Privacy Policy

This is a draft policy written to give you a solid starting point. It has not been reviewed by a lawyer. Please have it reviewed before relying on it for a public launch, and fill in the bracketed placeholders (business name, contact email, state) before publishing.

Who we are

Build Your Way Out ("we," "us," "our") is operated by Shakyra Johnson. This policy explains what information we collect when you use Build Your Way Out, how we use it, and the choices you have.

What we collect

We collect the following information:

• Account information: your email address and a securely hashed password, when you create an account.
• Onboarding answers: your responses to our short getting-started questionnaire (what brought you here, what you're hoping to build, your coding comfort level, and your goals), and the "Build Profile" we generate from them.
• Reflection journal entries: the text you write in the reflection form (what you built, what you learned, and any optional note about how you feel).
• Mood ratings: a 1–5 rating of how you felt immediately before and after each build, so we can show you your emotional trend over time.
• Mood and build selections: which mood you chose and which guided build you were given, used only to avoid repeating the same build and to personalize your experience.
• In-progress build code: if you leave a guided build partway through, we save a snapshot of your current step and code so you can resume where you left off.
• Basic technical data: standard information collected automatically by our hosting and database providers (such as timestamps and error logs) to keep the service running.

An account is required to use Build Your Way Out — there is currently no guest or offline mode.

How we use your information

We use your information only to:

• Provide the core functionality of the app (saving and displaying your journal, personalizing builds, resuming in-progress work).
• Maintain your account (authentication, password resets).
• Show you your emotional trend over time and, where relevant, a gentle automated support prompt (see below).
• Keep the service secure and working as intended.

We do not sell your data. We do not run third-party advertising or analytics trackers against the content of your reflections.

Automated support prompts

If your recent mood check-ins are consistently low, we'll show you a gentle, automated message with crisis and support resources. This is a simple pattern check on the numbers you enter — not a diagnosis, not a review by a person, and nothing is sent to us or anyone else when it appears. You can dismiss it at any time, and it won't reappear for 24 hours after you do.

How your data is stored

Your account and journal data are stored in a managed Postgres database (via Supabase), with access restricted at the database level so that only you can read or write your own reflections. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit by our infrastructure provider.

Sharing

We do not share your reflection content with third parties. We may share limited technical information with service providers who help us run the app (for example, our hosting and database provider), solely for the purpose of operating the service, and only to the extent necessary for them to do so.

We may disclose information if required to do so by law, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of Build Your Way Out, our users, or others.

Your choices and rights

• Access and export: you can view your reflections at any time in your journal.
• Deletion: you can delete individual reflections, or delete your account and all associated data, at any time from your account settings.
• California residents: depending on applicable law, you may have additional rights to know, delete, or opt out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell personal information.

Children's privacy

Build Your Way Out is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you are under 18, we encourage you to use this app with the awareness and support of a parent, guardian, or trusted adult.

Data retention

We retain your account and reflection data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we delete your associated data immediately, except where we're required to retain it for legal reasons.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we'll update the date at the top of this page.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data? Contact us at shakyrajohnson800@gmail.com.