Privacy at Pollen.

What your connection can see

Both people confirm a connection. Sharing an item gives that person access under the viewing hours, expiry and other controls you choose. Pollen records opens, including the viewer’s approximate city and country derived from their internet connection. The person who shared the item can see that activity. Screenshot alerts depend on what the device reports.

Pausing or ending access stops future in-app viewing. A screenshot, recording or photo of the screen taken earlier can still exist. Your own originals stay in your library when a connection ends.

What we use to run the app

• Your account. Email or Apple sign-in identifier, display name, time zone and optional profile photo. You enter your date of birth for the 18+ check. We retain the time you confirmed your age and discard the date. This is a self-declaration.
• Your content. Photos, videos, voice notes, previews, captions and private messages. The app re-encodes photos to remove embedded location information. Original video files can include location or other metadata.
• Access and safety. Connections, sharing settings, viewing activity, supported capture alerts and reports. Sessions include an IP address and device type. We use these records to apply access settings, show activity and investigate reports.
• Notifications. A device token lets us send notifications. Expo handles the token and notification text for delivery through Apple. Wording is discreet by default. Names appear only if you opt in. Push notifications exclude message content and media.
• Purchases. Apple handles payment. For paid plans we use Apple’s signed transaction identifiers, plan, trial status, purchase and expiry dates, renewal status, billing grace periods and refunds to manage access. Apple keeps your card details.

Who can access your information

Cloudflare hosts the app’s servers, database, media, sign-in email service and logs. Cloudflare encrypts stored media. Pollen’s Cloudflare account administrator can technically access stored files and database records. Media is not end-to-end encrypted. We request Cloudflare’s Oceania region for the database and media. This does not guarantee that all processing stays in Australia.

Authorised staff reviewing a report can see the names, reason, submitted details, reported message text and caption. The report queue does not display the media itself. Report emails contain only a report identifier and reason.

We don’t sell personal information or use private media or messages for advertising. If you contact support, the support team can read the information you send. Please leave intimate media and passwords out of your email.

What gets deleted, and when

Deleting an item ends its shares and removes the stored original and preview. A small fingerprint remains for the owner’s copy-tracing feature. Images submitted to check for a match are processed in memory. Pollen keeps received media in memory on the viewer’s phone.

Messages are deleted 30 days after a connection ends. Unsending removes a message from both sides, except for text already recorded in a report. Opens, including city and country, are kept for 180 days. Sign-in sessions expire after 30 days.

Expired invites are removed after 30 days. Abandoned uploads are removed after one day. Queued notifications ordinarily clear after seven days and can remain for up to 30. Depending on our Cloudflare plan, error logs and identifiers are retained for three to seven days and database recovery history for seven to 30 days.

In the app, choose Me → Account to delete your account. This ends connections and removes your profile, media and associated account records. Reports keep evidence such as names and reported text. Watermark trace codes keep the viewer’s display name. Purchase records are unlinked from the deleted account. To stop future charges, cancel your subscription separately in your Apple subscription settings.

If you join the waitlist

Vercel serves the website and processes form requests. When you sign up, Google Forms and a linked Google Sheet store your email, signup time and consent to Pollen updates. The form was originally set up under our previous name, Yours. You can ask us to remove your entry at any time. Joining the list does not create an app account.

Your choices and questions

You can request a copy, correction or deletion of your information, leave the waitlist or raise a privacy complaint. Contact Tim Sullivan at tim@sondersites.com. Tell us which account or signup your request concerns. We may ask you to confirm it belongs to you. You can also raise a concern with your local privacy authority.