Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy Last Updated: March 23, 2025 TextMarley (“we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect in connection with our text message reminder service and website (collectively, the “Service”), how we use and share that information, and your rights and choices. This Policy is tailored for users in the United States and outlines our practices in compliance with U.S. laws. By using TextMarley.com or our SMS reminder Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with our practices, please do not use the Service. 1. Information We Collect Personal Information (Phone Number): The primary piece of personal information we collect from you is your mobile phone number. You provide your phone number when you initiate a reminder request (either by texting our service or by entering your number on our website to receive a text). We use your phone number to identify you within our system and to send you the reminder messages you request. We do not ask for or require your name, email address, or any other identifying information to use the basic reminder Service – it is intended to be anonymous aside from your phone number. Reminder Content: When you send a text to TextMarley to create a reminder, the content of that message (for example, “Remind me to call Alice at 5 PM”) is received by our system. We treat the content of your reminder as data to be processed to fulfill your request. This message content may sometimes include personal information if you choose to include it (e.g., a name, an appointment detail, etc.), but we do not require you to include any sensitive personal details. The reminder content is stored at least until the scheduled time so that we can send it back to you as a reminder. We may log or retain the content for a short period after sending the reminder for troubleshooting or service improvement purposes, but we do not use it for any purpose other than delivering and managing the reminders. Automatically Collected Information: When you visit our website (TextMarley.com), we may automatically collect certain technical information, such as your IP address, browser type, device type, and browsing data through the use of cookies or server logs. We keep such automatic data collection to a minimum. We do not tie this technical information to your phone number or any identity – it is collected primarily for security, analytics, or to improve the website’s functionality. For example, we might use a cookie to remember that you’ve visited our site or to keep track of a phone number you entered during a session, but we do not use cookies for advertising purposes. Our Service does not require you to log in or create an account, so we do not use persistent tracking tied to individual profiles. We do not knowingly collect any sensitive personal information (such as financial information, social security numbers, health or medical information, etc.), and we ask that you do not include such information in any reminders you send. TextMarley is not designed to process or store sensitive data. If you inadvertently provide sensitive information in a reminder request, we will treat it securely as described in this Policy, but we encourage you not to use the Service for such purposes. 2. How We Use Your Information We use the information we collect strictly to provide and improve the TextMarley Service. The purposes for which we use your information include: • Providing the Reminder Service: We use your phone number to send you SMS text messages at the times you have requested. The content of your initial request is used to determine the timing and content of the reminder message we send back to you. In short, all personal data collected (phone number and reminder text) is used to carry out the core function of the Service – scheduling and delivering your requested reminders. • Service Operations and Improvement: We may use your phone number and reminder interactions to maintain and enhance the Service. This can include ensuring messages are sent as scheduled, monitoring the system for bugs or delivery failures, and improving our scheduling algorithms or user experience. For example, we might analyze general usage patterns (e.g., peak times when users set reminders) to optimize our system, or review failed message logs to fix delivery issues. Any analysis of reminder content will be automated and only for service functionality (for instance, parsing the time delay or due date from your text). • Customer Support and Communication: If you contact us for support or inquiries (e.g., via email), we will use any contact information you provide (such as your email address or phone number) and details of your inquiry to assist you. We might access your reminder history to troubleshoot a problem you report. We may also use your phone number to send you service-related notifications or important updates about the Service. For example, if we change our number or the Service will be down for maintenance, we might send a one-time informational text. We will not send promotional or marketing messages. • Safety and Legal Compliance: We may use information as necessary to enforce our Terms of Service, to monitor for fraud or abuse of the Service, and to protect the rights, property, or safety of TextMarley, our users, or the public. If we detect behavior that potentially violates our Terms (such as spam or illegal activity), we might review the relevant phone number and reminder logs to investigate. Additionally, we will use and disclose information as required to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request (see “Legal Disclosures” below). We do not use your personal information for any form of third-party advertising or marketing. We do not profile you or analyze your data for any purposes outside of those mentioned above. Because our service is minimal and user-initiated, there are no elaborate secondary uses of your data. 3. How We Share or Disclose Information TextMarley is committed to privacy and does not sell your personal information to third parties for their own marketing or other independent use . We also do not share your information with third parties except in the limited circumstances described below, all of which are aligned with providing and protecting our Service: • Service Providers (Third-Party Processors): We use third-party companies to facilitate certain aspects of our Service on our behalf. The primary example is Twilio, our SMS delivery provider. We send your phone number and reminder message content to Twilio in order to actually transmit the SMS reminder to you . Twilio acts as a “data processor” or service provider for us, meaning they are authorized to use the data only as necessary to deliver our communications and not for their own purposes. Twilio may temporarily store the message and your number to ensure delivery and for logging (per their own policies), but they do not use your information to contact you outside of our Service. We may also use other vendors for ancillary services (for example, a cloud hosting provider for our website or databases, or analytics tools for website performance). These service providers may process technical data (like IP addresses or stored reminder logs) on our behalf. In all cases, we ensure that any third-party service providers are bound by appropriate confidentiality and security obligations and only use data as instructed by us to provide their services. They do not have the right to use your personal information for any purpose unrelated to TextMarley. • Legal Requirements and Safety: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with legal obligations. For example, we might preserve or share information in response to a valid subpoena, court order, or government request. We may also disclose information if we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected illegal activities, fraud, or situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person, or violations of our Terms of Service. In such cases, we will only share the information that is reasonably necessary for the purpose (e.g., providing relevant logs to law enforcement). • Business Transfers: If TextMarley (or the company/individual that operates it) is involved in a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or other business transaction, user information may be transferred to the successor or new owner as part of that deal. We would ensure that any such successor is bound by similar privacy commitments. We will notify users (for example, via a notice on our website) if a transfer of data occurs and becomes subject to a different privacy policy. • With Your Consent: In the unlikely event we ever want to use or share your information for purposes outside of those discussed in this Policy, we would ask for your consent. For instance, if we develop a new feature that involves sharing data with a partner, we would provide you with an opportunity to opt-in. However, as of the Last Updated date above, there are no such data sharing arrangements in place. Aside from the parties and circumstances above, we do not disclose your personal information to any other third parties. Your phone number and reminder content are private and will not be visible to other users of the Service or to any random third party. We may share aggregated or de-identified information that cannot reasonably be used to identify you. For example, we might publish statistics about how many reminders are set each month or the average reminder time-span (e.g., “most users ask for reminders about 2 hours later”). Such information would not include any personal data and is solely used to show trends or Service usage in a way that does not compromise privacy. 4. Data Retention We only retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. In practical terms: • Phone Numbers: If you use the Service regularly, we will retain your phone number in our system to recognize you as a returning user (so that, for instance, we can support your ongoing reminder requests or manage opt-out status). If you have opted out (texted STOP), we will retain your number on a suppression list to ensure we do not text you again unless you opt back in. We may also retain phone numbers in our encrypted backups or logs for a period of time as part of routine data backup processes, but we protect them as we would live data. • Reminder Messages: The content of your reminder requests may be stored in our system until the reminder is delivered and for a short time after for processing. We might keep a log of past reminder requests for a limited time (for example, to allow you to see a history or to improve our AI assistant’s ability to help you manage tasks). However, if our goal is anonymity, we aim to minimize how long message content is retained in identifiable form. We may periodically purge older reminder content that is no longer needed for Service functionality. Any retained logs of message content are protected and not used for purposes outside the Service’s scope. • Website Logs: Any IP logs or device information collected by our web server are typically retained for a short period (e.g., a few weeks) for security monitoring and then deleted or anonymized. Analytical data (if any) might be retained in aggregate form to observe site traffic over time but would not include personal identifiers. If you would like us to delete your phone number and any associated reminder data from our active systems, you can contact us (see Section 8: Your Choices). Barring any legal obligations to retain data, we will honor verified requests for deletion. Note that if you request deletion and later use the Service again, we will collect your phone number anew as it will be required to provide the Service. 5. Data Security We take reasonable measures to protect the security of your personal information. This includes administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the volume and sensitivity of data we handle. For example, our databases and servers are protected by firewalls and access controls; communication with Twilio and our systems is encrypted; and access to systems that contain phone numbers or logs is limited to authorized personnel who require it for operation of the Service. We also rely on Twilio’s robust security measures to protect data in transit and at rest on their platform. However, please be aware that no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure . While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee absolute security. SMS itself is not an end-to-end encrypted medium; while we keep your data secure on our systems, text messages could be viewed by your mobile carrier or others with access to your phone. By using the Service, you acknowledge that there are security and privacy limitations inherent to SMS and internet communications which are beyond our control. If we become aware of a data breach that compromises your personal information, we will notify affected users and/or regulatory authorities as required by law. We also encourage you to take steps to secure your own devices (for instance, protect access to your mobile phone) to help keep your reminders private. 6. Children’s Privacy TextMarley is not intended for use by children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13 years old. If you are under 13, do not use our Service or provide any personal data (including a phone number) to us. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 13, we will promptly delete that information from our records. Parents or guardians who believe that their child under 13 may have used our Service should contact us so we can investigate and delete any related information. We comply with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and do not knowingly collect or store information from children under 13. 7. International Users Our Service is intended for users in the United States and is operated from the U.S. If you choose to use TextMarley from outside the U.S., please understand that your personal information (phone number, messages, etc.) will be transmitted to and processed in the United States. The data protection laws of the U.S. might differ from those in your home country. By using the Service and providing your information, you consent to the transfer of your information to the U.S. and the handling of it as described in this Privacy Policy. If you are not a U.S. resident, you should not use TextMarley if you do not want your data stored in the United States or if using the Service would violate local laws. We do not actively market or provide the Service outside the U.S., and we make no representations that the Privacy Policy or our practices comply with the laws of any other country. International users who use the Service do so at their own initiative and risk, and are responsible for compliance with local laws. 8. Your Rights and Choices Because we collect minimal personal data, our users generally have straightforward control over their information: • Opting Out of SMS: As noted in our Terms and above, you can opt out of receiving TextMarley messages at any time by texting “STOP” in reply to any of our messages . This will prevent you from receiving further reminders unless you initiate usage again and provide consent. If you have any trouble opting out via SMS, you can contact us directly and request removal of your number. • Access and Deletion: You have the right to request information about the personal data we hold about you (which in our case would typically just be your phone number and any associated reminder logs). You may also request that we delete your personal information. You can do this by contacting us at our support email (see Section 10). Upon verifying your identity (for example, by verifying you control the phone number in question), we will provide you with a summary of any personal data we have and honor reasonable requests to delete personal data, unless we are required to retain it for legal reasons. Keep in mind that if you ask us to delete your data and later use the Service again, we will collect your phone number again as it’s necessary for operation. • California Privacy Rights: Under California law (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, “CCPA”, as amended by the CPRA), California residents have certain rights with respect to their personal information. If you are a California resident, you have the right to request: (1) access to the specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you; (2) details about the categories of personal information collected, the sources of that information, the purpose for collecting it, and any third parties with whom we share it; and (3) deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions. As described in this Policy, TextMarley collects very limited information (identifiers like phone number and electronic communications you initiate) and does not sell or share personal information in the manner defined by California law (we do not provide your data to third parties for their own marketing) . If you wish to exercise any California privacy rights, please contact us. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any privacy rights (meaning we will continue to provide our Service to the extent possible in the same way for all users). Since our Service is freely provided, there is no financial incentive involved in data processing that would require disclosure under CCPA. • Do Not Track Signals: “Do Not Track” (DNT) is a setting in some web browsers that signals a preference not to be tracked across websites. Our website does not currently respond to DNT signals, but we do not engage in tracking behaviors across third-party websites or online services. We simply use basic analytics or logs as described, which are first-party and not tied to personal identities. • Consent Withdrawal: In general, by using our Service you have consented to our collection and use of your information as outlined. If you wish to withdraw consent for us to collect or use your data, you should discontinue use of the Service and request deletion of your data as described above. For SMS, withdrawing consent is as simple as opting out via “STOP” or reaching out to us. Please note that if you have any reminders pending at the time you opt out or request deletion, those reminders will be canceled and not delivered, since we would remove your data. If you later decide to use TextMarley again, you will need to start fresh, as we would no longer have your previous information (post-deletion). 9. Changes to This Privacy Policy We may update or revise this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes to the way we handle your personal information, we will provide notice by posting the updated Privacy Policy on our website (and updating the “Last Updated” date at the top). In some cases, we may also notify you via a text message or other method if appropriate and feasible (for example, if you are an active user and we have a contact method). We encourage you to review this Policy periodically for any updates. Your continued use of TextMarley after any changes to this Privacy Policy have been posted will signify your acceptance of those changes. If you do not agree with any changes, you should stop using the Service and, if desired, contact us to have your data removed. 10. Contact Us If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or the data practices of TextMarley, please contact us: TextMarley Privacy Team Email: support@textmarley.com You may also reach out to this email if you wish to exercise any of your rights as described in Section 8, or if you need help with opting out or deleting your information. We will do our best to respond to your inquiry in a timely and helpful manner. By using TextMarley, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. We appreciate your trust in us to handle your information responsibly and hope our Service proves useful to you. Thank you for using TextMarley![Full Privacy Policy text]