OnceWrote Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

OnceWrote is a personal app for Windows and Android, made by Naveed Abbas. In this policy, "we" means OnceWrote. You can write to us at oncewroteapp@gmail.com.

2. What OnceWrote keeps, and where

On your device. Your missions, levels, projects, actions, marks and ticks, thoughts, wins and settings are saved on your own phone or computer. If you never sign in, this is the only place your writing lives. We never receive it.

• Windows: in a file inside the OnceWrote folder in your user data folder.
• Android: inside the app's own private storage.

In the cloud, only if you sign in. A copy of the same records is kept in Google's Firebase (Firestore), under your own Google account, so your phone and computer can show the same things. Reminder settings and the layout of your screens are not copied. They belong to the device.

3. How your writing is locked

Your password. The first time you open OnceWrote, you choose a password and write down 12 recovery words. Everyone does this, even without a Google account. From your password, OnceWrote makes a key. The key never leaves your devices.

On your device. The saved file is locked with that key (SQLCipher, AES-256). Computer backups are locked too. The key is kept in your device's own protected storage (Windows' protected storage on a computer, the Android Keystore on a phone), so you do not type your password every day. You type it on a new device, after reinstalling, or to recover.

In your account. Everything you put in OnceWrote is locked on your device before it is sent, with the same key, one record at a time. That includes what you wrote, the choices you made (priorities, colours, what you ticked, how often a mark repeats), and the dates and times on all of it. We cannot read it. Google cannot read it. Nobody who gets into the cloud copy can read it.

Things that are not locked, so you know:

• The file you get from Export is not locked. Anyone who has it can read your writing. Keep it private.
• On the computer, pictures attached to older thoughts are saved as ordinary picture files in the OnceWrote folder. Anyone who can open your Windows account can see them.
• The PIN or fingerprint lock on the phone guards opening the app. It is not what locks your writing. The password and key do that.
• A computer backup can be restored by a person signed in to your Windows account, because the computer holds the key for you.

4. What we can still see

Only what is needed to keep your devices in step:

• that your Google account has a OnceWrote cloud copy;
• how many records of each kind there are;
• when each record was last saved;
• roughly how big each record is;
• your locked key record: your key, locked by your password and your 12 words, plus the non-secret values your password needs to open it;
• a small marker, written when you tap Delete everything. It holds a random number and a time. It holds no writing.

Someone with access to the cloud copy could tell that you have five projects and saved something on a Tuesday evening. They could not tell what anything is called, how far along it is, what you ticked or what you wrote.

5. Signing in

OnceWrote uses Google Sign-In. It receives your Google account's id, email address, name and picture. It uses them to find your own cloud copy and to show who is signed in. Google's sign-in service (Firebase Authentication) keeps a sign-in record for you: your id, email address, name and picture. Your email address and name are not stored in your cloud copy of your writing. OnceWrote never posts anything, never reads your email, contacts or files, and never shares your account with anyone.

You can sign out any time. Signing out stops the cloud copy being updated. The writing on your device stays, locked with your password.

6. Who else is involved

When your device connects to Google's services, Google may handle technical details such as your internet address. That is part of how Google runs its services. We do not use it.

7. What we do not do

• No advertising.
• No analytics, telemetry or usage statistics. The app does not report how you use it, to us or to anyone.
• No selling, sharing or renting of anything to anyone.
• No AI. Nothing you write is sent to an AI service, and the app has no code that could send it. Your weekly reports are counted on your own device.
• No crash reports sent by the app. If something goes wrong, you can choose to copy the text from Settings → About → Copy info for support and send it to us. That text holds the app version, your operating system, whether you are signed in (yes or no, not which account), whether this device is locked, and the last twenty error lines. It never holds your writing.

8. Reminders

The reminder is worked out and shown by your own device. Nothing about it is sent anywhere. It is on when you start, at 9:30 PM, and you can change the time or turn it off in Settings. On Android, the phone asks for notification permission once. We do not send marketing messages.

9. The widget

The home-screen widget has two buttons, Thought and Mark. It shows none of your writing and never reads your data. It only opens the app.

10. Your password and your 12 words

• Your password never leaves your device.
• We cannot see it. We cannot reset it.
• If you lose your password and your 12 recovery words, nobody can open what is kept in your account. This is by design. If OnceWrote is still open on another device where you are signed in, you can set a new password there.
• Changing your password does not change older backups. An old backup can still be opened with the password it was made under.

11. Your choices

Delete everything removes all your writing from this device and from your account. You stay signed in and your password is kept. Your other devices are cleared too, the next time they connect. Update every device to the latest version first, because older versions do not follow this.

Delete my account removes your whole cloud copy, your sign-in record, and OnceWrote's access to your Google account, and empties the device. If you sign in again with the same Google account, you start as a brand-new user.

12. How long we keep your data

We keep what is in your account until you delete it. When you delete it in the app, it is removed. If you email us, we delete it within 30 days. Google keeps deleted data in its own systems for a short time before it is erased for good. Data on your own device stays there until you delete it or remove the app.

13. Your rights

You can ask to see, fix or delete your data. Most of this you can do yourself in the app. For anything else, email oncewroteapp@gmail.com.

14. Children

OnceWrote is not made for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from them.

15. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will change the date at the top. We will not make your data less private without telling you inside the app.

16. Contact

Naveed Abbas · OnceWrote · oncewroteapp@gmail.com