Platform policy

Privacy Policy

Last updated: March 22, 2026

How Are We All? exists to help people feel less alone in hard days through anonymous participation. This page explains what information the service uses to operate, what information is not attached to anonymous daily responses, and how cookies, optional Google sign-in, invite emails, anti-spam systems, post-submit theme insight features, the public live board, and contact channels are handled.

1. Purpose

How Are We All? is designed for anonymous thought sharing in response to a daily question so people can feel less alone in difficult moments. This policy explains what we collect, what we do not collect, and how we protect your privacy.

2. Anonymous responses

We do not store a personal identifier with your response. Your submitted text is stored without account information, name, email address, profile ID, or similar identifying fields. That means the response record is stored without account-linked identifiers, although anything you choose to type into the response itself may still identify you.

3. Optional sign-in features

Reading summary discussions is public, and daily responses can be submitted anonymously. Google account sign-in through Azure App Service authentication is optional and is used only for features that need abuse protection or saved progress, specifically posting summary discussion messages and saving streaks.

When optional sign-in is used, it opens through Google and Azure App Service authentication. The site itself does not ask you to type your Google password into a site form.

4. Generated usernames and streaks

When you use a sign-in protected feature, the site generates a unique username from your signed-in Google account. The same Google account receives the same generated username each time, but that displayed username does not reveal your Google account, Google name, or Google email address to other users. Streak records are linked to that generated username when you save a streak, including if you sign in after answering and claim that day from a saved browser receipt. Daily response records are not.

5. Data we process

• Response text you submit.
• Summary discussion message text you submit.
• Streak day records tied to a generated username when you save a streak, including when you sign in after answering and claim a saved day from the same browser.
• Recipient email addresses you enter for the optional anonymous invite feature, used to send that invite. We also keep invite deduplication and unsubscribe-suppression records derived from recipient addresses.
• A stable authentication provider identifier used to generate the same site username for protected sign-in features.
• Submission date used for daily grouping and summaries.
• Broad derived theme labels created from some response text so the site can power same-day perspective features after submission.
• Daily aggregate theme statistics and rounded similarity estimates used to show the post-submit "What people are feeling today" panel and the public live board.
• Short automated same-day pulse summaries derived from recent anonymous responses and used to describe broad live-board patterns.
• Cookie preference and local browser storage markers used for consent, one-response-per-day protection, and saved streak claim receipts.
• Network and device information, including IP address and request metadata, used for rate limiting, abuse prevention, and service reliability.
• Security and anti-spam checks, including optional Google sign-in for streak saving and summary discussions, reCAPTCHA verification, and temporary abuse controls.

6. Cookies and similar technologies

The site uses necessary cookies and similar technologies for security, sign-in, spam prevention, one-response-per-day browser protection, and remembering your cookie choice. If advertising is enabled in the future and you allow advertising cookies, Google AdSense may also use cookies and personal data for ads. Advertising cookies stay off until you opt in through the cookie banner or cookie settings button.

We do not currently respond to browser Do Not Track signals. When third-party services are used to support hosting, authentication, font delivery, spam prevention, invite email delivery, or optional advertising, those providers may receive technical data such as IP address, browser details, or request metadata under their own policies.

• Azure App Service authentication may set a session cookie when you sign in to save a streak or post summary discussion messages.
• reCAPTCHA may use cookies or similar technologies when you interact with protected forms.
• The site stores your cookie choice so we remember whether ads are allowed.
• The main response form also uses browser storage to help enforce one response per day per browser.
• Relevant service providers can include Azure hosting and authentication services, Azure Communication Services for invite email delivery, Google reCAPTCHA, Google Fonts, and Google AdSense if ads are enabled.

7. Data we do not store with responses or summary discussion messages

• No name, email, username, or account profile attached to a response.
• No direct personal identifier stored as part of the response record.
• No additional Google account profile information stored with a summary discussion message or streak record beyond the generated username shown on the site.
• No generated streak username attached to the stored daily response itself.
• No invite recipient email address attached to the stored anonymous daily response itself.
• No public path from the displayed discussion username back to a user's Google account identity.
• No public regional or demographic segmentation displayed in summaries.
• No intention to display individual anonymous response text on the live board as a named or attributed post.

8. Advertising and consent

Advertising is not required to use the service. If advertising is enabled in the future, advertising cookies will remain optional and AdSense will not load until you choose to allow ads. You can keep essential cookies only and still use the site. Google provides additional information about its business data responsibilities at business.safety.google/privacy.

9. Security and abuse prevention

We use anti-spam and integrity controls including rate limiting, reCAPTCHA, and optional Google sign-in for streak saving and summary discussion posting. These safeguards are used to protect platform quality and reduce spam, not to create public user profiles.

10. Retention and access

Submitted content may be retained to support daily summaries, moderation, and platform reliability. Access is limited to authorized platform operations.

Anonymous invite email processing may also retain limited operational records needed to prevent duplicate or abusive sends for the same day. Invite unsubscribe-suppression records may be retained longer so future opt-out requests can continue to be honored.

Because anonymous daily responses are intentionally stored without a direct personal identifier, we may not be able to verify, locate, correct, or delete a specific anonymous response on request once it has been submitted.

11. Automated theme insights and same-day perspective features

After you submit a response, the site may show a "What people are feeling today" panel. To generate that panel, the service uses simple automated text rules to place some anonymous responses into broad themes.

If a response matches one of those broad themes, the service may store that theme label with the otherwise anonymous response record and combine same-day results into rounded, privacy-protective displays such as similar-theme percentages, named themes, an Other category, and public live-board visualizations.

The live board may also include short same-day pulse summaries that describe broad shared patterns from recent anonymous responses. Those summaries are intended as general perspective only and are not meant as a verbatim publication of individual answers.

These displays are intended as general perspective only. They may be rounded, regrouped, generalized, or partly presented through representative theme slots rather than as an exact one-for-one readout of all underlying responses. They are not used to identify you, attach your answer to an account, or make decisions about your eligibility to use the service.

12. Summary publication policy

Summaries are published only when data volume is sufficient. We intentionally avoid summary breakdowns by region or similar comparison metrics, because we treat thoughts from people across the world as equally important.

13. Contact and requests

You can contact the site at the following addresses, depending on the reason for the request.

If you want to ask about identifiable records you provided directly, such as invite-related email records or contact emails, write to [email protected] and we will review the request in line with applicable law. Because anonymous daily responses are intentionally stored without direct identifiers, we may not be able to match a particular response back to you.

• General contact: [email protected]
• Privacy questions: [email protected]
• Safety and trust concerns: [email protected]
• Feature requests: [email protected]
• General help and support: [email protected]

14. Updates to this policy

This policy may be revised as the platform evolves. Material changes will be reflected by updating the "Last updated" date on this page.