Last updated: 1 November 2026
Gentle Steps helps you turn a goal into small steps with reminders. This page explains exactly what it stores, who else sees it, and how to get rid of it. It is written to be read, not to protect anyone legally.
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Your email address | So you can sign in and get back to your tasks on another device. |
| Your password | Stored only as a cryptographic hash by our authentication provider. Nobody, including us, can read it. |
| The goals you type | Kept so the steps can be traced back to what you asked for. |
| Your tasks — title, date, time, whether it repeats | To show your list and schedule reminders. |
| Which tasks you ticked off, and on which day | So a daily task can be done today and open again tomorrow. |
| How many times you have had steps made this month | To apply the monthly allowance. |
| Whether you have a paid subscription, and when it runs out | To take the ads away and apply the right allowance. Stored as a plan name and a date, nothing more. |
| Whether an advert played before each set of steps, and Google's confirmation code for it | To check that the advert paying for free steps really played. |
| Your sign-in sessions — the IP address and type of device each one was started from | Kept by our sign-in provider to keep your account secure. Removed when you sign out of that device or delete your account. |
That is the complete list of what this app stores. There is no location data, no contacts, and this app runs no analytics or crash-reporting service of its own. The app does not store your advertising ID — but Google does receive it when an ad is shown, and measures its own advertising with it. That is explained below.
Data protection law needs a reason, called a lawful basis, for each thing an app does with your data. These are this app's:
| What | Basis |
|---|---|
| Your account, tasks, goals, reminders, what you ticked off, your monthly count and your subscription | Contract. They are the app you signed up for, and it cannot work without them. |
| Sending your goal to Anthropic | Contract. Breaking it into steps is what you asked for. |
| Adverts that use your advertising ID, in the UK and EU | Consent, given on Google's form. You can withdraw it at any time under Settings → Advert privacy choices. |
| The monthly limit, and stopping abuse | Legitimate interests: keeping the free version fair, and affordable enough to keep offering. |
Anthropic — when you ask for a goal to be broken into steps, the text you typed is sent to Anthropic's API, which returns the ordered steps. With Plus, the tools that plan a week, rework a day or help with a stuck step also send the titles and times of the tasks involved. This means what you write leaves this app. Please bear that in mind if you would write something you would not want processed by a third party. Anthropic does not use API data to train their models. Your email address and account are not sent — only that text and the current time.
Anthropic is based in the United States, so your goal may be processed outside the UK. That transfer is covered by Anthropic's data processing terms, which use the safeguard UK law approves for it: the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
Google AdMob — a short video ad plays before each free set of steps. That ad is what pays for the steps, which is how the free version can exist at all. To choose and count the ad, Google receives your device's advertising ID along with the usual technical details of any internet request — your IP address, device type and rough region. Google uses these to pick which ad you see, to measure how its own advertising performs, and to detect fraudulent clicks. That is Google measuring its advertising business, not this app watching what you do.
What Google never receives is anything you wrote. Your goals, your tasks, your email address and your account do not leave for Google, and no ad is targeted using them. You can reset or delete the advertising ID at any time in Android's Settings → Privacy → Ads, and the app carries on working. Ads are not shown on the paid plan.
If you are in the UK or EU, you are asked first. The first time an advert is needed, the app shows Google's consent form before any advert uses your advertising ID. You can say no. The app still works — if no advert can be shown, you still get your steps, up to 35 times a month — and you can change your answer at any time under Settings → Advert privacy choices.
That form is Google's standard wording, shared by every app that uses it, so it mentions precise geolocation. This app blocks location permission entirely: neither the app nor Google's advertising code inside it can read where you are, beyond the rough region any internet connection reveals.
RevenueCat — checks with Google that a purchase of Gentle Steps Plus is real, and tells this app which plan you are on and when a subscription starts, renews or ends. When you sign in, the app gives RevenueCat your account's identifier — a random code, not your email — so it can answer that question; this happens whether or not you ever buy anything. If you buy, it also receives the purchase details Google gives it — which product, when it renews, whether it was refunded.
It does not receive your goals, your tasks or your email address, and it never sees your card. The setting that would let it collect your advertising ID and device identifiers is deliberately switched off, because this app has no use for it. If you never buy anything, RevenueCat holds that identifier and nothing else about you.
RevenueCat is based in the United States and processes this there. That transfer is covered by RevenueCat's data processing terms, which use the same safeguard UK law approves as Anthropic's do: the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
Supabase — hosts the database and handles sign-in. Your data is stored in their EU (Ireland) region.
Gmail — the emails that confirm your sign-up or reset your password are sent through Google's Gmail from gentlestepsapp@gmail.com, so Google handles your email address to deliver them.
Google Play — handles distribution, and takes the payment if you subscribe. Your card details go to Google and never reach this app or RevenueCat; we are told only that a payment succeeded. Google does not receive your tasks. You can cancel a subscription at any time in the Play Store.
Nothing is sold or rented, and no data broker is involved. Google is the only advertiser, and it receives none of your goals, tasks or account details — only the advertising ID and technical request details described above.
Reminders are scheduled on your own phone by Android, not sent from a server. The app does not use push notifications and holds no push token. If you deny or withdraw notification permission, everything else keeps working — you just will not be nudged.
A copy of your list is kept on your phone, so the app opens and you can tick things off without a signal. If you add the home-screen widget, today's next steps are saved for it too, and anyone who can see your home screen can read them. Logging out removes both from the phone.
Your data is kept until you delete it. You can delete individual tasks in the app at any time.
To delete your whole account and everything attached to it, email the address below from the address you signed up with (Settings → Delete your account in the app shows how), and it will be erased within 30 days. Deletion removes your tasks, goals, completions, sign-in sessions and account record, and the customer record RevenueCat holds for your account — it cannot be undone.
If Gentle Steps is ever going to close, everyone with an account will be told by email before it does, and the data this app holds will be deleted when it closes.
Under UK and EU data protection law you can ask for a copy of your data, ask for it to be corrected, ask for it to be deleted, or object to how it is handled. Use the contact address below and you will get a reply within 30 days.
If you are unhappy with how your data has been handled, tell me first at the same address: I will acknowledge it within 30 days, look into it, and tell you what I have done. If you are still not satisfied, you can complain to the Information Commission, the UK regulator (until 30 September 2026 called the Information Commissioner's Office).
Gentle Steps is for adults: you must be 18 or over to use it, and accounts should not be created for anyone younger.
If this policy changes in a way that affects what is collected or who sees it, the app will say so rather than quietly updating this page.
Gentle Steps is made and run by George Stather, in Northern Ireland, who is responsible for your data under UK data protection law. For anything in this policy, email gentlestepsapp@gmail.com.
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