Privacy Policy

Who we are

Dearlo is operated by Howdy LLC (“we”, “us”), based in Wisconsin, United States. You can reach us about anything in this policy at matthuntbiz@gmail.com.

What we collect

Your account

• Your email address.
• Your password, which is stored in scrambled (hashed) form by our sign-in provider. We never see it.

What you add about the people in your life

• Names and how you know them (for example, “my sister”).
• Photos: a profile picture, and up to 10 photos per person that you choose to add so we can read their style.
• The “vibe” summary our AI writes from those photos, and any edits you make to it.
• Birthdays and gift-occasion dates.
• Notes such as hobbies and interests.
• Gift Quiz answers: the kind of person they are and their style, what they’d treat themselves to, favorite colors and brands, words that describe them, clothing sizes, and things to avoid.
• The gift ideas we suggest, the budgets you choose, product links, and whether you’ve marked an idea as given.

Usage and purchases

• How many free gift searches your email address has used (see “How long we keep it” below).
• If you subscribe to Dearlo Plus or buy search packs: what you bought, your plan and renewal date, and a customer ID from our payment processor, Stripe. Stripe handles your card details; we never see or store your full card number.

Technical information

• Basic technical data such as IP address, browser type, and request logs, which our hosting and database providers record to keep the service secure and working.
• Cookies: we only use the essential cookies needed to keep you signed in. We don’t use advertising or tracking cookies, and we don’t run ads. When you pay, Stripe’s secure checkout page uses its own cookies to process the payment and prevent fraud.

How we use it

• To run your account and show you your people and saved ideas.
• To generate gift suggestions when you ask for them.
• To enforce the free-search allowance and prevent abuse, such as one person creating many accounts.
• To process purchases and send receipts.
• To send essential account emails, like confirming your email address. We don’t send marketing emails unless you choose to receive them.
• If you have Dearlo Plus, to email you reminders two weeks before the birthdays, occasions, and holidays you’ve saved. You can turn these off anytime from your Account page or any reminder email.
• If you sync your gift calendar, to provide a private calendar link containing your people’s names and dates. Anyone with that link can see those dates, so keep it private; you can reset it anytime.
• To keep the service secure and to meet legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we don’t share it for targeted advertising.

How our AI uses what you add

Reading someone’s vibe from photos

When you add photos of someone, we send those photos, their name, and how you know them to our AI provider, Anthropic, once, so it can write a short summary of their style and interests — their “vibe.” We instruct the AI to describe only things like clothing style, colors, hobbies, and interests. It is told not to identify who anyone is, not to comment on appearance, and not to guess sensitive traits such as race or ethnicity, religion, health, body size, age, or sexual orientation. We don’t use photos for facial recognition.

The vibe summary is saved to that person’s profile, where you can read and edit it. Future gift searches use the summary rather than sending the photos again. Adding or removing photos updates the summary.

Finding gift ideas

When you ask for gift ideas, we send the relevant details about that person — their name, how you know them, notes, Gift Quiz answers, vibe summary, your budget, and ideas we’ve already suggested — to Anthropic, which generates the suggestions. To find real products, the AI runs web searches based on those details (for example, “women’s green fleece jacket”). Photos themselves aren’t sent during gift searches.

Under its commercial terms, Anthropic does not use this data to train its AI models. It may keep it for a limited time for safety and security purposes, as described in its own privacy policy.

We also visit the product pages the AI suggests, to check the links work and to find product photos. No information about you or your people is sent to those stores.

Who helps us run the service

We use trusted service providers who process data on our behalf and only for the purposes above:

• Supabase — our database, sign-in system, and private photo storage.
• Anthropic — the AI that generates gift suggestions.
• Vercel — hosts the website.
• Stripe — processes payments and subscriptions (and, for purchases made in our iPhone app, Apple).
• Resend — sends account and reminder emails.

We may also disclose information if required by law, to protect the rights and safety of our users or others, or as part of a merger, sale, or transfer of our business, in which case this policy would continue to apply to your information.

Information about other people

Much of what you add is about someone else. Please only add details you’re comfortable storing and that the person would reasonably expect a friend or family member to know. Don’t add sensitive information such as health conditions, religious beliefs, or financial details — the service doesn’t need it to suggest good gifts.

Only add photos you’re comfortable sharing and have the right to use — ideally ones where the person is the main subject. Avoid photos that reveal sensitive information.

If you add information or photos about anyone under 18, you must be their parent or legal guardian, or have their parent or guardian’s permission.

Everything you add is private to your account. Photos are stored privately and can only be viewed by you while signed in. We never contact the people you add. If you believe someone has added your information and you’d like it removed, email us at matthuntbiz@gmail.com.

How long we keep it

• Your people, photos, vibe summaries, and gift ideas are kept until you delete them or delete your account. Removing a photo deletes it from our storage.
• When you delete your account (from your Account page), we delete your account, people, photos, Gift Quiz answers, and gift ideas. Copies may remain in backups for a short period before they’re overwritten.
• To prevent people from getting unlimited free searches by deleting and recreating accounts, we keep a minimal record of your email address and how many of your free searches were used. We don’t keep anything else from a deleted account in that record.
• Deleting your account cancels any active subscription. We and Stripe keep purchase and payment records as long as needed for tax, accounting, and fraud-prevention requirements.

Your choices and rights

• You can view, edit, and delete your people and gift ideas at any time in the app.
• You can delete your account at any time from your Account page.
• You can ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, or to delete it by emailing matthuntbiz@gmail.com. We’ll respond within 30 days, and we won’t treat you differently for making a request.

Depending on where you live — for example California, other U.S. states with privacy laws, the European Union, or the United Kingdom — you may have additional rights, such as the right to know what we collect, to delete it, to correct it, to receive a copy, or to object to certain uses. We honor these requests for everyone, wherever you live. If you’re in the EU or UK, we process your information to provide the service you signed up for and for our legitimate interests in keeping it secure and preventing abuse, and you can complain to your local data protection authority.

Security

We protect your information with encrypted connections, private per-account data access, and private photo storage. No service can guarantee perfect security, but we work to keep your information safe and will notify you if a breach affects you as required by law.

Children

Dearlo is not intended for children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, contact us and we’ll delete it.

Adults may add details or photos about a child they’re shopping for only if they are that child’s parent or legal guardian, or have a parent or guardian’s permission. A parent or guardian can ask us to delete information about their child at any time by emailing us.

International users

We’re based in the United States, and our service providers may process information in the United States and other countries. By using Dearlo, you understand your information will be processed there.

Changes to this policy

If we make changes, we’ll update the date at the top of this page. If the changes are significant, we’ll let you know by email or in the app before they take effect.

Contact us

Howdy LLC · Wisconsin, United States · matthuntbiz@gmail.com