Qastar

Privacy Policy

Your words belong to you.

We built Qastar so that not even we can read your journal. What you write here belongs only to you — and who you choose.

Who we are

Qastar is a private journaling app that lets you capture daily moments and exchange personal letters with a small circle of people you choose. We are not a social network. There is no public feed, no advertising, and no algorithmic recommendations.

What we collect

Information you provide

Account information — your name and either your email address, phone number, or Google/Apple account identifier, used solely to authenticate you.
Profile photo — if you choose to add one.
Username — the @handle you choose during setup.
Journal entries — text and photos you write or upload within the app.
Letters — private messages you write to or receive from other Qastar users, stored securely in our database.
Pending letters — if you write a letter to someone who is not yet on Qastar, we store the recipient's display name (as you entered it) and the letter content until the recipient claims it via your shared link. Once claimed, the pending letter record is marked as such and the letter is delivered. If never claimed, the letter and recipient name remain stored until you delete your account.
Circle connections — the list of other Qastar users you have added to your circle.

Information collected automatically

Device and usage data — collected by Firebase Analytics (Google), including app opens, session length, and crash reports. Aggregated and anonymous.
Crash reports — collected by Firebase Crashlytics. Reports contain device type, OS version, and a stack trace. They do not contain the content of your journal entries or letters.
Push notification token — a device token used to deliver notifications (new letters, circle activity). Stored in your account record and cleared if it becomes invalid.

What we do not collect

We do not read your journal entries or letters.
We do not sell your data to anyone, ever.
We do not serve advertising.
We do not share your data with third parties except as described below.

How your data is used

Data	Purpose
Name, email / phone	Account authentication and display within the app
Journal entries and photos	Stored securely; shared only with circle members you explicitly choose
Letters	Stored securely; visible only to sender and recipient
Pending letters	Held until claimed via your shared link; visible only to the original sender until claimed
Circle connections	Determining who can see which moments
Push notification token	Delivering in-app notifications to your device
Analytics and crash data	Improving app stability and understanding aggregate usage

Who can see your content

Private moments Only you.

Circle moments You and the specific people you have added to your circle.

Letters Only the sender and recipient.

Pending letters Only the sender, until the recipient claims it via the private link.

We do not access or read the content of your moments or letters.

Third-party services

Qastar is built on Google Firebase. Your data is stored in Firebase Firestore (database) and Firebase Storage (photos).

We do not integrate any advertising SDKs, social media trackers, or other third-party analytics beyond Firebase.

Data retention and deletion

Your data is retained for as long as your account is active.

You can delete your account and all associated data at any time from within the app (Settings → Delete Account). Deletion is immediate and permanent — your moments, letters, circle connections, and profile are removed from our database. Crash reports and aggregated analytics data, which contain no personally identifiable information, may persist in Firebase's systems per their own retention policies.

You can also request deletion by contacting us at hello@qastar.app.

Children

Qastar is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13.

Security

All data is transmitted over HTTPS and stored in Firebase with access controls enforced server-side. Only you (and your chosen circle members, for shared moments) can access your data.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you within the app before the changes take effect.

Contact

Questions or data deletion requests: hello@qastar.app