Ottermates is a question game for two people. That means the app holds things you have written to your partner, so it matters that you know exactly what is stored, who can see it, and how to remove it. This page is written to be read, not to be survived.
Ottermates is made by Fabulous Apps LLC. If you want to ask anything about your data, or exercise any of the rights below, email hello@ottermates.app and a person will answer.
When you first open Ottermates the app creates an anonymous account for you automatically. You do not have to sign up, give an email address, or type a password to use it. That anonymous account is just an identifier so your otter, your settings and your answers can be kept together.
You are only asked to sign in when you pair with your partner, and only with Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google. We receive the account identifier those services give us. If you use Sign in with Apple and choose to hide your email, we never see your real address. We do not use passwords, so we never store one.
Answers are kept rather than deleted after a reveal, because looking back at them later is part of the point of the app.
Your partner can see an answer once you have both answered that question. Before that, nobody can: not your partner, and not you in reverse. That rule is enforced by the app rather than being a matter of trust.
Your answers are stored by our service providers so the app can deliver them to your partner. We do not send answer text, comments, your partner's answers or your couple record to Firebase Analytics, Meta or Tenjin for analytics or advertising measurement. Your answers are not used to train AI. If you use the share button, only the question and the artwork are shared: your answers are never included unless you type them yourself.
We also count, in total, how Ottermates is used from the records the app already keeps to work, for example how many couples paired or answered on more than one day, and how many trials and payments there were. These counts never read your answer text, contain no names or identifiers, and stay inside Fabulous Apps.
Starting with app version 1.0.4, Ottermates uses Google Analytics for Firebase for first-party product analytics from the first time you open the app. It shows us which screens and features are used and where people get stuck, so we can improve the app. It records app events such as onboarding steps, feature use and purchase-flow steps, including product and price, with event times, app and device information and an app-instance identifier. It never includes your answers or comments. We use product analytics only to run and improve Ottermates: we do not use it for advertising unless you allow advertising measurement, we do not sell it, and we do not link it with other companies' data.
You can object to product analytics at any time by writing to hello@ottermates.app from the email you use with Ottermates, or telling us your account. We will reply and act on your objection, which can include deleting the product analytics data linked to your account. Earlier versions (1.0.2 and 1.0.3) asked about app analytics and advertising measurement in one prompt, and keep doing so until you update. If you declined that prompt, we treat it as declining advertising measurement only: after you update, product analytics runs, and your advertising choice stays declined. If you turned App analytics off in Settings in those versions, that choice is kept after you update.
Advertising measurement is separate from product analytics. It uses Meta's Facebook SDK and Tenjin, our attribution provider, to measure whether our ads lead to installs and useful activity, and one choice covers both. On iPhone it runs only with your permission: during onboarding, after you choose your otter and reach the naming screen, iOS asks for tracking permission if you have not already made that choice and your device allows requests. On Android, the app asks in its own dialog at the same point when you appear to be in the European Union, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, judged from the country of your internet connection or your phone's region setting, or when the app cannot tell. We use that country only for this decision and do not store it. In other regions, advertising measurement is on by default on Android, and you can turn it off at any time in Settings. Declining or turning it off does not restrict questions, pairing, purchases or other app features, and it does not change product analytics.
You can change Ad measurement at any time in Settings > Help & legal > Privacy choices. Changes save automatically. Since iOS version 1.0.3, if you decline tracking, limited Meta ad measurement can still run without your advertising identifier. From version 1.0.4, Tenjin can also run without your advertising identifier, so installs from our ads can be counted through Apple's SKAdNetwork and Apple Search Ads attribution. Turning off Ad measurement stops those limited app events. This limited mode uses each provider's support for measuring people who opt out of tracking, and it gives no permission to link your activity across other companies' apps or websites. The SDKs use app-scoped identifiers, so we do not describe every event as fully anonymous. Access to the advertising identifier still requires Apple's permission.
When advertising measurement is allowed, it can include installs, app activation, onboarding and feature milestones and purchase-flow events, along with event times, app and device information and SDK-generated identifiers. Our server does not currently export subscription purchases or revenue to Meta. Meta may receive your device's advertising identifier (on iPhone when you allow tracking, on Android while Ad measurement is on) and use the data to match activity to ads across its services. While advertising measurement is allowed with an advertising identifier permission (on Android, or on iPhone after you allow tracking), we also tell Google Analytics for Firebase that it may use its analytics for ad measurement. Identifiers are not necessarily anonymous. We also store your privacy choices and limited measurement records on our backend to enforce your choices and avoid duplicate events.
Tenjin helps us understand which ads lead to installations and subscriptions. While Ad measurement is on, the app sends device and installation identifiers, IP address and app activity such as app opens to Tenjin. With an advertising identifier permission (on Android, or on iPhone after you allow tracking), our backend also tells Tenjin when you start a free trial, make your first subscription payment or buy a one-time purchase, with the product, price and currency and the same device and app identifiers. Renewals and refunds are not sent. Turning off Ad measurement in Privacy choices stops Tenjin together with Meta, without changing your app access or subscription.
With that advertising identifier permission, an attribution installation identifier is also shared with RevenueCat and our backend, so those trial and purchase events can be linked to the installation Tenjin measured. Your subscription account ID and private answers are never sent to Tenjin. Turning off Ad measurement does not prevent essential subscription processing.
Turning an option off stops new app-controlled events for that purpose. It does not recall information already sent. Essential account storage, notifications and purchase processing still work. Website cookie choices are separate from these app choices.
We use a small number of providers to run the app. Each one only receives what it needs to do its job.
Notifications are about your partner: that they answered, that a reveal is ready, that they reacted to something you wrote. You are asked for permission at the moment it becomes useful, not on your first screen, and you can turn each type off individually in settings or switch them off entirely in your phone's settings.
The site uses Google Analytics to count visits and to see which pages lead people to download the app. Analytics cookies are set only after you accept them. If you are somewhere that requires consent, nothing is stored until you choose, and you can change your mind at any time using the Cookie settings link in the footer.
Our server also counts clicks on the download buttons. That count records which page the click came from and the country it came from, and is not tied to you as a person.
You can ask us for a copy of your data, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it, and you can object to how we use it. If you are in the EU, the UK, California or anywhere with similar rules, those rights are yours by law, and we apply them to everyone regardless of where you live.
Deleting your account is built into the app, in settings, and you do not need to email anyone to do it. When you delete your account we remove your profile and the answers you wrote.
One thing to be clear about, because it surprises people: your partner keeps their own answers and their side of your shared history. Those are their words, not yours, and it would not be right for us to delete someone else's writing. Their copy of the conversation will show that you left.
We keep your data while your account exists, because the app is built around looking back at what you have both written. Account deletion removes your profile and answers from our live systems. Backup copies, consent records, purchase records and information already processed by measurement providers can have different retention periods. Turning tracking off is not an account-deletion request. Contact us for help with access or deletion requests, including information previously sent to a provider.
Ottermates is made for adults in relationships and is not intended for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect anything from children. If you believe a child has an account, email us and we will remove it.
Our providers operate servers in several countries, including the United States, so your data may be handled outside the country you live in. Where the law requires safeguards for those transfers, we rely on the standard contractual terms those providers offer.
If we change how the app handles your data in a way that matters, we will update the date at the top of this page and tell you in the app. We will not quietly broaden what we collect.
Anything here unclear, or something you want removed? Email hello@ottermates.app.