Privacy Policy

Last updated 31 August 2026

Snail Mail is a closed messaging app that behaves like the postal service — letters take real days to arrive, and everything is presented as physical post. This page explains what information the app collects, why, and what your rights are.

Who this is about

Snail Mail is a personal project. I'm the person responsible for any data it collects: Steven Ward, based in Northamptonshire, UK.

For any question about your data, or to ask me to delete your account, contact info@snailmail.support.

What I collect

• Your email address — used to create your account and sign you in. I never share it with other users; connecting with someone happens via a private invite link, not by searching for their email.
• The full text of every letter you write — stored in full, exactly as written, on the server, both before and after delivery. Nothing in the app is built to show letter content to me, but as the person operating that database, I have the technical ability to read it. This is the most sensitive thing the app handles, and you should know that plainly rather than assume it.
• Your address book — who you're connected to, and any private nickname you give them (never shown to them).
• Settings you enter — such as the town you're posting from, used only to calculate realistic delivery times.

What I don't do

I don't run analytics, advertising, or third-party tracking of any kind inside the app. I don't sell your data to anyone, for any reason.

Who else sees it

I use a small number of service providers to run Snail Mail — they process data on my behalf, under my instructions, not their own:

• Supabase — hosts my database and handles sign-in.
• Resend — sends the email that confirms your account when you sign up.
• Apple — distributes the app itself via the App Store/TestFlight; Apple's own privacy practices apply to that part.

These providers may process data outside the UK. Where they do, they're required to protect it to UK standards.

How long I keep it

Your account data is kept while your account is active. If you ask me to close your account, I anonymise your profile and end your connections to other users — but a letter you've already sent to someone, or received from them, stays with them, the same as real post: once a letter is given, it's theirs.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you can ask me to:

• tell you what data I hold about you;
• correct anything that's wrong;
• delete your account and personal data (see "How long I keep it" above for what that does and doesn't remove); or
• object to how I'm using your data.

Contact info@snailmail.support for any of these. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) if you think I've got something wrong.

Children

Snail Mail isn't directed at children under 13, and I don't knowingly collect data from anyone under that age.

Changes to this policy

If this changes, I'll update the date at the top of this page.