Last updated: March 30, 2026
Anchors is a private mental health check-in app. People use it during vulnerable moments, including moments of crisis. We take that responsibility seriously. This policy explains exactly what data we collect, what we can and cannot see, and what we do with it.
The short version: Your emotions and personal notes are encrypted on your device before they ever reach our servers. We cannot read them. We do not sell your data. We do not run ads. We never will.
When you use Anchors, we store the following information:
The most sensitive parts of your check-ins are encrypted using AES-256 encryption on your device before they are transmitted or stored:
This is a technical guarantee, not just a policy promise. Even with full access to our database, we cannot read your emotions or personal notes. They are stored as encrypted data that is meaningless without your encryption key.
To operate the app, we retain access to:
We use the urgency tier to determine how urgent a notification should be. This is the minimum information needed for the app to function. We do not use it for analytics, profiling, or any purpose beyond delivering the right notification at the right time.
Only the Anchors you choose. When you check in, the people you have selected as Anchors receive a push notification. They can see your decrypted emotion selections and optional text within the app. No one else can see this information — not other users, not us, not any third party.
You control exactly who your Anchors are and can add or remove them at any time.
If you select a Tier 4 (crisis-level) emotion, your Anchors are notified with higher urgency. Crisis check-ins are never blocked, rate-limited, or delayed. We also display crisis support resources (988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, Crisis Text Line) within the app. We do not automatically contact emergency services or share your crisis data with any external party.
We use Firebase Cloud Messaging to deliver push notifications. Notification content on your lock screen is intentionally generic (for example, "Someone checked in") to protect your privacy if someone else sees your phone. The detailed content is only visible inside the app.
You can disable push notifications at any time in the app settings. When you do, your device push token is immediately deleted from our servers.
We use the following services to operate the app:
These services are provided by Google and are subject to Google's privacy policy. We do not use Firebase Analytics, Google Ads, or any advertising-related Google services.
Your data is stored for as long as you have an active account. You can delete your account at any time from the app settings. When you delete your account, all of your data — including your profile, check-in history, Anchor relationships, and encryption keys — is permanently removed from our servers within 30 days.
Anchors is not intended for use by anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, please contact us and we will delete it.
If we make meaningful changes to this policy, we will notify you through the app before the changes take effect. We will never reduce the level of protection described here without giving you advance notice and the opportunity to delete your account.
If you have questions about this privacy policy or how your data is handled, contact us at privacy@getanchors.app.