Privacy

Last updated November 5, 2026

Who we are

Ritual OS is made by The Wired Ape Inc., a company registered in Delaware, USA. To ask anything about your data, write to privacy@thewiredape.com. We answer within the time the law where you live allows.

What this notice covers

This notice covers the Ritual OS app. The website and the Hearthline letter have their own notices.

What we never do

We don't sell your data. We don't show ads, and nothing you tell this app is used to advertise to you. There are no advertising or analytics trackers in the app. We share your data only with the few companies named below that run the app for us.

What you give us when you sign up

Your email address and a password. Your password is kept by our sign-in provider in a form we can't read. We ask your date of birth to check you are old enough, and we keep only the result, never the date. We keep the time you agreed to this notice.

What you tell the app

Your quiz answers, your weekly check ins, notes you write after a practice or during one, and your heritage if you choose to add it. Some of this is about your health, including any disability, your state of mind, a death or coming loss in your life, and what you believe, which the law treats as sensitive. We ask for your clear agreement before you start, and our server encrypts it before it is stored.

What we keep about what you do

Which practices you started, finished or stopped, and when. Your Ritual DNA and any earlier ones. Your notification choices. To understand whether the app is working, we count what people do, such as a practice finished. Those counts never include anything you wrote.

What stays on your phone

Ember runs on your phone, using a model downloaded to it. Your conversation with Ember is not sent to us. A few words from your message are sent to our server to find practices that match, and they are not kept. Practices you have opened, your trail and anything not yet sent are kept in an encrypted store on your phone, with a key that never leaves the phone. Reminders are set on your phone, so we don't know when they go off.

When you might not be safe

The app checks what you write for signs that you might not be safe. This check is automatic, runs on your phone and on our server, and no person reads what you wrote. If it sees those signs, it shows you people who can help. It does not keep a record of why. For 14 days afterwards it offers gentler practices, and the only thing stored is that date. Visits to the help screens are counted without knowing who made them. The app does not contact anyone about you. If that ever changes, this notice will say so first.

Decisions the app makes for you

The app decides which practice to offer you, which Ritual DNA fits you, and when to show you where to get help. It uses your quiz answers, the practices you have done and your check ins. We don't publish how these are worked out. You can always choose a different practice, tell us your Ritual DNA doesn't sound like you, or write to us to have a person look at a decision.

Who runs the app for us

Supabase stores your account and your data, and Vercel runs our server. Daily carries the video and sound of calls with a Firekeeper and doesn't record them. These three work for us under a written agreement. Apple and Google deliver the app and take payments made in it, and Stripe takes payments made on our website and, in the United States, through the link in the app; each does this under its own terms. The file Ember and Cairn run on comes to your phone from Google Play or from Hugging Face, which, like any download, sees your phone's internet address and nothing else. Your data is stored in the European Union.

How long we keep it

We keep your data while your account is open. When you delete your account, it is removed from our live systems at once, and copies in our backups are gone within 30 days. Counts that never identified you stay.

Your choices

You can see and download everything the app holds about you, from You, in the app. You can delete your account and everything in it in two taps, with one confirmation. You can change your heritage and your notifications at any time. Deleting your account is also how you take back your agreement. For anything else the law gives you, write to us.

Children

Ritual OS does not open accounts for anyone under 13. Accounts for people aged 13 to 17 are not available yet.

Where your data travels

The people who run Ritual OS work from India and the United States, so your data can be reached from there. Where data leaves the European Union, we use the protections the law requires, such as the European Commission's standard contract terms.

Keeping it safe

Everything travels encrypted. What you tell the app is encrypted before it is stored, and the store on your phone is encrypted. Only a small number of people can reach the data, and every look at it is recorded. No system is perfectly safe. If something goes wrong with your data, we will tell you and the authorities the law requires, as quickly as it requires.

Changes to this notice

If we change how your data is used, we'll tell you in the app before the change happens. Anything new that needs your agreement will ask for it first.

If you live in Washington State

If you live in Washington State in the United States, a separate consumer health data notice applies to you. It is below this notice, under Washington consumer health data.

Practicing together

If you practice with a partner, or as a parent and an adult child, each of you keeps your own account. The other person never sees anything you have written or answered. The only things you share are that you're paired and when a practice together started and ended. The private questions before a practice are never stored. Either of you can end the pairing, and the other isn't told. If you tell the app you're not safe at home, practicing together is switched off. Practicing together is only for people 18 or over. Before it starts, your phone's own system (Apple or Google) is asked whether you're 18 or over. If it can't confirm that, an ID check does, returning only a yes or no. We keep only that you're 18 or over and how it was checked, never your ID, its number, a photo or your date of birth.

Leading a room

If you lead a practice for a room of people, they don't need the app, and nothing about them is recorded: no names, no numbers, nothing anyone says. We keep only that you led a room, what kind, which practice and when. Before you start, you confirm a short checklist on your phone; we keep only the time you confirmed it. Rooms with children outside your own family, and rooms in care settings, are led through an organization we have verified, which holds the guardians' consent. If you lead a room at work, your employer is never told that it happened, who came or who passed. A community circle keeps no record of which community it was for, which organization ran it, or what was practiced; only that one took place.

Paying for a membership

If you pay for a membership, Apple, Google or Stripe takes the payment. We never see your card or bank details. We keep a record of the purchase so we can confirm it and restore it on a new phone: which plan, its state and its dates, and the store's own reference for it. If you buy a founding membership on our website, we keep only a scrambled form of the email you gave, until you sign in to Ritual OS with that email; then the membership joins your account and the scrambled email is deleted. If you delete your account, the purchase record stays with nothing that links it to you, so a refund can still be matched.

Calls with a Firekeeper

If you have a session with a Firekeeper, using the code they give you, our server keeps when it was and how long it lasted, the name you chose to show them, the messages you both write, and your answers to the short private check afterwards. Messages and any note you add are stored sealed. Messages are checked for safety, and a held message is kept so a person can review it. If your check afterwards raises a concern, a person reads it within a day. The call runs on Daily, which carries the video and sound between you. Calls are never recorded and nobody watches them. Everything about your sessions is deleted when you delete your account.

Washington consumer health data

This notice is for people in Washington State. It sits beside the Ritual OS privacy notice and does not replace it. Washington's My Health My Data Act calls some of what the app holds consumer health data.

What health data we collect

Your answers to the Spiritual DNA Quiz about your state of mind, your body, grief and loss, and what you believe. Your weekly check ins. Notes you write after or during a practice. That you finished or stopped a practice. Your Ritual DNA. We do not collect location from your phone.

Why we collect it

Only to choose practices that fit you, to show you your own trail, and to show you where to get help when what you write suggests you might not be safe. We use counts that never include what you wrote to check whether the app works.

Where it comes from

From you, in the app. We do not buy health data or collect it from anyone else.

Who we share it with

We do not share your health data with anyone for their own use, and we never sell it. Supabase stores it and Vercel runs our server, both working only for us under written agreements. We have no affiliates that receive it.

Your agreement

We ask for your agreement before we collect any of it, in a box you tick yourself when you create your account. We would ask again, separately, before sharing it with anyone, and we would need your signed permission before any sale, which we do not do.

Your rights

You can see and download your health data in the app, under You. You can delete it, with your account, in two taps. You can take back your agreement by deleting your account. You can ask us which companies have received your data by writing to privacy@thewiredape.com. We answer within 45 days.

If we say no

If we turn down a request, you can reply to appeal, and we will answer the appeal within 45 days. If you are still unhappy, you can contact the Washington State Attorney General.