Your privacy

Privacy Policy

How Brightgrain LLC handles information in its apps and on this website.

Last updated: October 15, 2026

Overview

Brightgrain LLC (“Brightgrain,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) develops and publishes mobile apps, including Hypothetically Speaking, ThreadCircle, Caribbean Seesaw, and Well Worn. This policy applies to these apps, our website, and other Brightgrain apps, including future apps, unless a separate policy is provided. The general sections apply to every app; the app-specific sections below add details for particular apps and do not replace the rest of this policy.

Information our apps may process

Information you provide

Depending on the app and features you use, you may provide app content such as gameplay activity, scores, progress, answers, favorites, question suggestions, wardrobe listings, item details, group or circle information, requests, and return status. ThreadCircle content may include photos you choose to add to an item listing. Well Worn content, such as photos of your clothes and the outfits you save, stays on your device as described below.

Account and service information

Where an app offers accounts, invitations, or shared features, we may process the information needed to create and maintain your account, authenticate access, connect you with a private group, and provide those features. This may include an email address or other account identifier when requested by the app.

Technical and diagnostic information

We may receive limited technical information, such as device type, operating system and app version, crash logs, and diagnostics. Apple may provide this information according to your device and App Store settings. If you test a pre-release version of an app through Apple’s TestFlight, Apple may share crash reports and any feedback you choose to send with us, under Apple’s terms.

Purchases

If an app offers in-app purchases, payment is handled by Apple. We do not receive your payment card details.

How we use information

We use information to provide app functionality; save preferences and progress; operate private sharing features; respond to support requests; maintain security; diagnose problems; and improve reliability and usability. We do not sell personal information or use it for third-party advertising.

How information is shared

Content you intentionally add to a shared ThreadCircle circle may be visible to other members of that circle. We may also use service providers to host data, operate app features, distribute apps, and process diagnostics. These providers process information on our behalf under their own terms and privacy commitments. We may disclose information if required by law or when reasonably necessary to protect users, our services, or others.

Storage and retention

Some information is stored locally on your device, while information needed for account or shared features may be stored using our service providers. We retain information only as long as reasonably needed to provide the service, meet legal obligations, resolve disputes, and maintain security. Deleting an app removes locally stored app data but may not delete information stored for shared or account-based features. Contact us to ask about deletion of information associated with you. Challenge a Friend in Hypothetically Speaking follows its own, shorter schedule, described below.

ThreadCircle

This section describes what ThreadCircle (version 1.2 and later) stores and why. It adds to, and does not replace, the rest of this policy.

What ThreadCircle stores

  • Your account: your email address and a password (stored only in protected, hashed form by our authentication provider).
  • Your profile: first name and last initial, date of birth (asked once, to confirm you are at least 13), an avatar color, an optional profile photo, optional clothing sizes, your time zone, and the time of day you prefer reminders.
  • What you share: the items you list (photos, title, brand, size, color, and notes), which circles each item is shared with, the circles you create or join, announcements you post, and borrow requests with their dates, notes, and status.
  • Notifications: if you allow notifications, your device’s push notification token, used only to send ThreadCircle notifications through Apple Push Notification service, and the notifications shown in the app.
  • Reports and blocks: if you report an item, photo, announcement, or person, we store your report, the reason and any details you give, and a copy of the reported text so it can be reviewed. The person reported is not told who reported them. If you block someone, we store that so the block can be applied; they are not told.
  • Usage analytics: a small, fixed set of product events (for example, that an item was viewed or a filter was used) recorded on our own backend and linked to your account. These events do not include what you typed, or which item, circle, or person was involved. They are used to understand and improve the app, are not shared with third parties, and are not used for advertising or tracking.

Who can see it

Members of a circle you are in can see your first name and last initial, your profile photo, and the items you have shared with that circle. Someone you have a borrow request with can see that request and the item in it. Your date of birth, email address, and analytics are never shown to other members. People who moderate ThreadCircle for Brightgrain can see reports and the content they concern. ThreadCircle does not use third-party advertising or analytics services.

Keeping and deleting ThreadCircle data

You can delete your account in the app under Profile → Settings → Delete Account. This permanently deletes your profile, items and their photos, profile photo, sizes, circle memberships, borrow requests, notifications, device tokens, blocks, reports, and analytics events. Analytics events are otherwise deleted after 13 months. If you cannot use the app, email support@brightgrain.net and we will delete the account for you.

Hypothetically Speaking: Challenge a Friend

Challenge a Friend (Hypothetically Speaking 2.1 and later) lets you send one friend a private link so you both answer the same questions and then compare your choices. It works without an account, and it does not ask for your name, email address, phone number, or contacts. This section explains what the feature stores and for how long. It adds to, and does not replace, the rest of this policy.

What we store to run a challenge

  • The questions in the challenge: a copy of the question text and answer options from the app.
  • Your choices, and your friend’s choices as they answer.
  • Three random codes that control access: the code in the invitation link, and one private code for each person. We store only a one-way hash of each code; the codes themselves are kept in the link and on your devices.
  • Dates and a status (created, accepted, completed, cancelled, expired), so a link can expire and be cleaned up.
  • If you turn on alerts, your device’s push notification token (see below).
  • Short-lived anti-abuse counters, described below.

Choices made in a challenge are kept separately from ordinary votes. Your friend’s challenge answers are not added to community results. If you made your own choices by playing a normal round first, those choices were recorded as ordinary votes when you played, as they are for any round; creating a challenge does not record them again.

Who can see the choices, and when

Until your friend has finished the whole challenge, you can see only your own choices and your friend can see only theirs. After your friend submits their answers, the app shows both of you every question with both sets of choices side by side. Choices are not revealed one question at a time. The web page that opens when someone taps the link without the app is the same generic page for every link: it does not show the questions or anyone’s choices, and it does not contact our database.

We do not sell challenge data or use it for advertising. Challenge information is sent between the app and our servers over encrypted (HTTPS) connections, but it is stored in readable form with our database provider and is not end-to-end encrypted, so people with administrative access to that database could technically read it. We do not describe challenge data as anonymous: it is not tied to your name or email address, but it is linked to your devices through the private codes and, if you enable alerts, your push token.

The invitation link

The link works for one friend: the first person who opens it and taps Accept becomes the person who answers, so send it only to the person you mean to challenge. The link’s secret code is part of the web address, so it may appear in logs kept by our hosting provider and by the apps you share it through. These codes are not account passwords and we cannot recover them. If you delete the app or switch phones before a challenge is finished, you cannot get back into that challenge.

Optional alerts and push tokens

Only the person who created a challenge can receive an alert. If you agree, first in the app’s own explanation and then in the iOS permission prompt, the app gives our server your device’s push notification token for that challenge. We use it only to send you one alert when your friend finishes, delivered through Apple Push Notification service. The alert says only that your friend finished; it contains no choices, scores, or link. Your friend is never sent alerts, and we do not ask for their token.

We erase the token if you turn alerts off while the challenge is still open, if you cancel the challenge, when the link expires, or if Apple tells us the token is no longer valid. Once a challenge is completed, the token stays with the completed challenge until it is deleted (30 days after completion), and we send no further alerts for it. You can turn alerts off in the app’s Settings or in iOS Settings under Notifications.

Anti-abuse counters

To limit abuse, our servers keep short-lived counters tied to a one-way hash of the network (IP) address a request came from. A hashed address is still derived from your address, so we treat it as personal information. These counters are deleted after about two days.

When challenge data is deleted

Cleanup runs automatically once a day, so each deletion below can happen up to about a day after the time stated.

  • Link not finished: a challenge link lasts 14 days from when it was created. After that it stops working, the choices and any push token are erased, and the remaining record (hashed codes, dates, and status) is deleted 30 days after the link expired.
  • Completed: the whole challenge, including both people’s choices and any push token, is deleted 30 days after your friend finished.
  • Cancelled by you: the choices and any push token are erased right away, and the remaining record is deleted 30 days later.
  • On your phone: the app keeps your private codes and a copy of the comparison so you can reopen it, and removes them on about the same schedule.
  • Backups: our database provider may keep routine backups for a limited time, so deleted data may remain in a backup until it expires.

You can cancel an open challenge yourself in the app. To ask us to delete a challenge sooner, email privacy@brightgrain.net and include the challenge link, which lets us find it without knowing who you are.

Hypothetically Speaking: install ID, usage statistics, and reminders

Hypothetically Speaking does not have accounts. The first time it runs, the app creates a random installation ID with no name, email address, or other contact details attached. Your ordinary votes, any questions you suggest, and an app-open counter are linked to that ID so the app can count one vote per question per installation and show you your own results. Deleting the app, or using Reset all progress, starts a new ID.

Usage statistics (version 2.2 and later)

To learn whether features such as the weekly set, Challenge a Friend, and reminders are useful, the app sends us a small number of usage events linked to the same installation ID: when a play session starts, that a question was answered (not which question or which answer), when a weekly set is started or finished, whether the share sheet was opened, completed, or cancelled and roughly where (for example “Messages” or “other”), challenge steps such as created or completed, changes to notification settings, and which kind of notification was tapped (for playful reminders, which message). These events never include question text, your answers, challenge links or codes, notification text, or anything you type. They are not used for advertising, are not shared with data brokers, and are not combined with data from other companies’ apps or websites. Raw events are deleted after 13 months. You can turn this off at any time in the app under Settings ▸ Privacy ▸ Share usage statistics; doing so also deletes any events not yet sent.

Reminders

The daily challenge reminder and the optional playful reminders (four a day) are scheduled on your device by the app. They are off unless you turn them on, and turning them on does not send anything to our servers apart from the usage events described above. iOS may delay or silence any notification according to your settings.

Weekly set and shared questions

The app downloads the current weekly set of questions from our servers. Anyone can read it; downloading it does not identify you. If you share a question, the link contains only the question’s public catalog number, not your answer.

Caribbean Seesaw

This section describes what Caribbean Seesaw stores and why. It adds to, and does not replace, the rest of this policy.

Solo play

You can play solo against computer opponents without an account. If you use Game Center, Apple provides features such as leaderboards, achievements, and saved games under Apple’s own terms; Game Center saved games are stored in your iCloud account.

Online play

Online play is optional and uses Sign in with Apple. To run online games, our service provider stores:

  • Your account: the sign-in information that Sign in with Apple provides so we can recognize your account.
  • Your online profile: the display name and avatar you choose, and the table and card designs you select.
  • Games: private lobbies and their six-character join codes, the games you play, the moves made in them, and your results and statistics.
  • Reactions: the quick reactions you send during a game, chosen from a fixed set. There is no chat, and reactions are deleted shortly after they are sent.
  • Reports and blocks: if you report or block another player, we store that so it can be reviewed or applied.
  • Notifications: if you allow notifications, your device’s push notification token and a random identifier for your installation of the app (not an advertising identifier), used only to send game notifications, such as when a game begins, when it is your turn, timeout warnings, and when a game ends, through Apple Push Notification service. Notifications do not include your cards or join codes.

Who can see it

Players in a lobby or game with you can see your display name, your avatar, and your play in that game. Your Apple account details are not shown to other players. A join code shared in a link only fills in the Join screen in the app; the web page that opens without the app shows the code and nothing else.

Deleting Caribbean Seesaw data

You can delete your online account from within the app. This deletes your sign-in account and the profile, device tokens, results, statistics, and notification records associated with it. Some records may be kept where needed for the integrity of games other players took part in, or for safety reports, and may remain in routine backups for a limited time. To ask about deletion, email privacy@brightgrain.net.

Well Worn

Well Worn is a private wardrobe app for iPhone that is currently in development. This section describes how it is being built. If anything changes before or after release, we will update this policy.

What stays on your device

Well Worn does not use an account, and we do not have a server that receives your Well Worn information. The clothes you add, their photos, your outfits, wear history, likes, plans, preferences, and any optional profile details are stored in the app’s own storage on your iPhone. If you delete the app, this information is deleted with it.

Photos you take or choose are resized and saved again by the app; that copy does not keep embedded details such as the location where the picture was taken. Your original photo in the Photos app is not changed.

Permissions

  • Camera: used only when you choose to take a photo of a piece of clothing.
  • Photos: pictures are chosen through the system photo picker, which gives the app only the pictures you select. The app saves an outfit image to your Photos library only when you choose to save it.
  • Location: used only while you are using the app, and only if you choose your current location for live weather.

What leaves your device

  • Live weather (optional): if you turn on live weather, the coordinates of the city you choose, or your approximate location (about one kilometer) if you choose your current location, are sent to Apple’s weather service to get a forecast. City names you type to find a location are sent to Apple’s location service. Nothing about your clothes is sent. The forecast, and the location it was requested for, are kept on your device for up to a day. Apple handles these requests under its own terms.
  • Things you choose to share: backups, outfit images, and diagnostic files are created only when you ask and are handed to the system share sheet, where you choose where they go. Diagnostic files do not contain photos, names, or locations.

Well Worn does not include analytics, advertising, tracking, or a crash-reporting service.

Deleting Well Worn data

You can delete individual pieces and outfits at any time, or use Settings ▸ Privacy ▸ Delete all my data to remove everything Well Worn has stored on your device. Backups you have exported are yours and are not affected.

Your choices

You may choose not to provide optional information, though some features may then be unavailable. You can manage camera, photo, location, and notification access, and diagnostic sharing, in your Apple device settings. You may contact us to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information associated with you, subject to applicable law and our need to verify the request.

Children’s privacy

Our apps are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information, please contact us so we can take appropriate action.

Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures intended to protect information. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Website privacy

This website is informational. We do not intentionally use advertising trackers or collect information through forms. Our hosting provider may process limited request information, such as IP address, browser details, and access logs, to deliver and protect the site.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our apps or practices change. We will post the revised policy here and update the date at the top of this page.

Contact us

For privacy questions or requests, email privacy@brightgrain.net.