Is there a free trial?

Yes. The 7-day Belong Challenge gives you full access to every feature. No credit card required.

What happens to my entries if I cancel?

Your data is yours. Read, export, or delete everything anytime. You keep 1 entry per month on the free tier.

Can I switch plans later?

Anytime. Upgrade, downgrade, or pause your membership without losing your archive.

What if I cannot afford this?

Apply for a scholarship. We keep a quiet path open for anyone who needs it.

Is this end-to-end encrypted?

No, and we think it's important to say that plainly. Your entries are encrypted at rest and in transit, but our servers can access them to generate your reflections. True end-to-end encryption would mean we can't read anything you write — which would also mean the AI can't. We chose useful AI over marketing-friendly encryption. Anthropic and OpenAI both process your entries under API terms that prohibit training on your data.

Who can see my journal entries?

You. And the services required to deliver the app — Supabase (storage), Anthropic (reflections), OpenAI (audio generation). All bound by contracts prohibiting data retention or training. Every service is named in the privacy policy.

Can I correct or delete what the AI remembers?

Yes. Memory editing is a first-class feature. Review, correct, or forget anything the AI has stored about you.

Will my journal content train AI models?

Never. Your entries are processed for your reflections only — they never enter our training, Anthropic's, or OpenAI's training datasets.

Privacy Policy

Effective: March 10, 2026

Belong Journal ("we," "us," "our") is operated by Matthew Esposito. We operate the website belongjournal.ai and the Belong Journal iOS application (bundle ID: ai.belongjournal.app). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information.

We built Belong Journal on a simple belief: your thoughts belong to you. That principle guides every decision we make about your data.

Information We Collect

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect your name and email address through Apple Sign-In or Google Sign-In. We do not store your sign-in passwords — authentication is handled securely by your identity provider.

Profile Information

You may optionally provide a display name and journaling preferences (such as preferred entry types and notification settings). This information is used solely to personalize your experience.

Journal Entries

When you use the app, you may record voice journal entries. We store:

Audio recordings of your voice entries (stored encrypted at rest in Supabase Storage)
Text transcriptions generated from your recordings
Entry metadata (date, time, entry type such as journal, prayer, brain dump, dream, or gratitude)
AI-generated reflections, daily/weekly/monthly reports, and chat conversations based on your entries
Memory summaries extracted from your entries that help the AI understand your ongoing story

Subscription Information

If you subscribe to a paid plan, subscription status and management are handled by RevenueCat through Apple's StoreKit 2. We receive your subscription status (active, expired, trial) but do not process or store payment card details. All payment processing is handled by Apple.

Usage Information

We collect basic usage data such as feature usage patterns and error logs to improve the app experience. We do not currently use any third-party analytics SDK. We do not serve ads. We do not use tracking cookies on our website.

Waitlist Information

If you join our waitlist on the website, we collect your email address to notify you when Belong Journal is available.

How We Use Your Information

To transcribe your voice recordings into text
To provide AI-powered reflections on your journal entries
To generate audio playback of reflections using text-to-speech
To build a personal memory bank that helps the AI provide more meaningful insights over time
To send you daily, weekly, and monthly reflection reports
To facilitate AI chat conversations about your journal history
To manage your subscription and account
To communicate with you about your account and the service
To improve and maintain the service

How We Process Your Data

On-Device Processing (Speech-to-Text)

Your voice recordings are transcribed to text using WhisperKit, which runs entirely on your device. Your audio is never sent to external servers for transcription. The transcription happens locally on your iPhone, and only the resulting text is uploaded to our servers.

AI Reflections and Chat

Your journal transcripts are sent to Anthropic's Claude API to generate personalized reflections, daily/weekly/monthly reports, memory extraction, and chat responses. Anthropic processes this data solely to generate responses and does not use your data to train their models (per their API data usage policy).

Text-to-Speech

AI-generated reflection text is sent to OpenAI's API (gpt-4o-mini-tts) to convert reflections into audio you can listen to. OpenAI processes this text solely for audio generation and does not use API data to train their models (per their API data usage policy). Only the AI-generated reflection text is sent — never your original journal content.

Subscription Management

RevenueCat manages subscription status via Apple's StoreKit 2. RevenueCat receives an anonymous app user ID and subscription transaction data from Apple. They do not receive your journal content, recordings, or personal information beyond what is needed for subscription management.

We do not use your journal entries to train AI models. Your entries are processed solely to provide the service to you.

Data Storage and Security

Your data is stored securely using the following measures:

Database: Your data is stored in a Supabase Postgres database hosted in the US (us-west-1 region)
Row-level security (RLS): Database policies ensure you can only access your own data — no user can read, modify, or delete another user's entries
Encryption in transit: All data transmission uses HTTPS/TLS encryption
Encryption at rest: Audio recordings and database contents are encrypted at rest
Authentication: Secure authentication through Apple and Google identity providers
Audio storage: Voice recordings are stored in protected Supabase Storage buckets with access policies tied to your user account

Third-Party Services

We do not sell your personal information. We share data only with the service providers necessary to deliver Belong Journal:

Anthropic (Claude API) — receives journal transcripts to generate AI reflections, reports, memory extraction, and chat responses
OpenAI (TTS API) — receives AI-generated reflection text to produce audio playback (never your original journal content)
Supabase — hosts our database and file storage infrastructure
RevenueCat — manages subscription status via Apple StoreKit 2 (receives anonymous user ID and subscription data only)
Apple / Google — provide authentication services when you sign in
Vercel — hosts our website (belongjournal.ai)

These providers process your data solely to deliver their respective services and are bound by their own privacy policies and data processing agreements.

Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. Specifically:

Account data: Retained until you delete your account
Journal entries and recordings: Retained until you delete them individually or delete your account
AI-generated content: Retained until the associated entry is deleted or your account is deleted
Waitlist emails: Retained until the waitlist period ends or you request removal
Error and usage logs: Retained for up to 90 days for debugging and service improvement

When you delete your account, we remove your personal data, journal entries, recordings, memories, and AI-generated content. Some data may persist in encrypted database backups for up to 30 days before being permanently removed.

Your Rights

Regardless of where you live, you have the right to:

Access all data we hold about you
Export your journal entries, transcripts, and recordings
Delete your account and all associated data
Correct any inaccurate data
Opt out of AI-generated reflections

You can delete your account directly within the app. For all other requests, contact us at matthewericesposito@gmail.com. We will respond to all requests within 30 days.

For California Residents (CCPA)

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have additional rights including the right to know what personal information we collect, the right to request deletion, and the right to opt out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell your personal information. To exercise your CCPA rights, contact us at the email above.

For European Residents (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area, you have additional rights under the General Data Protection Regulation, including the right to data portability, the right to restrict processing, and the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. Our legal basis for processing your data is your consent (when you create an account and use the service) and our legitimate interest in providing and improving the service. To exercise your GDPR rights, contact us at the email above.

Children's Privacy

Belong Journal is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will promptly delete that information.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by email or through the app. The "Effective" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised. Continued use of the service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact

Questions or concerns about this policy? Reach us at matthewericesposito@gmail.com.