What we keep, and why

FlatMate is run by an individual in the United Kingdom, who decides what is collected and why. In data protection terms that person is the “controller”. To reach them, open an issue at github.com/22KarthikV/flatmate/issues (please do not put personal details in a public issue; say you would like a private reply).

When you sign in with Google, FlatMate receives and stores:

• your email address;
• your name and profile photo address from your Google account;
• a Google account identifier, so we know it is you next time;
• when you signed up and last signed in.

From that FlatMate makes your profile: a display name (the name your flatmates see, which you can change) and your photo address. Your photo is refreshed from Google when you sign in. We never see or store a password, because Google handles the sign-in.

As FlatMate gains more features (rotas, rent, bills, expenses and events), what you add to them will be stored too. This page will be updated, and shown to you, before any new kind of data is collected.

When you create or join a flat, FlatMate also stores:

• the flat’s name and time zone, its rota answer deadline, and when it was created or closed;
• your membership: which flat you are in, your role (owner, admin or member), when you joined, and when and why you left (you left, you were removed, your account was deleted, or the flat was closed);
• the flat’s invite link: who made it, when it was made and when it expires or was switched off. Only a scrambled fingerprint of the link is kept, never the link itself.

The other people in your flat can see your display name, photo and role. If you leave, or are removed, they still see your name next to things you added, so the flat’s history makes sense. People in other flats cannot see anything about you.

When something happens in your flat (someone joins or leaves, or your role changes), FlatMate can tell you. It stores:

• each notification sent to you: a title, a short line, the screen it opens, when it arrived, and whether you have read or snoozed it. Only you can see your own; not even your flatmates can. Unread ones are kept, and read ones are deleted after 90 days;
• your choices: for each kind of notification, whether you want it in the app and as a push;
• for each device where you turn on push, a push address and two encryption keys. These come from your browser’s push service and are what lets FlatMate send to that device and no other. We also keep a rough label such as “Safari on iPhone”, when it was added, and when a push last worked or failed;
• a short-lived delivery record of each push that was queued or sent, deleted after 14 days.

A push carries only a title, one short line and a link, never amounts or other private detail. It travels through the push service your browser uses, run by Apple, Google, Microsoft or Mozilla, which can see that a message was sent to your device but not what it says. Push is always your choice: your browser asks first, and you can turn push off for one device on the notification settings page without affecting your others.

When you or a flatmate add a shared expense, or record a payment between flatmates, FlatMate stores:

• each expense: the amount, what it was for, a category, its date, who paid, who added it and when;
• each person’s share of it, so the app can work out who owes whom;
• each payment between two flatmates, and whether the person receiving it confirmed it.

Everyone in your flat can see these, and nobody outside it can. FlatMate only keeps a record: it never touches money and never asks for card or bank details. Nothing here is ever overwritten or deleted. Correcting or cancelling an expense keeps the earlier version in its history, so everyone can see what changed. Amounts appear in the app and in your inbox, but never in a push to your phone.

When an admin sets up the rent or a monthly bill such as gas, electricity, Wi-Fi or council tax, FlatMate stores:

• the template: its name, who collects or pays it, the day it is due, the months it applies to, and whether it is paused or ended;
• for rent, the rooms with their rent and who lives in each, and each person’s amount; for a bill, who shares it;
• each month that was created, and for rent each person’s charge and each rent payment they record, with whether the collector confirmed it;
• a short log of who changed a template and when.

Bills are shared money, so a bill each month appears as an ordinary expense that everyone in your flat can see. Rent is private: you can see only your own rent and payments, and nobody else in the flat can see what you pay. The person who collects the rent and the flat’s owner and admins can see everyone’s, so they can run it. Nothing here is overwritten or deleted once created. If you leave, your past rent rows stay for the admins as history; if you delete your account, your name on them becomes “Deleted user”. Amounts appear in the app and in your inbox, but never in a push to your phone.

When your flat uses the rota, FlatMate stores:

• your availability: for each day of the coming week, whether you said you are around, when you last changed it, and whether the app filled it in as around because you did not answer by the deadline;
• each chore given to you: which chore, the day, why it was yours, which steps you ticked and when, whether it was finished, reopened or signed off, and who reopened or signed it off, and, for an unfinished chore from an earlier week, whether it was covered by a later turn of the same chore or excused by an admin, when, and by whom;
• swap requests between flatmates (who asked whom, for which chore, whether it was accepted, declined or withdrawn, and when), and the name of the admin who moved a chore directly;
• the dates you are away from chores, with the short note you add if you wish, which everyone in your flat can read. Away dates never affect rent or bills;
• a record of the chores moved when a flatmate left (which chore, who it came from and who it went to, and who undid it), kept so an admin can undo it within 24 hours;
• a note of when you last had each chore and whether you were passed over for it, which is how the rota keeps turns fair;
• the flat’s chores and checklists, which are about the flat and not about you.

Everyone in your flat can see everyone’s availability, because the rota depends on it, and nobody outside it can. Reminders about the rota appear in your inbox and never carry a chore or a person in a push to your phone. If you delete your account your name is replaced with “Deleted user” and past availability stays with the flat’s history.

When your flat plans an event, FlatMate stores:

• the events you propose: the title, description and place you write, the dates offered, when voting closes, and who organised it;
• your yes, maybe or no answers on each date, when you gave them and changed them. Your flatmates can see which answer you gave, by name, so they know who has not answered yet;
• which date was confirmed and how, and, if an event is cancelled, who cancelled it and the short reason they gave.

Only your flat can see its events, and nobody outside it can. Reminders about events appear in your inbox and never carry an event title, place or person in a push to your phone. If you leave the flat or delete your account, your answers stay as part of the flat’s history, shown as “Deleted user” if the account is gone, but they stop counting towards any vote.

When your flat uses the shopping list, FlatMate stores the item names and notes you type, who added each one and who bought it, when, and a link to any expense made from them. Everyone in your flat can see the list, and nobody outside it can. Unbought items you added are deleted if you delete your account. Items are removed 90 days after they are cleared.

When your flat sets up bin days, FlatMate stores the names, colours and repeat pattern of your flat’s bins, one real collection date to count from, and any skipped or moved collections an admin adds, with who added them. Everyone in your flat can see them, and nobody outside it can. A reminder appears in your inbox the evening before a collection; it can be turned off. A push to your phone only says that a bin collection is tomorrow. FlatMate does not look anything up from your council.

When your flat uses the noticeboard, FlatMate stores the short posts your flatmates write, who posted them, when, and when they expire. Everyone in your flat can see them, and nobody outside it can. Posts you wrote are deleted if you delete your account; others disappear when they expire. A new post appears in your inbox without its words, and a push to your phone never carries them.

When your flat uses the fix-it log, FlatMate stores the problems your flat reports (the title, details and room you write), who reported them, who is chasing the landlord, and a timeline of notes and changes with who made them and when. Everyone in your flat can see them, and nobody outside it can. We do not store photos. A push to your phone never carries a problem’s words. If you delete your account, your reports and notes stay as part of the flat’s history, shown as “Deleted user”, and you stop being the person chasing.

When your flat records meter readings, FlatMate stores the meters (gas, electricity or water, and an optional label), each reading (a number and a date), an optional note, and who recorded it and who cancelled it. Everyone in your flat can see them, and nobody outside it can. Readings can show when a home is occupied, so they are visible only to your flat. Please do not put account numbers in the note. Readings stay with the flat if you delete your account, shown as “Deleted user”. We show no costs and store no photos.

Only to run the service you asked for: signing you in, showing your flatmates who you are, and keeping your flat’s information together. Our legal basis is that this is needed to provide FlatMate to you (a contract). We do not sell your data, show adverts, or use it to profile you.

• Sign-in cookies keep you signed in (essential). A short-lived cookie also protects the sign-in handshake with Google.
• Offline files. The installed app saves its own pages and images on your device so it can open without a connection.
• One preference remembers that you dismissed the “install the app” reminder.

There are no advertising, analytics or tracking cookies, so there is no cookie banner to click.

• Supabase stores the database and runs sign-in. Our project is hosted in London (the UK).
• Vercel hosts the app and may keep technical request logs (such as your IP address and the time) for security and fixing faults. Its servers may be outside the UK.
• Google signs you in. Their handling of your Google account is covered by Google’s own privacy policy.
• Your browser’s push service (Apple, Google, Microsoft or Mozilla) delivers push notifications, only if you turn them on.

These providers act on our instructions, and where data leaves the UK they rely on recognised safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.

For as long as you have an account. When you delete your account, your sign-in record is removed, your name and photo are replaced by “Deleted user”, and you are signed out everywhere. Your notifications, notification choices and push devices are deleted at the same moment, so nothing can be sent to your phone afterwards. Messages other people already received about you will say “Deleted user” instead of your name. Your place in your flat ends. If you owned a flat with no one else in it, that flat is closed. Records you added to a flat (for example an expense) may remain for your flatmates’ history without your name. A closed flat’s records are kept but nobody can open it. Technical logs are kept by our providers for a short time and then removed.

You can ask to see, correct, export or erase your data, to restrict or object to how it is used, and to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).

• Change your name: Account page, Display name.
• Delete your account: Account page, Delete account. It takes effect straight away. If you own a flat other people live in, hand it over first.
• Leave a flat: More, then Your flat.
• Get a copy of your data, or anything else: open an issue at github.com/22KarthikV/flatmate/issues (please do not put personal details in a public issue; say you would like a private reply). We aim to reply within one month.

If this page changes in a way that matters, we will say so in the app. See also the terms of use.