Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 19, 2026
1. Information We Collect
Information you provide
- Name and email address (when you create an account)
- Account preferences and settings
- The patterns you save as favorites, and your progress through a pattern's steps
- Photos you share, their captions, and the name you show beside them (see Member Photos below)
Information collected automatically
- Device type and operating system
- App and website usage data (features and pages accessed, session duration)
- Crash reports and performance data
Payment information
- We do not directly collect or store your payment card details.
- Mobile payments are processed by Apple (App Store) and Google (Play Store).
- Web payments are processed by Stripe.
- Subscription management is handled by RevenueCat, which syncs purchase data between platforms.
2. How We Use Your Information
- To provide and maintain the service
- To manage your account and subscription
- To verify your membership status across platforms (mobile app and web)
- To send important service announcements (e.g., subscription status changes)
- To show the photos you share to other members, and to check them for objectionable images
- To improve the app and fix bugs
- To respond to your support requests
3. Member Photos
In the app, you can share photos of things you've made on the page of the pattern you made them from.
What we collect
- The photo you share
- The caption you write for it, if you write one
- The name you choose to show beside your photos. It doesn't have to be your real name, and it can't be an email address.
Before anyone else can see a photo, we remove the details your phone stores inside the image file, such as where it was taken and which device took it.
Who can see them
- Other signed-in members see your photos, with their captions and your name, on the pattern's page. Your email address, your favorites, your progress and your subscription are never shown with them.
- Each photo is stored at its own web address. Anyone who has that address can open the image without signing in.
- Our team may look at a photo, for example when another member reports it.
How we check them
Before a photo is shared, an automated check run by Amazon Rekognition (part of AWS) looks for objectionable images. A photo that fails the check is not shared, and we delete it. The file you upload is kept where no one can see it until the check is done, and then deleted. If you start sharing a photo and don't finish, the upload is deleted automatically within about two days.
How long we keep them
A photo, its caption and your name stay up until you remove them or delete your account. We may also remove a photo that breaks our Terms of Service.
Removing your photos
- To change a caption or remove one photo, open the photo in the app and choose Edit what you wrote or Remove this photo.
- To remove every photo you've shared, go to Settings > Your photos > Remove all my photos. You can also change the name shown beside your photos there.
- Deleting your account removes all of your photos (see Deleting Your Account below).
A removed photo disappears from the app, and its web address stops working.
4. Information Sharing
We share your information only with the following service providers, strictly for operating the service:
| Provider | Purpose | Data Shared |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Hosting, authentication, database, photo storage and the automated photo check | Account info, usage data, photos you share |
| AWS Cognito | User authentication and identity | Email, name, subscription status |
| RevenueCat | Subscription management | User ID, purchase data |
| Stripe | Payment processing (web) | Email (for subscription matching) |
| Apple / Google | Payment processing (mobile), and sign-in if you choose Sign in with Apple or Google | Purchase transactions, and that you signed in to Yarn+Chai |
| Brevo | Our mailing list | Email address and membership status |
| Vercel | Website hosting | Website requests, including your IP address |
| Google Analytics | Website usage statistics | Pages you visit, how you use the website, browser and device type, and approximate location, collected with cookies |
| PostHog | App usage statistics | When you open the app and some of what you tap, with a random ID for your install and device details. Not your name or email address. |
| Expo / EAS | App build and distribution | Device info, crash reports |
Cookies: the website uses cookies to keep you signed in, and Google Analytics uses cookies to count visits and see which pages are used. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but you need the sign-in cookies to stay signed in.
We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
5. Data Storage and Security
- Your data is stored on Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers in the United States.
- We use industry-standard security measures including encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS), secure authentication (AWS Cognito), and access controls.
- We keep backups so we can recover from mistakes and outages. Our databases can be restored to any point in the last 35 days, so information you delete can remain in those recovery copies for up to 35 days. A daily backup of account records, including email addresses, is kept for 90 days. Photo images are not kept in any backup.
- While we take reasonable steps to protect your information, no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure.
6. Your Rights and Choices
- Access: You can view your account information in the app's Account tab.
- Update: You can update your email and password through the app.
- Delete: You can delete your account yourself at any time (see Deleting Your Account below).
- Unsubscribe: You can cancel your subscription at any time (see Terms of Service for instructions).
7. Deleting Your Account
You can delete your Yarn+Chai account yourself in the app: Settings > Delete account.
If you can't sign in, email support@yarnandchai.com from the email address on your account and ask us to delete it. We will delete your account and associated data within 30 days.
What is deleted
Deleting your account immediately deletes:
- Your sign-in account, including your name and email address
- Every photo you've shared, with its caption and your name, and any upload you didn't finish sharing
- Your progress through patterns and the patterns you saved as favorites
- Your list of blocked members
- Your email address on our mailing list
What is kept
- A record that holds only your account's internal ID and billing reference numbers, with no name or email address. We keep it, with no end date, so that a payment event that arrives after you leave can't be applied to anyone else's account.
- Stripe keeps its record of your web payments and invoices.
- The backups described in Data Storage and Security, until they expire: 35 days for database recovery copies and 90 days for the daily backup of account records.
Subscriptions
- A subscription you bought on our website is cancelled when you delete your account, with no refund for the rest of the billing period.
- A subscription you bought through the App Store or Google Play keeps billing until you cancel it in the store, even after your account is deleted. See our Terms of Service for how to cancel.
8. Children's Privacy
Our service is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us.
9. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated policy on our website. Your continued use of the service after changes constitutes acceptance of the new policy.
10. Contact
For privacy questions or data requests, contact us at support@yarnandchai.com.