Privacy Policy

Our promise

River was built so you can ask hard questions in private. We believe the people using this product are often at their most vulnerable. This policy reflects that.

No one sees what you ask, including the storytellers.
We do not sell your data. Not ever.
We do not use your questions to train public AI models.
You can delete your account and all your data at any time, from your profile.

What we collect

Account basics. When you sign in with Google, we receive your Google account ID, email, display name, and photo URL. We store only what we need to run your account.

Your questions. The text and topics you submit when you ask for a story. These are linked to your account ID but are not shown to any other user.

Optional profile. Age range and a short description of your situation, if you choose to share them. These help us match stories more usefully. Both are optional.

Favorites. A list of stories you've saved, visible only to you.

Technical logs. Standard server logs (IP address, user agent, timestamps) kept for a limited time for security and debugging.

What we don't collect

Your real name (beyond your Google display name — which you can change).
Your location or precise geolocation.
Advertising identifiers or cross-site tracking cookies.
Your contacts, photos, or files on your device.

How we use what we collect

To match you to stories that fit what you asked.
To save your favorites and account settings.
To keep River running, secure, and free of abuse.
To improve the product — we may look at aggregated, anonymized patterns of use, never at individual questions in a way that identifies you.

How we store and protect it

River runs on Google Cloud and Firebase. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Access is limited to authorized Waterfall engineers who need it to operate the service. We apply the principle of least privilege and log administrative access.

Who we share with

We use a small number of processors who act on our instructions:

Google / Firebase — authentication, database, hosting.
Google Cloud Vertex AI — to help match questions to stories. Your question text is sent transiently; it is not used to train Google's public models.

We do not share your data with advertisers or data brokers.

The storytellers

Every story on River has been shared by an older adult who gave explicit consent. Names and identifying details are removed before the story appears. Storytellers can revoke consent at any time, and we remove their stories from the service.

Your rights

You can:

See your profile, favorites, and questions in the app.
Delete your account and all associated data at any time from your profile page.
Request a copy of your data, or correction of anything inaccurate, by emailing us.

Children

River is not intended for children under 13. If you believe a child has created an account, email us and we will remove it.

Changes to this policy

If we make a material change to how we handle your data, we will notify you through the app or by email before the change takes effect.

Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns? Email us at privacy@waterfall.app.