Privacy policy
Last updated: 17 October 2026
The short version.
- Other members see your ID, avatar, country, age group, languages and the profile you write. Never your email or birth date.
- Only you and the person you wrote to can read a letter. Our team reads a letter only if someone reports it.
- We don't sell your data, and we don't show ads.
- You can delete your account at any time. It closes right away and is erased after 30 days.
Who we are
Letterbird ("we", "us") decides how your personal data is used, which makes us the data controller under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and similar data protection laws in other countries. You can reach us at support@letterbird.app.
What we collect
| What | Examples | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Email address, password (stored only as a secure hash), sign-in times | To create your account and let you sign in |
| Age and basics | Birth date, gender, country, languages you speak and their levels | To keep members aged 13 to 17 separate from adults, and to suggest pen pals |
| Profile you choose to share | Avatar, short bio, interests, a Spotify song link, a letterbird.me name | So pen pals can get to know you |
| Letters and postcards | What you write, when it was sent, delivered and read, the envelope, stamp, paper, font and colour, and the country it was sent from | To deliver your mail and show your mailbox, map and stamp album |
| Private notes | Nicknames you give other members (only you can see them) | To help you keep track of pen pals |
| Safety | Blocks, reports and our decisions on them | To keep Letterbird safe |
| Purchases | Coins, Premium periods, the store you bought through. Payment details stay with Apple or Google. | To give you what you bought |
| Device | A notification token, your phone model, operating system and app version, and the country we estimate from your internet address (we don't keep the address itself or your city) | To tell you when a letter arrives, to fix problems that only happen on some devices, and to spot fake or automated accounts. Other members never see this. |
| App use and diagnostics | A random install number the app creates on your phone (not an advertising ID), which sign-up screens you reached, the days you opened Letterbird, whether notifications can still reach your phone, crash reports and app performance (such as start-up time and slow screens) | To see where signing up is hard, count how many people use Letterbird, and find and fix crashes and slowness. It doesn't include your letters, name or email. |
| Anonymous letters | For letters sent through letterbird.me: the letter and a scrambled, short-lived code made from the sender's IP address | To deliver the letter and stop people from flooding members with mail |
We don't collect your precise location, your contacts or your photos.
Who can see what
- Other members see your ID or letterbird.me name, avatar, country, age group (not your birth date), languages, bio, interests and Spotify song.
- The person you write to sees your letter. When they read it, you may see that it was read if you have Premium.
- People who send anonymous letters never see anything about you beyond what they already know, and you never see who they are.
- Our team sees account details when needed to help you or keep Letterbird safe. Staff can read a letter only after it has been reported, and access to email addresses is recorded.
How we use your data
- To run Letterbird: deliver letters, suggest pen pals, show your mailbox, map and album.
- To keep members safe: enforce age groups, handle blocks and reports, stop spam and abuse.
- To handle purchases and Premium.
- To answer you when you contact us.
- To keep the service working: fix bugs and understand overall use through totals, never by reading your letters.
We don't use your letters to train artificial intelligence and we don't sell or rent your data.
Legal bases
Under the GDPR and similar laws we rely on: contract, to provide the service you signed up for; legitimate interests, to keep Letterbird safe and working, where these don't override your rights; legal obligation, for example keeping purchase records for tax purposes; and consent, for push notifications, which you can turn off at any time in your device settings.
Services we use
We share data only with providers that help us run Letterbird, under contracts that require them to protect it:
- Supabase: stores our database and handles sign-in.
- Apple and Google: in-app purchases and push notifications.
- Google Fonts: loads the typefaces used on our websites and in letters. Google receives your IP address when a font loads.
- Our email provider: sends sign-in and account emails.
- Google Firebase: delivers push notifications and collects crash reports and app performance data (Crashlytics and Performance Monitoring).
- RevenueCat: checks in-app purchase receipts so coins and Premium reach your account.
- Google AdMob: shows a short video ad only when you choose to watch one for coins. On iPhone, members aged 18 and over are asked whether ads may be personalised; members under 18 never see personalised ads.
- Cloudflare: counts visits to our websites without cookies.
We may also share data when the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety, especially a child's.
International transfers
Our providers may process data outside your country, including outside the European Economic Area. When they do, we use safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.
How long we keep data
- Your account: while it is open. When you delete it, it closes immediately and is erased 30 days later.
- Letters you sent: they stay in the recipient's mailbox after you delete your account, but no longer show your ID.
- Letters you received: erased with your account.
- Reports and safety decisions: up to 1 year after the case is closed, or longer if the law requires it.
- Purchase records: as long as tax law requires.
- IP codes for anonymous letters: up to 30 days.
Teens
Letterbird is for people aged 13 and over. Members aged 13 to 17 are only matched with, and can only write to, other members aged 13 to 17. Birth dates can't be changed in the app, so a member can't move into the other age group. If you believe a child under 13 is using Letterbird, write to us and we will close the account. More in our child safety standards.
Your rights
You can ask us to show you the data we have about you, correct it, delete it, give it to you in a portable format, or stop certain uses of it. You can also withdraw consent you have given. Depending on where you live, local law may give you further rights.
Most of this you can do in the app: edit your profile, languages and country in Settings, or delete your account. For anything else, email support@letterbird.app from the address on your account. We answer within 30 days. You can also complain to the data protection authority in your country.
Security
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest with our providers, passwords are stored only as hashes, and each member can only reach their own data. Staff accounts use two-step sign-in. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a password you don't use anywhere else.
Cookies
Our websites don't use advertising or tracking cookies. The app and web version store what's needed to keep you signed in.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect. The date at the top shows the latest version.