Privacy

Last updated 27 July 2026

The short version

Hold Your Line holds as little about you as possible. Your timeline — everything you write, and every file you add — is encrypted in your browser before it is stored, with a key that comes from your passphrase. Nobody else can read it: not the person who runs the app, not the company that stores the files, nobody. The only things we can see are your name and your email address, and we use them only to run the app.

What we hold

• Your name — so the app can greet you and tell accounts apart.
• Your email address — this is your account name (what you sign in with) and the only way we can contact you about the app.
• Your encrypted timeline — stored, but unreadable to us: a scrambled copy that only your passphrase can unlock.
• A little technical bookkeeping needed to run the service (for example, how much storage your account is using, and when it was last backed up).

That is all. We do not hold your date of birth, your address, your phone number, or anything from inside your timeline.

How we use your email

We will only ever email you about the app itself — for example, planned maintenance or downtime, important changes to the service or to this policy, or a reply if you contact us for help.

By creating an account, you agree that we may contact you at your email address for these purposes. We will never sell or share your email, or use it for marketing, and there is no third-party advertising anywhere in the app.

Where your data is stored

Your account details and your encrypted timeline are held with a reputable cloud hosting provider. Because your timeline is encrypted before it leaves your device, the provider stores only unreadable data.

Your rights and choices

• See what we hold — it's your name and email; you can view them on the Settings page at any time.
• Delete everything — closing your account from Settings removes your name, email, and your encrypted timeline. Once it's gone, it's gone: because only you could ever read your timeline, we cannot recover it for you.
• Export your data — you can download your whole timeline, files included, as a backup at any time from the Review page.

Who is responsible

Hold Your Line is run by John Hill-Tanner. If you have any question about your data, contact johnhilltanner+timeline@gmail.com.

Hold Your Line — Privacy. This policy is written in plain English on purpose; if anything is unclear, please just ask.