DoWeDontWe privacy policy
1. Who we are
DoWeDontWe is a shared decision-making app made by Optional Salad ("we", "us"). Optional Salad is being incorporated as a limited company in England and Wales; our company name, number and registered office will be added here as soon as it's registered. We are responsible (the "data controller") for the personal data described here.
For anything about your data, email privacy@optionalsalad.com.
2. Who DoWeDontWe is for
DoWeDontWe is for people aged 16 and over. You confirm your age when you first open the app; we keep a record that you confirmed, not your date of birth. If you think someone under 16 is using the app, tell us and we'll delete their account.
3. What we collect and why
Your account
- An account ID, created automatically when you first open the app. You don't need an email address.
- If you choose to sign in with Google (or Apple, when available): your email address, name and account ID from that provider, so you can keep your rooms on another device or after reinstalling.
Your profile and settings
- Your display name, emoji and colour — visible to people in rooms you're in.
- Settings stored with your account: your favourite rooms and their order, saved quick links, your preferred music app, and the people you've blocked. Only you can see these.
What you add to rooms
Visible to the members of that room:
- Links you add and the details we fetch for them (title, picture, price, rating, location text), extra links for the same item, comments, notes, likes, votes and decisions.
- Room-specific content: gift ideas and who has claimed them (hidden from the gift's recipient), budgets, places you pin on a map and routes between them, and — in Pocket Money rooms — children's first names, optional emoji avatars and the jobs and amounts you set. If you add a child, you're responsible for having the right to do so (for example, as their parent or guardian).
Your location
If you allow it, the app uses your phone's location on your phone to centre the map, show distances and start a route from where you are. We don't store your location. When you ask for directions from where you are, your location and the stops are sent to the directions service (section 5) to work out the route.
Support requests
If you use Report a problem, we keep what you write, the category you chose, any email address you choose to give, and details that help us fix it: the app version, the type of device (for example Android or web), whether you're on a guest account, and the room and item you were on if you sent it from one. Only our team can see it.
If you send it from a room, you can choose to let our team view that room for 7 days so we can find the problem. We can then read what you can see in it (items, comments, members and activity) but can't change anything, and gifts hidden from you stay hidden from us. Other members' comments and items in that room are included, because you can see them; we use them only to fix the problem. You can stop it any time in Settings → My requests, and it ends by itself after 7 days. We don't look at any room unless someone has shared it like this or reported something in it.
Crash reports are linked to your account ID so we can match them to a support request.
Safety reports and blocks
If you report a member, item or comment, we keep the report: who sent it, who and what it's about, a short copy of the reported content, the reason and any details you give. Room admins and our moderation team can see it; the person reported isn't told who reported them. If you block someone, we store that with your account so their comments and activity are hidden from you.
Purchases
If we offer paid features, payments are taken by Apple or Google. We never see your card details; we only receive confirmation of what you bought and whether a subscription is active.
Technical data
Crash reports and app usage events (for example "room created") through Firebase Crashlytics and Analytics, to fix problems and improve the app. These use your account ID and device information, not your name. We also use a device check (Firebase App Check) so only the real app can use our servers.
4. Our legal bases (UK and EU GDPR)
- Contract — running your account, your rooms and the features you use, and helping you when you ask for support.
- Legitimate interests — keeping the app working and secure, understanding usage in aggregate, fetching link details, and keeping users safe (reports, blocking, moderation).
- Legal obligation — handling reports of illegal content and responding to lawful requests.
- Consent — your phone's location, which you can turn off in your phone's settings at any time.
5. Who we share data with
We don't sell your personal data and don't use it for advertising.
- Other members of your rooms see your display name, avatar and what you add to those rooms.
- Service providers that run parts of the app for us:
| Provider | What for | What they receive | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Firebase (database, sign-in, App Check) | Running the app | Your account and room data | London, UK |
| Google Firebase (Analytics, Crashlytics) | Usage statistics, crash reports | Account ID, device info, events | USA |
| Cloudflare (our link service) | Fetching titles and pictures for links you add; counting link clicks | The link, your IP address | Global |
| images.weserv.nl | Loading item pictures that some websites block | The picture's address, your IP address | Netherlands |
| OpenFreeMap (Hyperknot Software Kft., Hungary; may be served through Cloudflare) | Showing maps | The map area you view, your IP address (not kept in their access logs; error logs up to 7 days) | EU |
| Nominatim (OpenStreetMap Foundation, UK) | Place search; naming a spot you pick on the map | What you type in place search, or the spot you pick; your IP address | UK / EU |
| OSRM routing service | Working out routes | Route coordinates, your IP address | Germany |
| Google / Apple | Sign-in and in-app purchases, if you use them | As described above | USA |
- Websites and apps you open from DoWeDontWe — when you open a link, a map app (Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze) or a music app, that service handles your data under its own privacy policy. For song links, the app may fetch the song's public page from Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube Music directly from your phone to recognise the same song added from a different app.
- Affiliate links — some shopping links are changed when opened so we can earn a small commission if you buy something. The shop may set its own cookies; we don't receive your purchase details.
- Legal reasons — if the law requires it, for example reporting child sexual abuse material to the National Crime Agency.
Transfers outside the UK and EU rely on the UK International Data Transfer Addendum and EU Standard Contractual Clauses offered by these providers.
6. How long we keep data
- Your account and settings — until you delete your account.
- Room content — while the room exists. When you delete your account we delete your profile and settings, remove you from every room, delete any room where you were the only member, and pass admin to another member in shared rooms. Things you added to shared rooms stay there as part of the group's record, but your name and avatar are no longer shown on them.
- Reports — 12 months after they're handled, or longer if the law requires.
- Support requests — until you delete your account, when they're deleted with it.
- Analytics and crash data — up to 14 months.
7. Your rights
You can ask to access, correct, delete, restrict or move your data, and object to processing based on legitimate interests. Delete your account any time in Settings → Delete account, or see how to delete your account without the app. For everything else, email privacy@optionalsalad.com; we'll reply within one month. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or your local data protection authority.
8. Children
DoWeDontWe isn't for under-16s. Pocket Money rooms let a parent or guardian add a child's first name and avatar; the child doesn't use the app or have an account through it.
9. Cookies and storage
The web version of DoWeDontWe stores small amounts of data in your browser so it works offline and remembers your settings. We don't use advertising cookies or tracking pixels.
10. Security
Data is encrypted in transit. Our database rules mean you can only read rooms you belong to, gift ideas are hidden from their recipient, and reports are visible only to room admins and our moderation team.
11. Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect.
12. Contact
Privacy: privacy@optionalsalad.com · Help: support@optionalsalad.com · Everything else: hello@optionalsalad.com
Optional Salad, United Kingdom