Privacy Policy

This policy explains what information The Lawns collects, why we collect it, who can see it, and the choices you have. We've written it in plain language, and we've tried to be specific rather than vague — where we do something unusual to protect your data, we say exactly what it is.

1. Who we are

The Lawns is operated by Allium LLC, a Texas limited liability company. We are the data controller for the information described here. If you have any questions about privacy or your data, contact us at support@thelawns.app.

2. What we collect and why

What	Why
Account info — your name, username, email address, and a verified phone number (required, and confirmed by a one-time code — see section 3). Your password is handled by our authentication provider and stored in hashed form; we never see it.	To create and secure your account, and to let friends find and recognize you.
Your avatar — a colour and a generated face, or a small doodle you draw yourself. Doodles are stored on your device.	So people can pick you out on their lawn.
People on your lawn — for people who already use The Lawns, a link to their account. For people who don't, the name you give them and (if you added them from your address book) their phone number.	To build your lawn, and to connect you automatically if that person later joins.
Content you create — plans, floated ideas, groups, RSVPs, proposals, messages on a plan, host notes, and saved ideas.	To make the app work: showing your plans and ideas to the people you share them with.
Where things sit on your lawn — the positions of people, blankets, and scenery.	So your lawn looks the way you arranged it. Most of this is stored on your device.
Your city — a place name you type in, not GPS coordinates.	To show local ideas and forecast the weather for your plans.
Calendar availability — optional. The times you're busy, never event titles or details.	To warn you about conflicts and, if you turn it on, show friends when you're free.

3. Contacts and phone numbers

This is the part people care most about, so here is exactly how it works.

Finding friends in your address book

Access to your contacts is optional. Reading your address book only happens after you grant permission — iOS asks the first time, and you can grant access to all your contacts or only the ones you pick. We then read it on your device and convert each phone number into a scrambled fingerprint (a salted cryptographic hash). Only those fingerprints are sent to our server, where they're compared against fingerprints of existing accounts.

You can also add one person at a time through Apple's own contact picker. That needs no permission and gives us nothing but the single person you choose — we never see the rest of your address book.

Your contacts' actual phone numbers never leave your phone during this matching. We don't receive or store your contacts' numbers, and we never build a list of the people in your address book — we only learn which fingerprints matched an existing account.

To be straight with you about the limits of this: the fingerprint is a salted hash, which stops your numbers being read at a glance or looked up in a generic pre-built table. It is not unbreakable — phone numbers are short enough that anyone holding the fingerprints and the salt could work back to them with effort. It meaningfully raises the bar; it doesn't make the data impossible to recover.

People you choose to add

When you deliberately add someone to your lawn who isn't on The Lawns yet, we store on our server the name you gave them and a scrambled fingerprint of their number — the same kind of salted hash described above. We do not store their actual number on our server.

We keep the fingerprint for one reason: so that if that person later signs up with that number, we can connect the two of you automatically instead of making you find each other again.

Their readable number stays on your own phone, in your device's encrypted storage, so that you can text them an invite from your own Messages app. It is never uploaded to us, and it goes when you remove that person or delete the app.

The contact record on our server lives in your private data: our database rules mean no other user can read it, it is never shown to anyone else, and it is deleted when you remove that person from your lawn or delete your account.

Your own phone number

Your phone number is required, and you confirm it with a one-time code we text you. It is how you sign in, and it is how we know an invite someone texted you was really meant for you — the number has to match the one they invited.

To send that code, your number is passed to Twilio, our SMS provider. Twilio keeps its own record of each verification under its own retention policy, so your number exists on Twilio's systems regardless of what we store. Our authentication provider, Supabase, also stores the number itself, because that is what lets you sign in with it.

In our own tables we keep only the scrambled fingerprint described above — not the readable number — unless you opt in to text notifications. That opt-in is the consent that lets us keep the number in readable form so we can text you, and you can withdraw it at any time by replying STOP or turning notifications off in the app.

Your number is never displayed to other users. Having it on file is also what lets friends who have you in their address book find you — matched by fingerprint, as above.

Text messages (SMS)

When you invite someone who isn't on The Lawns yet, we may send them a text message on your behalf — an invitation to your plan with a link to reply or join. If you add your own mobile number, we may also text you about plans you're part of, such as invitations, RSVPs, and reminders. We only send these messages because you (or a friend inviting you) chose to; we never text people for advertising.

Message frequency varies and depends on how you and your friends use the app — for example, how many invitations and plan updates involve you. Message and data rates may apply, depending on your mobile carrier and plan.

You can opt out of text messages at any time by replying STOP to any message; reply HELP for help. Replying STOP stops further texts to that number.

We do not sell, rent, share, or trade mobile phone numbers, or your consent to receive text messages, with any third parties or affiliates for their own marketing or promotional purposes. Mobile numbers are used only to deliver the messages described above, and are shared with our text-messaging provider solely so it can send those messages on our behalf.

What we never do with contacts

• We never sell contact data.
• We never advertise or market to your contacts.
• We never message, text, or email anyone on your behalf without you choosing to invite them.
• You can revoke contacts access at any time in your device settings.

4. Calendar and availability

Connecting a calendar is optional. Two separate things can happen, and you control both:

• Reading your calendar. We look at your calendar only to work out the blocks of time you're busy. Event titles, locations, guests, and notes never leave your device — only start and end times are used, and only for the next couple of weeks.
• Adding plans to your calendar. If you allow it, plans you accept can be written to your device calendar, or to Google Calendar if you connect a Google account.

If you turn on availability sharing, those busy time blocks (again: times only, no titles) are uploaded so friends can see when you're free. You can turn this off at any time, which deletes the shared copy. You can also set a recurring "usual week" of busy times manually, without connecting any calendar at all.

Google Calendar

Connecting Google Calendar is optional, and it does two things — both of which you control.

• It adds the plans you confirm to a separate calendar called "The Lawns" that the app creates for you. We can only see and change the events we put there ourselves. We cannot add to, edit, or delete anything on your other calendars.
• It reads when you're busy, so the app can warn you about a clash and, if you turn availability sharing on, show friends when you're free.

That read is deliberately narrow. We ask Google only for busy blocks — the start and end times of your commitments — through Google's free/busy service, which does not return event titles, locations, guests, or notes. We never receive them at all, so there is nothing for us to store or to share. The three permissions we request are calendar.app.created (manage only the events we create), calendar.freebusy (when you're busy, never what you're doing), and calendar.calendarlist.readonly (the names of your calendars, so free/busy can cover all of them rather than only your main one).

To do this we store an authorization token (an OAuth access and refresh token) in your phone's secure keychain. It stays on your device — we do not hold it on our servers. You can disconnect Google Calendar at any time in the app, or revoke access through your Google Account settings (myaccount.google.com/permissions).

The Lawns's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

5. Location and weather

The Lawns does not track your GPS location or your movements. Your "city" is a place name you type into your profile.

When you search for a place to add to a plan, what you type is sent to Google Places to return suggestions. When a plan has a date and place, the place name is sent to our weather provider to fetch a forecast. Neither of these involves your device's location.

6. What other people can see

It's worth being clear about what's visible to other people, since that's a bigger deal day to day than what we store.

• Your profile — your name, username, and avatar are discoverable by other users searching for a username. Your email address and phone number are not shown.
• Plans and floats — visible to the people invited to them.
• Guest lists — when you host, you choose whether guests can see the full list of who else is invited. When that's off, guests see you and themselves, and everyone else appears only as "+ others".
• Groups — a personal group is a private label only you see. A shared group is visible to its members.
• Your lawn — your lawn, including who is on it and how you've arranged it, is yours alone. Adding someone doesn't put you on their lawn, and it doesn't tell them how you've organized yours. They're simply notified that you added them, and can add you back or decline.
• Availability — only shared if you turn it on, and only with friends.

7. Who we share information with

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising. We share it in only two situations:

• With people you choose. As described in section 6.
• With service providers who help run the app. These providers process data on our behalf and are not permitted to use it for their own purposes:
  • Supabase — database, authentication, and hosting (United States)
  • Twilio — sending the one-time code that verifies your number, and, only if you opt in, text notifications about plans (United States)
  • Google — Places, for location search when you add a place to a plan; and Google Calendar, only if you connect it
  • Open-Meteo — weather forecasts for plans (receives a place name and a date)
  • FormSubmit — relays website early-access signups and feedback to our support inbox as email (receives the email address you enter and, for feedback, your message)
  • Apple — app distribution through the App Store
  • Expo — delivery of app updates

We may also disclose information if required by law, or where necessary to protect the safety and rights of our users.

8. What we don't do

9. How long we keep it

We keep your information for as long as your account is active. Specifically:

• Account and content — kept until you delete your account.
• People on your lawn — kept until you remove them or delete your account.
• Shared availability — replaced each time it refreshes, and deleted when you turn sharing off.
• Phone verification records — Twilio keeps its own record of each code it sends, under its own retention policy. Deleting your account removes your number from our systems but does not erase Twilio's record of a past verification.
• Backups — encrypted backups may persist for a short period after deletion before being overwritten in the normal course of operation.

What deleting your account leaves behind. Deletion removes your account, your lawn and the plans you made. Three things deliberately survive, and we'd rather say so than let you find out later:

• A shared group you started keeps going for the people still in it. Deleting it would take the group out from under them.
• Your name, on the lawns of people who had you. Their own note of who you are stays, so their lawn doesn't show a blank where you were. They can remove it like any other contact.
• A scrambled fingerprint of your phone number, on a do-not-text list. We keep it precisely so we can never text you again — it cannot be turned back into your number, and it is not used for anything else.

10. Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time from your profile in the app. This removes your login, your profile, your lawn, your groups, and the plans you created. Plans you were invited to but didn't create may remain visible to the host and other guests, with your response removed.

If you'd rather we did it for you, email support@thelawns.app and we'll take care of it.

11. Your rights and choices

• Permissions — contacts and calendar access are each optional, and can be turned on or off in your device settings at any time.
• Access and correction — you can view and edit your profile information directly in the app.
• Deletion — you can delete your account and data as described above.
• Declining people — if someone adds you, you can decline. They stay off your lawn.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights:

• California (CCPA/CPRA) — the right to know what personal information we collect, to access or delete it, to correct it, and to opt out of sale or sharing. We don't sell or share personal information as those terms are defined, so there's nothing to opt out of. We won't discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.
• EU / UK (GDPR) — the right to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to processing, and the right to data portability. Our legal bases are: performing our contract with you (running the app), your consent (contacts, calendar, and availability sharing — each withdrawable at any time), and our legitimate interests (keeping the service secure and working).

To exercise any of these, email support@thelawns.app. We'll respond within the timeframe the law requires, and we won't charge you for it.

12. Security

Connections between the app and our servers are encrypted in transit. Access to data is restricted by row-level security rules in our database, so one account cannot read another account's data. Passwords are hashed by our authentication provider and are never visible to us. Friend-matching is done entirely against salted hashes, never against readable numbers. The only readable phone number on our servers is your own, held by our authentication provider so you can sign in — and, if you opt in to texts, in your profile so we can send them. Your contacts' numbers are never uploaded at all.

No system is perfectly secure, and we won't pretend otherwise — but we take this seriously, and if a breach ever affects your personal data we'll notify you and the relevant authorities as required by law.

13. Minors

The Lawns is for adults. It is not intended for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If you believe someone under 18 has created an account, contact us at support@thelawns.app and we'll remove it promptly.

14. International users

We're based in the United States, and your information is stored and processed there. If you use the app from outside the U.S. — including the EU or UK — you understand that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, which may not offer the same level of data protection as your home country. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app grows. If we make a meaningful change, we'll update the date at the top and let you know in the app. Continuing to use The Lawns after an update means you accept the revised policy.

16. Contact

Questions about privacy or your data? Email support@thelawns.app.