Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how the operator named in section 1 (“we”, “us”) collects, uses and protects your information in the Baba Biyori app and on the website bababiyori.com (together, the “Service”). We are the controller of this information.

1. Who we are & contact

For any question about this Policy, or to make a request under section 8, email the address above.

2. What we collect, and where it is kept

2-1. Your account

You use the Service with an account.

• Email address: used to sign in with a 6-digit code we email you (no password). A code stops working after 15 minutes, and we store only a one-way transformed (hashed) form of it.
• Sign in with Apple / Continue with Google: we receive your email address from Apple or Google (with Apple’s “Hide My Email”, the forwarding address Apple makes for you) and your identifier at that service. With Apple, we also keep, encrypted, what is needed to remove the link with Apple when you delete your account. We do not receive your name or profile photo.
• What keeps you signed in: stored on your device. We store only a hashed form of it.

2-2. What your account keeps (stored on our servers)

• Your nickname and account settings (an icon number, the display language when you signed up, internal numbers used by the system, and so on)
• Today’s mood: the weather you choose (sunny, cloudy, rainy or stormy) and its date
• A word for Grandma: the words you write and when
• Grandma’s bag of wisdom: the tips you keep, the names of tips you add yourself, and how they went when you tried them
• Grandma’s notes (while you are signed in): short notes Grandma jots down of what you tell her as you talk.
  • She keeps four kinds: plans (for example, “Interview (10/23)”), things you like, the people around you (for example, “Mochi the cat”), and “What we talked about”.
  • “What we talked about” is a sentence or two summing up the day’s talk, written by the AI on your device (see 2-4) when you close the talk. If you talk again the same day, the summary is rewritten. A talk with words that may signal serious distress is never summed up. On devices without the AI (including Android), no such summary is made.
  • Plans, things you like and people are found on your device, by looking for set words. When you mention a day but no plan she knows, the AI on your device is asked to pick out just the plan’s name (on supported iPhones only).
  • What is kept is these few words, with their kind, date and so on. Your whole talk is neither saved nor sent.
  • When she writes down a plan or the like, “I’ve jotted it down: …” appears right away, with “Don’t keep it”. Tap “Don’t keep it” and the note is not kept.
  • Once a plan’s day has passed, Grandma asks how it went. The answer you choose (It went well / Not so well / Not yet) is kept with the note.
  • Calendar → “Grandma’s notes” lists them, and you can edit or delete each one. Turn off “Let Grandma take notes” and she writes nothing more down.
  • While you are signed in, each note is saved on our servers as it is written or changed, and your other devices on the same account get the same notes. Notes written while you were not signed in are saved to your account when you sign in.
  • When you log out, the notes are removed from that device. They stay with your account and come back when you sign in again.
  • The notes are never sent to any outside AI service.

Only you can see these, from your own account. They are never shown to other users; Baba Biyori has no feature for posting or sharing with others.

“Not shown to other users” does not mean the operator is technically unable to read it in the database. We do not look at individual entries except where needed to protect the Service.

2-3. Kept only on your device (never sent to us)

• Your chats: what you say to Grandma and her replies. You can see them with “History” while the app is open; they are gone when the app closes. The chats themselves are neither saved nor sent (only a sentence or two for each day is kept, in Grandma’s notes; see 2-2).
• Grandma’s notes while you are not signed in (2-2): kept only on your device and not sent. If you sign in later, the notes on that device are saved to your account too.
• Marks for what you left with Grandma (burn, pray, keep it yourself): the day, what she did with it, what it was about (what you picked at the start of the talk, such as work), the day to pray for, and whether she has asked and what you answered. They are used for the fire, charm and flower marks in the Calendar and for her asking later. Your words are not included. For a burnt talk, neither a summary nor anything she jotted down in it is kept. You can remove marks one by one from a day’s page in the Calendar. Only when you pick a day to pray for is that plan also kept in Grandma’s notes (2-2).
• Whether Grandma asks: whether she has asked your sky that day, and the day you chose “Not today”.
• Grandma’s sayings you have heard, and which of “Grandma’s words” you have read or kept
• The gifts you have given (dorayaki, accessories and clothes)
• Settings such as appearance and language, and unsent drafts
• The check for words that may signal serious distress runs only on your device, and its result is never sent. When such words appear, the app shows “Places to talk”.
• We do not record when or which of Grandma’s rooms you use.

For the home-screen widget, some of your past words for Grandma (up to 6, with their dates; never ones with words that may signal distress, or from rainy or stormy days) and your moods from the last two weeks are kept in a place on your device shared by the app and its widget. They are not sent to us. With Me → “Keep words off the widget” on, no words are kept there.

2-4. Chatting with Grandma (AI)

Grandma answers with words we have prepared. When none fits, the AI on a supported iPhone (Apple Intelligence) writes a reply in her way of speaking. This AI runs on your device, and what you say is never sent to us or to any outside AI service. On devices where the AI is not available (including Android), she answers only with prepared words.

For Grandma’s notes (2-2), the same on-device AI may also pick out just the name of a plan from what you said, and, when you close the talk, sum up the day’s talk in a sentence or two. When it writes a reply, it also draws on what is in the notes (things you like, the people around you, plans to come, and what you talked about in the last few days). The AI reads your talk only on your device; the talk itself is never sent to us or to any outside AI service. The notes it makes are saved to your account while you are signed in (2-2). On devices without the AI, she writes down only what the set words find, and makes no summary of your talks.

2-5. Speaking and voice input

When you use “Speak” or a microphone button, your device’s speech recognition (Apple on iPhone, Google on Android) turns your voice into text. Depending on your device and settings, your voice may be processed on Apple’s or Google’s servers to do this. We never receive or store your voice. Microphone and speech-recognition permissions are asked only the first time you use them.

2-6. Usage records (which buttons are pressed)

• To improve the app (to see where people get stuck and which features are used), we send which button you pressed (its name) and when, to our server.
• Along with it we send only: a random number the app makes on your device when it first starts (an “install ID”), a number that changes each time the app starts, the app version, and whether it is iPhone or Android.
• The install ID is not your account ID, an advertising ID or a device identifier. It is sent without your sign-in information, and we do not link it to your account. We never sell it or use it for advertising, and we use no third-party analytics service.
• We never send what you write, what you say or which topic you pick in a chat, which weather (mood) you chose, your nickname, or your email address.
• For Grandma’s notes, these records say only that a note was written down, that “Don’t keep it” was tapped, that Grandma asked how a plan went, or that you answered. They never include what was written down, which kind it was, or what you answered.
• The weather chosen in the first screens, and the reasons you may choose when deleting your account (optional), are counted only as daily totals and are never linked to an install ID.
• Usage records are on from the start. Turn off Me → “Privacy & data” → “Send usage records” and nothing more is sent, what was sent is deleted from our server, and the app switches to a new install ID.

2-7. Gifts for Grandma (purchases)

• Payment is handled by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play). We never receive your card or other payment details.
• We use RevenueCat, Inc. (USA) to process and verify purchases. RevenueCat receives an anonymous number not linked to your account, your purchase history (which item, when), and device and app information (model, OS, app version and so on; on iPhone this may include the identifier for vendor, IDFV). Your email address and nickname are not sent.
• The gifts you give are kept on your device.

2-8. Information received automatically

When your device talks to our servers or website, your IP address, device and app type, and the time reach our infrastructure provider (Cloudflare), as with any connection. This is processed to run and protect the Service.

2-9. What we do not collect

We never ask for your real name, age, gender, phone number, address or contacts. We do not ask for location permission (sunrise and sunset times come from your device’s region and time zone). We use no advertising ID and do not track you across apps.

3. How we use your information

• To provide the Service (saving and showing your moods, words, bag of wisdom and Grandma’s notes, the sky calendar, letting Grandma remember what you told her in later talks, and carrying them over to a new device)
• To confirm it’s you (email codes, Sign in with Apple, Continue with Google)
• To process and verify gift purchases
• To protect the Service (preventing abuse, security)
• To improve the Service (from usage records)
• To answer your enquiries and tell you about the Service
• To meet legal obligations

4. Legal bases (EEA/UK)

• Performance of a contract — to provide the Service you ask for
• Legitimate interests — to protect and improve the Service, balanced against your rights
• Consent — where the law requires it (you can withdraw it at any time)
• Legal obligation — where the law requires it

5. Service providers

We share information only with the following providers, which handle it on our behalf.

We do not sell your information or share it for advertising.

6. International transfers

The providers above are based in the United States, and your information may be processed in the United States and elsewhere. As required by Japan’s Act on the Protection of Personal Information, we use providers that have systems in place to handle personal information properly. On request, we will tell you about the data-protection system of the country concerned and the measures the provider takes. For transfers from the EEA or the UK, we use the safeguards the law requires, such as Standard Contractual Clauses.

7. How long we keep it, and how to delete it

• What your account keeps (2-2): kept while your account exists. You can delete your account at any time with “Delete account” at the bottom of the Me tab. This removes your account, nickname, moods, words for Grandma, bag of wisdom, Grandma’s notes and the link with Apple from our servers. It cannot be undone. If you can’t use the app, see Delete your account.
• In the current app, you cannot delete your words for Grandma one by one. To remove them, delete your account or contact us.
• Deleted data also disappears from our servers’ recovery records within 30 days.
• Usage records (2-6): deleted automatically 180 days after they arrive. When you turn off “Send usage records” or delete your account, the records for that install ID are deleted right away. Daily totals stay, as they belong to no one.
• What is on your device (2-3): removed when you delete the app. Settings and gifts on your device stay there, even after you delete your account, until you delete the app.
• Grandma’s notes (2-2): kept while your account exists. You can delete them one by one at any time in Calendar → “Grandma’s notes”. While you are signed in, the words are removed from our servers too, and only a mark stays so that your other devices on the account forget the note as well. When you delete your account, all of them are removed from our servers and from that device. When you log out, they are removed from that device (they stay with your account). Notes kept while you are not signed in are erased when you clear the app’s data with “Delete the data on this device”, and when you delete the app.
• Enquiry emails: kept for as long as we need to answer you and keep a record, then deleted.
• We may keep information for longer where the law requires it.

8. Your rights

You may ask us to disclose, correct, add to or delete the information we hold about you, or to stop using it or providing it to third parties. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to receive a copy of your data, to object to processing, to withdraw consent, and to complain to a data protection authority. California residents can exercise the rights to know, to delete, and to opt out of “sale”/“sharing” (we do not sell or share) without discrimination.

You can do much of this directly in the app (change your nickname or email, edit or delete Grandma’s notes, turn off usage records, delete your account). For anything else, contact info@bababiyori.com; we will respond after confirming it is you.

9. Children

The Service is not directed to children under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA where the law requires it). We do not knowingly collect information from children below that age. If you believe a child has registered, contact us and we will delete the information.

10. Security

We protect your information with measures such as encryption in transit, server-side access checks (so you can reach only your own data), and storing sign-in codes and sign-in information only in hashed form. No method of sending or storing data is completely secure, but we work to protect your information and to respond properly to any incident.

11. Cookies

This website uses no cookies for advertising or analytics. Our infrastructure provider (Cloudflare) may use cookies needed for security. The app uses no advertising cookies or identifiers.

12. Changes to this Policy

We may change this Policy. We will post the new version here and update the “Last updated” date; important changes will also be announced in the app. Where the law requires consent for a change, we will ask for it again.

13. Contact

Questions about this Policy? Email info@bababiyori.com.