Privacy Policy — Family North Star

Who we are

Family North Star is operated by Your North Star B.V., registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KVK) under number 42187176, with its registered office at Prinses Marijkestraat 75, 2595 TL ’s-Gravenhage, The Netherlands.

For all matters relating to your personal data, Your North Star B.V. acts as the data controller. You can reach us at hello@yournorthstar.today.

What we collect

We collect only the data you actively provide or that is necessary to run the service:

Account data — email address, hashed password, name (if provided).
Family workspace data — your workspace name, invited partner and member roles.
Journey data — your responses to the reflection exercises across the weekend, including reflections, values, vision statements, and uploaded files.
AI outputs — generated insights, headlines and family story drafts created from your inputs.
Session enquiries — if you ask about an optional session with Inge, we keep your name, email, reason and message only to reply to you.
Purchase data — when you buy, our payment processor (Stripe) shares the payment status, customer ID, and billing-country tax data with us.
Service analytics. We record a small number of product-usage events — for example, that a Direction Check was started, a snapshot was shown or an invitation was accepted — to understand how the service is used and keep it working well. Most of these events are anonymous. Some steps that happen while you're signed in are associated with your account. These events never contain your answers, voice recordings, generated reflections, names, email addresses or invitation links. We don't use third-party analytics or tracking cookies for the Direction Check.

We do not use advertising identifiers, device fingerprints, or third-party tracking.

Why we collect it & legal basis

To provide the service (legal basis: performance of contract) — account, family workspace, journey data, purchase and access status.
To generate AI-assisted insights based on your inputs (legal basis: performance of contract).
To secure the service and prevent fraud (legal basis: legitimate interests).
To measure product health through a small number of usage events, most of which are anonymous (legal basis: legitimate interests).
To meet legal obligations such as tax and accounting (legal basis: legal obligation).

How the AI features work

We send the information needed to our AI provider only to generate the reflection you request. Where our provider agreements and settings give us control, we do not permit your inputs to be used to train their models. We do not use your family reflections to train models ourselves. Third-party providers may process or retain information under their own terms and technical requirements, so we do not make broader promises about provider-side retention than we can independently verify.

AI features generate responses using only the data you and your partner enter in the app.
Every AI-generated reflection is labelled as AI-assisted in the app.

The Family Direction Check

The Family Direction Check is a short, free reflection. This is how we handle what you enter in it:

We process your answers only to provide the Direction Check you ask for.
If you take the check on your own without an account, your answers stay in your browser. When you ask for your snapshot, the answers needed are sent to an AI service provider that supports this feature, so it can write the reflection. We don't save them to our database.
If you choose to compare with a partner, we save your answers to your account. Your answers are private to you and are not automatically shown to your partner.
Your written answers stay private: your partner never sees them or direct quotes from them. A shared reflection is created only after both of you have finished, from your multiple-choice answers. Themes from your written answers contribute only if you explicitly switch on "Include themes from my written answers in our shared reflection" — it's off by default, each of you decides separately, and you can change it at any time. To write the reflection, we send the comparison and the permitted answers to an AI service provider.
If you use voice input, your recording is sent temporarily to a transcription service only to turn it into editable text. We don't store the raw audio after that. The text it produces is then treated exactly like anything you type, under the same Direction Check rules described above.
Your answers are never included in our analytics, which record only that steps happened.
We do not use your answers for unrelated advertising or marketing.
You can leave a shared comparison at any time, which removes the shared reflection for both of you. You can also delete your own Direction Check data at any time. Deleting yours does not delete your partner's.

Who we share data with

We share data only with the providers strictly required to operate the service:

Hosting & database — our cloud backend stores your account and journey data with row-level security.
AI providers — used to generate insights, headlines and your family story, only for the reflection you request. Where we control the settings, your inputs are not permitted to be used for training; providers may process or retain information under their own terms.
Stripe — handles all payments, billing, tax collection, invoicing and refunds for our purchases and gifts. Stripe's privacy notice: stripe.com/privacy.
Authorities — only where required by law.

We never sell or rent your personal data.

International transfers

Some of our service providers (e.g. AI providers, Stripe) may process data outside the EU/EEA. Where this happens, transfers are protected by Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) or equivalent safeguards.

Data retention

Account, family workspace and journey data are kept for as long as your account exists.
After your one-year access period ends, your Family North Star remains available in read-only form so you can still revisit it.
Billing records are kept for 7 years to comply with Dutch tax law.
When you delete your account, we permanently remove your journey data within 30 days.

Your rights (GDPR)

Under the GDPR you have the right to:

Access — get a copy of your data.
Rectification — correct inaccurate data.
Erasure — delete all your data.
Portability — export your data (your Family North Star is always exportable).
Restriction & objection — limit or object to certain processing.
Withdraw consent — at any time, where consent is the legal basis.
Lodge a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) at autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl.

We respond to verified requests within 30 days. Email hello@yournorthstar.today to exercise your rights.

Security

All data is transmitted over HTTPS (encrypted in transit).
Stored in an authenticated database with row-level security — only you and your invited partner can access your family workspace.
Passwords are securely hashed and never stored in plain text.

Cookies

Signing in keeps a session in your browser's local storage. Payment checkout uses Stripe's essential cookies. We use no advertising or tracking cookies.

Children's privacy

This service is intended for adults (partners and parents). We do not knowingly collect data from children under 16.

Product feedback & testimonials

We may invite the adult account holder to share optional feedback: a few short questions before the weekend, after completing it, and once about a month later. Feedback is stored separately from your family reflections and is only asked of the adults completing the experience — never children, and never a gift purchaser on the recipient family's behalf. Legal basis: legitimate interests in improving the service; every question can be skipped.

Your reflections, chapter answers, AI outputs and Family North Star are never used as testimonials or marketing material. A testimonial is only used if an adult explicitly approves the exact wording, chooses first name or anonymous attribution, and ticks a separate consent box (legal basis: consent). We do not publish children's names, photographs, ages, schools, locations, family surnames or children's reflections. You can withdraw testimonial consent at any time by contacting us, and we will stop using it going forward.

Changes

If we update this policy, we'll note the date above. For material changes we'll notify you in the app.

Contact

Your North Star B.V.
Prinses Marijkestraat 75
2595 TL ’s-Gravenhage
The Netherlands
KVK 42187176
hello@yournorthstar.today

See also: Terms of Service · Refund Policy