not have a Homies account, you can contact us at the address below to exercise your rights over any data we hold about you.

We may update this policy as Homies grows. We will notify you of significant changes via email or an in-app notice.

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of The Netherlands.

If you have questions, please contact us at: support@homiesapp.nl