Privacy policy

Who runs The Quiet Hour

The Quiet Hour is a coffee app for iPhone and Android, and this website, thequitehour.com. Both are run by The Quiet Hour, which is responsible for the personal data described here.

This policy covers the app and the website. It doesn’t cover the websites and apps they link to, such as Google Maps or a roaster’s shop.

Using the app without an account

You don’t need an account. Without one, everything you add stays in the app’s private storage on your phone:

• your answers when the app first opens, such as the brewing methods you use and how much you know
• your country and city, and your answers in Find your coffee
• saved coffees, recipes, lessons, origins, methods and roasters
• brews, tasting notes, ratings and the lessons you’ve opened
• cafes you rate or want to try, and the visits you log
• settings, such as haptics and labels

None of this is sent to The Quiet Hour. To show roasters, beans and cafes, the app asks The Quiet Hour’s server for them by country and city, and keeps a copy of the public roaster list so it opens quickly. Those requests aren’t stored with anything about you.

If you create an account

An account backs up what’s on your phone so you can use it on another phone. Accounts use Firebase Authentication, a Google service. You give an email address and a password. The password goes straight to Firebase; The Quiet Hour’s own server never sees it. Firebase also sends password reset emails when you ask for one.

Once you sign in, everything listed above is copied to The Quiet Hour’s database and kept up to date as you use the app. It’s stored against an account number from Firebase, not your email address.

Three things never leave the phone: a brew in progress, an unfinished tasting note, and how many times the app has opened. Signing out clears the phone; your backup stays with your account until you delete it.

Location

The app asks for your location only when you tap Use my location in the cafe finder, and only while the app is open. It never follows your location in the background.

Before your position leaves the phone it’s rounded to about a kilometre. The Quiet Hour’s server uses it once, to find cafes nearby, and doesn’t store it. Your phone’s own location service (Apple’s on iPhone, Google’s on Android) turns your position into the area name shown on screen, under your phone maker’s privacy policy.

You can turn location off in your phone’s settings at any time and see cafes in your city instead.

Cafe search and Google

Cafe results come from Google Places. The Quiet Hour’s server, not your phone, sends Google the rounded position or the name of your city. Google isn’t told who you are.

When you rate a cafe or log a visit, the app keeps Google’s ID for that place with your entry so it can find the cafe again. The cafe’s details are fetched from Google when you look at them and aren’t kept. Your reviews and visits are private: only you see them.

Opening a cafe in Google Maps, calling it or visiting a roaster’s website leaves the app, and that service’s own privacy policy applies.

What is never collected

• No analytics or usage statistics, in the app or on this website
• No crash reports
• No advertising, and no tracking across other apps and websites
• No camera, photos, microphone, contacts, calendar or notifications
• Nothing is sold, or shared for advertising

This website sets no cookies, runs no tracking scripts and has no forms. Links to support open your own mail app.

Service providers

A few services help run The Quiet Hour. Each one handles data only to provide its part of the service, under its own privacy terms.

Like any server, The Quiet Hour’s server sees the network (IP) address each request comes from. These providers may store and process data in other countries, including the United States.

How long data is kept

• On your phone: until you delete it, clear it in Settings › Clear my coffee data, sign out or remove the app.
• Your backup: until you delete the item, or your account.
• Your sign-in: until you delete your account.
• Emails to support: as long as needed to help you, and deleted when you ask.
• Service providers’ backups: until they expire, on each provider’s own schedule.

Deleting your account in the app removes your sign-in, clears the phone and deletes your backup straight away. If you’re offline, nothing is deleted, and the app asks you to try again once you’re connected. If it can’t finish, it says what’s left to do. The support page shows how to delete your account, with or without the app.

Your choices and rights

Wherever you live, you can:

• ask what is stored about you, and get a copy
• correct it, in the app or by email
• delete any entry in the app, or your whole account
• withdraw your consent at any time by deleting your account
• complain about how your data is handled

Email support@thequitehour.com with the subject “Privacy”. Replies usually arrive within 2 working days, and requests are completed within 30 days. If you’re in India and the reply doesn’t resolve your complaint, you can take it to the Data Protection Board of India.

Children

The Quiet Hour is for people aged 13 and over. If you’re under 18, ask a parent or guardian before you create an account. The app doesn’t knowingly hold data about children under 13; if you think a child has created an account, email support and it will be deleted.

Security

Everything sent between the app and its servers is encrypted in transit. Every request to The Quiet Hour’s server is checked against your sign-in, and an account can only ever reach its own data. On the phone, your data is kept in the app’s private storage, which other apps can’t read. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach ever affects your data, you’ll be told.

Changes to this policy

When this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it.

Contact

Questions, requests and complaints about privacy go to support@thequitehour.com.