This policy explains how The Inner Light (operated by Anthony Degnan, "we", "us") collects, uses, and protects your information when you use Anth-AR, available at app.theinnerlight.co.uk. It's written to be genuinely readable, but it is a legal document — if anything here is unclear, please get in touch before you rely on it.

1. Who We Are

Anth-AR is a reflective AI companion created and operated by Anthony Degnan, trading as The Inner Light, based in North Yorkshire, United Kingdom. For any privacy questions, contact us at hello@theinnerlight.co.uk.

2. What Information We Collect

Account information

When you create an account, we collect your email address and a securely hashed password (we never see or store your password in readable form). You may optionally add a display name.

Conversations

The messages you send to Anth-AR, and its replies, are stored so your conversation history is available to you across visits and devices. If you attach an image or document, the file itself is sent to our AI provider for that exchange but is not permanently stored in our database — only a short note that an attachment was shared is kept in your conversation history.

Usage and billing information

We track which subscription plan you're on and how many messages you've used in a billing period, so we can apply the correct limits. Payment details (card numbers etc.) are handled entirely by our payment processor, Stripe — we never see or store your full card details.

Memory between conversations (optional)

On paid plans you can choose to switch on Memory. If you do, Anth-AR keeps a short set of private notes about the themes you explore, so a new conversation can carry on from earlier ones. These notes are written automatically by our AI provider from your messages, and are designed to leave out specific health or medical details, details of any crisis, contact or financial details, and other people's names. Memory is off unless you switch it on. You can read exactly what is remembered, clear it, or switch it off (which also deletes it) at any time from Memory in the app menu. The notes are deleted automatically if you delete your account.

Preferences

We store your email communication preference, whether you've switched on Memory, and whether you've opted in to help improve Anth-AR using anonymized conversation data (see Section 6).

3. How We Use Your Information

To provide the Anth-AR service, including remembering your conversations and, if you switch it on, keeping Memory notes between conversations
To manage your subscription, billing, and message allowance
To respond if you contact us for support
To send service-related emails (e.g. billing receipts), and marketing emails only if you've opted in
To improve Anth-AR's responses and knowledge, where you've explicitly opted in to this (Section 6)

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use the content of your Anth-AR conversations for advertising. The only advertising technology we use is on our marketing website, only with your consent, as described in Section 9.

4. Who We Share Information With

We use a small number of trusted service providers ("processors") to operate Anth-AR. Each only receives what it needs to do its job:

OpenAI — the content of your messages (and any attachments) is sent to OpenAI's API to generate Anth-AR's responses. OpenAI processes this to return a reply; please refer to OpenAI's own privacy policy for how they handle API data.
Supabase — hosts our database, including your account and conversation history.
Stripe — handles all payment processing and billing.
Cloudflare — hosts and serves the Anth-AR application and its backend infrastructure.
Meta — only if you accept advertising cookies on our marketing website (see Section 9). Meta does not receive your Anth-AR account or conversation data.

We do not share your personal data with any other third party except where required by law, or as described in Sections 9 and 10 (the optional Meta advertising cookie on our marketing website, and our mailing list provider).

5. Anth-AR Is Not a Substitute for Professional Care

Anth-AR is a reflective companion, not a licensed therapist, counsellor, or medical professional, and nothing Anth-AR says constitutes medical, psychological, or crisis advice. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or thoughts of harming yourself, please contact emergency services or a crisis line in your area immediately. Anth-AR is designed to encourage this when relevant, but the responsibility for seeking appropriate help remains with you.

6. Improving Anth-AR With Your Data

In your Account settings, you can optionally opt in to allow anonymized versions of your conversations to be reviewed to help us understand how Anth-AR can be improved — for example, identifying questions it handles poorly, or gaps in its knowledge. This is entirely optional, off by default, and never shared with third parties beyond what's already described in Section 4. You can withdraw this consent at any time from your Account page.

7. How Long We Keep Your Data

We retain your account and conversation data for as long as your account remains active. If you delete your account, your conversations and profile information are permanently deleted, other than records we're legally required to retain (such as billing records, which Stripe and UK tax law require us to keep for a limited period).

To prevent abuse of our free trial (for example, deleting an account solely to claim a new free trial), we retain a one-way cryptographic hash of your email address even after account deletion. This hash cannot be reversed to reveal your email address and is used only to recognize repeat signups — no other personal data is retained.

8. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

Access your data — you can export all your conversations at any time from Account → Export My Data
Correct inaccurate data — update your name and preferences in Account settings
Delete your data — permanently delete your account from Account → Danger Zone
Withdraw consent for optional data uses, such as Memory or the training data opt-in, at any time
Object to or restrict certain processing, and to data portability
Lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) if you believe your data has been mishandled

To exercise any right not directly available in the app, email hello@theinnerlight.co.uk.

9. Cookies and Local Storage

The Anth-AR app

The Anth-AR app (app.theinnerlight.co.uk) uses your browser's local storage to remember your theme preference (light/dark) and your login session. The app does not use advertising or tracking cookies.

Our marketing website

Our marketing website for Anth-AR uses essential cookies and similar technologies that the site needs in order to work. If, and only if, you click Accept on the cookie banner, we also use the Meta Pixel, provided by Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (Facebook and Instagram). The Pixel sets cookies and sends Meta information about your visit, such as the pages you view, buttons you click, your IP address and details of your browser and device. We use this to measure how well our adverts on Facebook and Instagram perform and to show our adverts to people who may be interested. Meta may also use this information as described in its own privacy policy.

The Meta Pixel does not load unless you accept. If you click Decline, or do nothing, it does not run. You can change your mind at any time using the "Cookie settings" link at the bottom of the website; declining or withdrawing consent will stop the Pixel from running on later visits. The Meta Pixel is not used inside the Anth-AR app and never sees the content of your conversations. Our lawful basis for the Pixel is your consent.

10. Our Website and Mailing List

This section covers our main website, theinnerlight.co.uk, and our mailing list. It is separate from your Anth-AR account: joining the mailing list does not create an Anth-AR account, and the other way round.

Mailing list

If you join our mailing list (for example to receive the free guided automatic writing meditation), we collect your email address and a record of when and how you agreed. We use it to send you the meditation and occasional emails from Anthony Degnan about his books, Anth-AR and his work. Our lawful basis is your consent. You can withdraw it at any time by using the unsubscribe link in any email, or by emailing us, and we will stop.

We use Brevo, an email service provider based in the European Union, to store your email address and send these emails. We do not sell your email address or share it with anyone else. We keep your address until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it, after which we keep only a minimal record that you opted out, so that we do not email you again.

Website enquiries

If you contact us through the website enquiry form or by email, we use the details you give only to reply to you and, if you wish, to arrange a session. We keep them for as long as needed for that purpose.

Our website

Our website is built and hosted with Carrd.

11. Children

Anth-AR is not intended for use by anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we'll update the date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you directly.

13. Contact

Questions about this policy or your data can be sent to hello@theinnerlight.co.uk.

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