PrivacyEffective 12 October 2026

Privacy Policy

Olfactory is a fragrance diary: the Olfactory app for iPhone and Android and the website olfactory.app, including the public pages at olfactory.app/@handle, /f, /p and /l. This policy explains what we collect, why, where it lives, who can see it and how you delete it. Questions and requests: [email protected].

In short

We collect what you put into your diary and what is needed to run your account. Nothing else.
No advertising, no ad networks, no data brokers; we never sell your data. To understand how the app and the website are used we use Google Analytics (see Analytics below); on the website it sets analytics cookies.
Your data is stored on servers in the European Union.
You decide what is public. A closed diary is visible only to followers you accept.
You can delete your account and everything in it from Settings, at any time.

What we collect

Account. Your email address, used to sign you in and to reach you about your account. With Sign in with Apple you may choose to share a private relay address instead of your real one; with Sign in with Google we receive your Google account's email address and name. We never see your Apple or Google password.

Profile. Your handle, display name, optional city and optional avatar. When you pick an avatar or attach a picture to a post, the app reads only the photo you chose from your photo library and uploads it to our storage. You may also state your gender (female, male or other) in Settings; it is optional, only you see it, it is never shown on your profile or to anyone else, and we use it only to tailor fragrance suggestions. You can change it or set it back to «Not set» at any time.

Your diary. The fragrances you mark as tried, in your collection or on your wishlist; your scores; the days you log a wear; reviews, posts, comments, likes and collections; the people you follow, block or report; your notification preferences.

Derived from your diary. Your Scent DNA, the taste overlap with other people and the suggestions you see are computed on our servers from the entries above. They are part of your data and are deleted with it.

Technical. When the app or the website talks to our servers, standard server logs record the IP address, the time of the request and the app version. We keep these logs briefly, for security and troubleshooting only, and then they are discarded.

Analytics. The app uses Google Analytics for Firebase and the website uses Google Analytics. They record which screens and pages are opened, app and device information (model, operating system, app version, language), a random app-instance identifier and, on Android, the device's advertising ID, and an approximate region that Google derives from the IP address. We do not send your name, email or diary contents to Google Analytics, and Google signals and ad personalisation are switched off. Development builds of the app send nothing.

Crash reports. When the app crashes or hits an unexpected error, Firebase Crashlytics sends us a report: what went wrong and where in the code, the app version, the device model, operating system and its state at that moment (for example free memory and orientation), and a random installation identifier. Crash reports contain no name, email or diary contents. We use them only to find and fix errors, and Crashlytics keeps them for 90 days.

Why we use it

To run your diary and show it back to you on every device you sign in on.
To compute your Scent DNA, taste overlap and suggestions.
To show the parts you made public to other people, in the app and on the public web pages.
To keep the service safe: acting on reports and blocks, preventing abuse.
To answer you when you write to us.
To understand, in aggregate, how the app and the website are used, so we can improve them (analytics).
To find and fix crashes and errors (crash reports).

Under the GDPR we rely on the contract with you (running the service you signed up for), on our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure and in measuring how it is used, and on your consent where the law requires it, for example when you allow access to your photo library.

Who can see what

Your public profile shows your handle, display name, city, avatar, level, your shelves with scores, your collections and posts, and an overview of your Scent DNA (never your gender). It is visible to anyone in the app and on olfactory.app/@handle, which search engines may index.

If you close your diary in Settings, your shelves, calendar and posts are visible only to followers you have accepted; the public page then shows only your handle and display name and asks search engines not to index it. You separately choose who may see your wear calendar. Your email address and your notification preferences are never shown to anyone.

Where it lives and who helps us

We do not sell your data and we do not share it with advertisers. The service runs on infrastructure providers that process data on our instructions:

Hetzner Online (Finland): our servers — the database, sign-in and storage for avatars and post pictures (run with the open-source Supabase software), the website and the public web pages.
Cloudflare: DNS for olfactory.app and delivery of the fragrance catalogue pictures, which contain no personal data.
Google: Google Analytics and Google Analytics for Firebase (usage statistics, as described above), Firebase Crashlytics (crash reports), Sign in with Google, and Google Play distribution, under Google's own terms.
Apple: Sign in with Apple, TestFlight and App Store distribution, under Apple's own terms.

Where a provider processes data outside the European Economic Area, transfers are covered by the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision.

How long we keep it

For as long as your account exists. When you delete your account in Settings, your account, your diary, your posts and comments, your pictures and everything derived from them are deleted at once. Copies in our backups are overwritten within 30 days. Server logs are kept only briefly, as described above.

Your rights

You can see and edit your data in the app. You have the right to access, correct, export or erase your data, to object to or restrict its processing, and to complain to a data protection authority. Write to [email protected] and we will answer within 30 days.

Children

Olfactory is not directed to children under 13, and where the law sets a higher age for consenting to online services without a parent, not to anyone under that age. If you believe a child has created an account, tell us and we will delete it.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, we will show the new version here with a new effective date and tell you in the app before it applies.