Privacy Policy

Who we are

GentleTaper is operated by Soutien aux Études Kariyasu, based in Quebec, Canada.

The person responsible for the protection of your personal information can be reached at privacy@gentletaper.com. That address goes to them directly, not to a support queue.

Your data stays on your device

All your medication information, doses, and tapering schedules are stored only on your phone or tablet. We never collect, store, or share your personal health data.

This is not a promise about how carefully we look after your health records. It is a description of how the app is built: there is no copy of them for us to look after.

What we collect

Your health data — doses, symptoms, schedules — never leaves your device.

We use Vercel's analytics to see how many people visit and which pages they use. It does not use cookies and cannot follow you between sites or across days. It records the page you viewed, where you arrived from, your country, and your browser. It does not record anything you type into the app.

If you create an account, we store your email address so you can sign in. An account is optional and the app works fully without one.

If you email us, we have your email address and whatever you chose to write.

Where your data is stored

Your health data is on your own device, so it is wherever you are. For the small amount of information that does reach us:

• Accounts are stored in Montreal, Canada. We chose a Canadian database deliberately, so that a Quebec resident's information does not leave the province.
• Website hosting and analytics come from Vercel Inc., an American company, and are processed in the United States.
• Email you send us arrives in our mailbox at Porkbun LLC, also in the United States.

We mention this because information held in another country falls under that country's laws. If that matters to you, you can use GentleTaper without an account and without ever emailing us, and nothing of yours will leave your device except the anonymous page view.

If you are in the UK or the EU, the safeguard for that transfer is Supabase's data processing addendum. It forms part of their terms of service, takes effect with them, and incorporates both the European Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK Addendum issued by the Information Commissioner. You can read it in full at that link.

Health information

Health information is given stronger legal protection than ordinary personal information, in Quebec and in Europe both. We think that is right.

We do not collect it at all. If that ever changes — for instance, if we offer to back up your history so you don't lose it when you replace your phone — we will ask you first, in plain language, and you will be able to say no and carry on using the app exactly as before. It will never be switched on quietly on your behalf.

Why we are allowed to hold what we hold

If you are in Europe or the UK, the law asks us to say on what grounds we process information. Ours are short:

• Analytics — our legitimate interest in knowing whether the site is useful. No cookies, no profile, no tracking between sites.
• Your account email — to provide the account you asked us for.
• Your emails to us — to answer them.
• Health data — not processed by us at all. Were that ever to change, only with your explicit consent, asked for separately.

How long we keep it

• Data on your device — until you delete it, or delete the app. We have no say in it and no ability to keep a copy.
• Your account email — until you delete your account, after which it is removed within 30 days.
• Analytics — held by Vercel in aggregate for a limited period. It is not tied to you and cannot be traced back to you.
• Emails — kept while we still need them to help you, then deleted.

You are in full control

Inside the app, at any time:

• Export your full history anytime
• Delete all your data instantly
• You control everything

And as a matter of law — whether you are in Quebec, Europe, or the UK — you have the right to:

• Ask what personal information we hold about you
• Have it corrected if it is wrong
• Have it deleted
• Withdraw your consent at any time
• Receive it in a portable form you can take elsewhere

Email privacy@gentletaper.com and we will act on it. There is no charge, and you do not need to give a reason.

Notifications

The app may ask for permission to send reminders. These are made on your own device — the reminder does not travel through us, and we do not know what it says or whether you acted on it. You can turn them off anytime in your phone settings.

Children

GentleTaper is not intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. The app never asks your age, so we have no way of knowing how old you are — which means we rely on you to tell us. If you believe a child has provided us with information, email privacy@gentletaper.com and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we will update the date at the top of this page. If a change actually affects what happens to your information — rather than just tidying up the wording — we will say so clearly in the app before it takes effect, not quietly on a page you have no reason to revisit.

Contact, and complaints

General questions about the app? Email hello@gentletaper.com.

Anything to do with your personal information — access, correction, deletion, withdrawing consent, or a complaint — goes to privacy@gentletaper.com. That address reaches the person responsible for privacy directly.

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled something, you can complain to a regulator. In Quebec that is the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec. In Europe or the UK it is the data protection authority for the country you live in. In Australia it is the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. In New Zealand it is the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. The United States has no single privacy regulator: you can complain to the Federal Trade Commission, or to the attorney general of your state. If you live in Washington or Nevada, those states give you extra rights over health data, and each has its own page here.