Alcove Privacy Policy

Information you provide

Alcove may store account details, the Terms and Safety version accepted by the account and its acceptance time, an optional email-updates preference and its change history, founding beta-tester status and discount eligibility, an age range or “prefer not to say” response, personalization quiz answers, up to three group memberships, per-group suggestion settings, group-level place recommendations, preview-use counts, confirmed invitation progress, subscription entitlement status, promotional access grants, saved places, submitted places, field notes, ratings, favorites, friendships, shared lists, activity logs, support requests, image metadata, and aggregate sound metrics when you choose to provide or create them.

If an unexpected signed-in app error occurs, Alcove may send the account email, app version, operating-system platform and version, Expo SDK version, error type, and a shortened error message to the support queue so the beta can be repaired. The current event telemetry boundary otherwise writes only non-sensitive diagnostic events to the local development console and does not send them to a hosted analytics provider.

Contacts, location, photos, and historical sound data

Contact matching is optional and begins only after you select Sync Contacts and grant system permission. Contact matches are used only for the current session. Address-book data and normalized contact values are not persisted by Alcove.

Location permission is optional and is used to estimate distance, drive time, and nearby outdoor places. Conditions requests use the selected place's catalog coordinates; Alcove does not send a user's precise device location merely because Conditions is opened. Photos are selected by you for moderator review. The current beta has no Guide or Relax tab and no microphone or sound-recording entry point. Historical aggregate relative dBFS observations from earlier beta builds may remain in a user's account or moderator queue; raw audio was not uploaded.

How information is used

Information is used to authenticate accounts, preserve the 30%-off founding beta benefit, select the appropriate store offering, provide and personalize app features, automatically match place records to relevant groups, select and rank place recommendations using chosen groups and quiz preferences, aggregate recommendations from other members of those groups, operate friend activity and shared lists, review community submissions, respond to support and privacy requests, protect the service, and improve beta content and reliability. Age range is not used to select groups, rank places, target promotions, or appear to other members.

Service providers and external sources

Alcove uses managed backend infrastructure for authentication, database storage, file storage, and server functions; Apple and Google for optional account sign-in and store billing; RevenueCat for subscription entitlement management; Google for mapping services when configured; Cloudflare for domain hosting, security, invitation and approval-request email delivery, and website performance analytics; the National Weather Service for weather and alert data; NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center for geomagnetic context; and AirNow for air-quality observations when configured. Sun and Moon events are calculated on the device with the open-source Astronomy Engine library, which does not receive the coordinates. Their handling of information is governed by their own terms and privacy notices.

Alcove does not receive payment-card information. Apple or Google processes the transaction, while RevenueCat and Alcove receive product, store, purchase-status, renewal, and entitlement information needed to provide Alcove Pro, restore access, and respond to refunds or expiration.

During the private beta, Alcove stores whether an account is pending, approved, or denied. When an account requests manual approval, Alcove stores the applicant email and, when a valid invite can be identified, the inviter account and friendship record. The approval email sent to the beta operator includes the applicant and who invited them. A valid unused friend or administrator link may approve the recipient automatically.

Cloudflare Web Analytics may measure page and performance information such as path, referring host, country, device type, browser, operating system, and Core Web Vitals. Cloudflare states that its Web Analytics beacon does not use cookies or local storage and does not track individual visitors across customer sites.

Website contact

The website uses email links rather than a contact form. Alcove does not create a separate website database record when you follow one of those links. Your email provider and Alcove's email provider process the message you choose to send.

Email updates, groups, recommendations, and promotions

Optional product, beta, and launch emails are off by default and require a separate choice during signup or in Data Controls. Account, security, and requested invitation messages are transactional and are sent separately when needed. Users can change the updates preference at any time. Users can belong to up to three personalization groups and pause suggestions from a current group. Free accounts can update their assignment through the quiz once every 30 days. Alcove Pro can retake the quiz anytime and edit groups directly. Place records are automatically matched to relevant groups so recommendations do not require a member vote. Accepted friends can see the names of a user’s groups. When a user recommends a reviewed place to a group, Alcove shows other members an aggregate recommendation count rather than the recommending user’s identity. The current beta does not contain paid group-targeted advertising. Before introducing sponsored group recommendations, Alcove will clearly label sponsored content, update this policy and applicable store disclosures, and provide any legally required controls or consent.

Prompt-style search and AI-assisted content

Prompt-style place search currently uses deterministic matching in the app. Search text, quiz answers, and profile data are not sent to a third-party AI service. Some nationwide catalog summaries were assembled with algorithmic and AI-assisted drafting and are labeled as beta content that should be confirmed against current official sources. If a future feature would send personal information to a third-party AI service, Alcove will identify the provider and purpose, update this policy and store disclosures, and request explicit permission before the transfer begins.

Sharing and public contributions

Alcove does not sell personal information or use it for cross-context behavioral advertising. Places, photos, field notes, and sound metrics can affect public information only after moderator review. Users can report community content and social activity where it appears, report or block people from the Friends screen, and contact support@alcoveoutdoors.com. Reports enter a moderator queue. Pending or rejected submissions do not affect public content. Public contributions may remain visible until they are removed or anonymized.

Retention and security

Alcove retains account and feature data while an account is active and as reasonably needed to provide the beta, resolve requests, prevent abuse, and meet legal obligations. Temporary contact matching values are not retained. Earlier beta sound capture deleted temporary recordings and did not upload raw audio. Alcove uses encrypted HTTPS connections, access controls, database row-level security, and limited administrative access, but no internet service can guarantee absolute security.

Your choices and requests

You can decline contacts, location, or photo permissions in your device settings. You can update groups through the available quiz, use Pro direct-edit controls when entitled, pause a current group’s suggestions, and choose “prefer not to say” for age range. The current build does not request microphone permission. The app includes controls for local reset, data export, and account deletion for synced account data. Account deletion also requests removal of the Alcove customer record held by RevenueCat, but it does not cancel store billing. You may also ask to access, correct, export, or delete information, or appeal a denied privacy request, by emailing privacy@alcoveoutdoors.com. We may need to verify your identity before completing a request. See the account-deletion instructions, including the separate steps required to cancel an App Store or Google Play subscription.

Children

The beta is not directed to children under 13, and Alcove does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Contact us if you believe a child has provided information.

Contact

For privacy requests, email privacy@alcoveoutdoors.com. For general support, safety, or accessibility requests, email support@alcoveoutdoors.com.