This page was rewritten on 7 October 2026 to match what the app actually does. The operator and a lawyer have not reviewed it yet, and the parts marked "To be completed" are still open.
SOS keeps what you enter on a server the operator runs, so you can use it on any device. SOS does not sell your data and does not show ads. A few features send small pieces of information to other services; the full list is in section 6. The person who runs the server can technically read what is stored there. The one exception is the Encrypted Vault, which is encrypted on your own device. You can download much of your data and delete your account in Settings.
1 Who is responsible
The SOS app and the website at sosforchange.org are run by SOS Media, LLC, a Colorado limited liability company, operating as Solution Oriented Society ("SOS", "we", "us").
- Registered in: Colorado. Postal address: we do not publish one yet.
- How to reach the operator: write to admin@sosforchange.org.
2 What we collect
What you give us
- Account: your email address and password (stored only as a hash, so we cannot read it), and the public username you choose at sign-up.
- Profile: details you add during sign-up and in your profile, such as display name, date of birth, sex, gender identity, height, weight, activity level, goals, country and time zone, and, if you choose to enter them, health conditions, medications, allergies and diet.
- Things you log: health and wellness entries (vitals, sleep, mood, mental-health check-ins, journal, medications, nutrition, workouts, body measurements), money entries (budgets, transactions, balances, net worth, debts, investments you type in), goals and habits, assessments you take, calendar entries, and GPS routes you save.
- Community: posts, replies, circle activity, direct messages and the feedback you send.
- Family: if you made a child profile in the Family area, its name, birthdate, avatar and saved settings, and any feelings check-ins made in Kids Mode (section 12).
- Your phone's push token, if you allow notifications.
If you use the contact form in the Help Center, we receive the topic you pick and your message (up to 2,000 characters). We receive your email address only if you choose to give one, so we can reply. We receive technical details about your device only if you tick the box to include them. The form itself does not store your IP address; the web server's ordinary logs, described in section 8, still record requests. We read messages to answer them and to improve SOS, and we keep them until they are dealt with. We do not use them for ads and we do not sell them. Please never put a password or a sign-in code in a message.
What is recorded without you typing it
- Server logs: our web server records the time, the address requested, the result, your device and browser type and your IP address for each request, and the database software keeps a similar request log (section 8).
- Usage analytics, only if you turn them on (section 4).
What SOS does not do
- SOS does not connect to your bank, cards or health-device accounts. Everything is typed in by you or imported from a file you choose.
- SOS does not read your contacts, call history, text messages or other apps.
- SOS does not use advertising, tracking pixels, or third-party analytics or crash-reporting tools.
- SOS uses your location and camera only in the features described in sections 6 and 7.
3 Who can see your information
- Other members: your public username, your name or display name, your level, and the profile details you add (such as bio, location, interests, skills you offer and what you are seeking) can be seen by other signed-in members. Posts and replies in community areas can be seen by the members those areas are open to. Your email address is not shown to other members.
- Staff: people with an administrator or manager role can see account details (email, name, profile), feedback you send, emails you send to SOS, reports about content, usage analytics rows, and any moderation notes staff have written about an account. The app's roles are not set up to let staff read your health, finance or journal entries.
- The operator: whoever runs the server can technically read anything stored there, because the database is not encrypted record by record. Our practice is to look at member content only to keep the service running, to deal with a report of abuse or danger, or when the law requires it.
- Direct messages are stored on SOS's server. They are not end-to-end encrypted.
- Encrypted Vault (Settings, Encrypted Vault): encrypted on your own device with a key that stays on that device, and never sent to the server. If you forget your PIN, nobody, including us, can recover what is in it.
4 How we use your information
- To run your account and show your own information back to you on any device.
- To work out your scores, trends and nudges. These use fixed rules and arithmetic inside the app, not an AI model.
- To send what you asked for: notifications you allowed, and account emails (verification, password reset).
- To power the community features you choose to use.
- To keep the service safe and working: server logs, reports of abuse, and limits on repeated requests.
- To answer your messages and feedback.
- To understand which features get used, only if you turn Usage Analytics on (below).
- To meet legal duties, if we have to.
SOS does not use your information for advertising, does not sell it, and does not use it to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.
Usage analytics (off by default)
- Usage Analytics is a switch in Settings and in Settings, Privacy. The two are kept in step. When it is on, the app records events such as the screens you open, with your account ID, a session ID, timings, app version and platform. These events are linked to your account. They are not anonymous.
- Staff with an administrator or manager role can see them. There is no automatic expiry yet: they stay until you delete your account or ask us to remove them.
- Turning the switch off stops new events. Your choice is saved on the device where you set it, so set it on each device you use.
5 AI and your data
SOS does not use AI on your data today. There is no AI coach in the app. If that ever changes, we will say so first and ask you.
The app does not send anything you write or log to an AI company, and it is not connected to one.
What is not sent to an AI company
- Your journal, mood, sleep, food, workout and money entries.
- Your goals, assessment results, scores and health details.
- Your messages, posts and profile.
- Your name and email address.
What SOS does instead
- Your scores, trends and nudges are worked out by fixed rules and arithmetic that run inside the app on your own entries. No AI model reads them.
- The Morning Brief is put together from your own entries and a weather lookup (section 6). It does not use AI.
- SOS does not use AI to make decisions about you, and does not use your information to train AI models.
Notes you send us
Notes you send through the Help button, reports about content and emails to our address are stored on SOS's server and read by the people who run SOS (section 3).
Pages about AI
The Knowledge tab has reading pages about artificial intelligence. They are articles to read. They do not use your information.
How SOS was written
SOS itself was built with the help of AI tools, including Claude. Educational content and app features were drafted or assisted by AI, and a person has not reviewed every page, so some of it may be wrong or out of date. Check anything important with a qualified professional. More detail is in the AI Disclosure.
If this changes
If SOS ever adds an AI feature, we will say so first and ask you. Before it is switched on we will explain it on the AI Disclosure page, name the company that provides it, what it would receive and its data terms, and update this policy. It will stay off until you agree.
6 Other services that receive information
Some features contact other services. This is the full list of services that the app or the SOS server sends information to. Links in the app that open other websites (health agencies, news articles and so on) open in your browser and are covered by those sites' own policies.
When your browser or phone contacts one of these services directly, that service also sees your IP address and browser type, as any website would.
Used when you use the feature
Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation)
en.wikipedia.org
Shows a short Wikipedia summary on Knowledge Graph topic pages.
What is sent: The title of the topic you open.
When: When you open a topic in the Knowledge Graph.
RSS2JSON
api.rss2json.com
Turns news-site feeds into a form the News Feed can read.
What is sent: The web address of each news feed the News Feed loads: the built-in list, plus any feed address you add yourself. Article pictures are loaded straight from each publisher's own site.
When: When you open the News Feed or add a custom feed.
Open-Meteo
api.open-meteo.com, air-quality-api.open-meteo.com, geocoding-api.open-meteo.com
Weather, air quality and place-name lookup.
What is sent: Your coordinates, or a city name. In the web app the Morning Brief and the Fitness dashboard weather card ask your browser for your location; if you allow it, the position your browser reports is sent as it is, without rounding. In Emergency Prep it is the city name you type. SOS does not store your coordinates on its server.
When: When you open the Morning Brief or the Fitness dashboard in a browser and allow location access, and when you look up a city in Emergency Prep.
USDA FoodData Central
api.nal.usda.gov
Food and nutrition database search.
What is sent: The food name you search for, or the ID of the food you open.
When: When you search the food database or open a food's details.
Open Food Facts
world.openfoodfacts.org, search.openfoodfacts.org
Packaged-food and barcode lookup.
What is sent: The product name you search for, or the barcode number you scan. The camera picture itself stays on your device.
When: When you search packaged foods or scan a barcode in the food diary or food database.
TheMealDB
www.themealdb.com
Recipe search.
What is sent: The recipe or ingredient words you search for.
When: When you search recipes.
openFDA (US Food and Drug Administration)
api.fda.gov
Official drug-label, side-effect and recall information.
What is sent: The name of the medicine or supplement you look up. That can reveal something you take, so look things up only if you are comfortable with that.
When: When you look up a drug label, drug interactions or recalls.
Alpha Vantage
www.alphavantage.co
Stock and crypto prices for the investment tracker.
What is sent: The ticker symbols you look up (every ticker in your holdings when you refresh them all), with the Alpha Vantage key you entered yourself. That shows the provider which investments you follow.
When: When you look up or refresh a price in Wealth, Investments. It needs your own key.
jsDelivr (code delivery network)
cdn.jsdelivr.net
Delivers a small open-source library (jsQR) that reads QR codes in a web browser.
What is sent: Nothing you enter. Your browser asks jsDelivr for the library file. Camera pictures stay on your device.
When: In the web app, when you open the barcode scanner in the food diary. The request is made by the camera package the app uses.
Expo push notification service
exp.host
Delivers push notifications to your phone.
What is sent: Your phone's push token and the notification text, for example the sender's username and a preview of a new message, or the name of an achievement you earned. Apple or Google then deliver it to your phone.
When: Only if you allow notifications on your device, and only when something triggers one.
US NPI Registry (via SOS's server)
npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov
Doctor Finder searches the US government's public directory of health-care providers.
What is sent: The name, city, state, ZIP code and specialty you type. Your browser or phone sends them to SOS's server, which passes them on to the registry.
When: When you search in Doctor Finder.
Hostinger (server hosting)
Rents SOS the virtual server that runs the database, stores uploaded files and keeps the nightly backups.
What is sent: Everything stored on SOS's server lives on this hosted machine. SOS does not hand Hostinger your data as a separate step, but as the host of the machine it is able to reach it, and its own terms apply.
When: Always: it is where SOS runs.
Hostinger Email (account emails)
smtp.hostinger.com
Delivers the emails SOS sends: email verification, password reset, a reminder of your sign-in email address if you ask for one, a sign-in alert when you sign in from a new place, a notice when your password or email address is changed, one welcome message after you verify your address, and short alerts to the operator's own address. It is the operator's own mailbox service at Hostinger, the same company that hosts the server. It is not a marketing or advertising tool.
What is sent: Your email address, the sender (noreply@sosforchange.org) and the text of the message, for example a link to verify your address or set a new password, or your username in a sign-in reminder. Hostinger handles the message under its own terms. The operator's own address (admin@sosforchange.org) also receives a short alert when a member sends feedback or a report: it includes what was written, with email addresses and phone numbers hidden, but not the sender's name or email address. Administrators can also have a test message or a report, such as the feedback report, emailed to their own address.
When: When you ask for or trigger an account email, for example by signing up, asking for a new verification email, using Forgot password, asking for a reminder of your sign-in email, signing in from a new place, or changing your password or email address; once, a welcome message after you verify your address; and when someone sends feedback or a report (that alert goes to the operator, not to you). SOS does not use it for newsletters or marketing.
Only if switched on in your version
Spoonacular and Edamam
api.spoonacular.com, api.edamam.com
Extra recipe sources.
What is sent: Your recipe search words and filters (diet, cuisine, calorie limits, ingredients to leave out), which can hint at allergies or health needs.
When: Only in versions of SOS where the operator has added a key for them, and only when you search recipes.
Not switched on
wger and ExerciseDB
wger.de, exercisedb.p.rapidapi.com
Exercise libraries with descriptions and pictures.
What is sent: Nothing today. The code for these libraries exists, but no screen in the app uses it, so no exercise search leaves your device.
When: Never at present.
Kroger and Walmart
api.kroger.com, developer.walmart.com
Live grocery prices and store search.
What is sent: Nothing today. Live prices are not switched on, so shopping-list prices are built-in estimates and nothing goes to either company.
When: Never at present.
Staff tool
A web address chosen by an administrator
Lets an administrator send a batch of submitted feedback to an automation tool.
What is sent: The feedback messages members submitted (subject, message text, category and the screen it was about). The batch does not include account IDs or email addresses.
When: Only when an administrator types an address in the admin reports screen and presses send.
7 Location
- Weather (web app): the Morning Brief and the Fitness dashboard weather card ask your browser for your location when they open, and your browser asks you first. If you allow it, your position is sent to Open-Meteo to get weather and air quality, exactly as your browser reports it. SOS does not store it on its server.
- Route Tracker (GPS): when you start a route, the app asks for location permission and records your position every few seconds while the app is open and the route is running. The points stay on your device until you save the route. When you save it, the route (distance, time, elevation, notes and the list of GPS points with times) is stored in your account on SOS's server. Routes can show where you live, work and exercise, so save them with that in mind. Only you can see your saved routes in the app.
- Emergency Prep weather uses a city name you type, not your device's location.
- SOS does not track your location in the background. You can refuse or withdraw the permission in your browser or phone settings; the features then work without it (Route Tracker switches to manual entry).
8 Where your data is kept, logs and backups
- Server: the SOS database and uploaded files are on a virtual server rented from Hostinger and run by the operator.
- On your device only: the Encrypted Vault, an unsaved route, Morning Brief settings and some trackers do not sync. That information is not on our server, is not in backups or in the data download, and is lost if you clear your browser data or delete the app.
- Server logs: our web server (nginx) records your IP address, the time, the address requested, the result and your browser or device type for every request. The database software (PocketBase) keeps its own request log, which can also include IP addresses. We use the logs to keep the service running, find errors and stop abuse. How long they are kept is one of the open items at the end of this policy.
- Backups: every night at 3 am server time the server copies the whole database and the uploaded files and keeps the 14 newest copies, on the same server. The operator also downloads the latest backup to their own computer and locks it with a passphrase (AES-256 encryption). Each time the operator runs the backup script it keeps at most the newest 14 locked copies and removes any older than 14 days, so a copy can stay longer if the script is not run. If you delete your account, your data can stay in these backup copies until they are replaced.
9 How long we keep it, and deleting your account
- Your information stays in your account until you delete it or delete the account.
- Usage analytics events have no automatic expiry yet.
- Backups hold deleted data for up to 14 days on the server, and for about as long on the operator's computer, where a copy can stay longer if the backup script is not run (section 8).
Deleting your account
Go to Settings, Delete Account (it is also under Settings, Security and Settings, Privacy). You confirm with your password. It is permanent.
- Removed: your profile, goals, habits and journal entries; wellness, fitness, nutrition and sleep logs; budget, net worth and other money records; circle posts, forum replies and most comments you wrote; direct messages you sent (private conversations you were in are removed for the other person too); local groups and community initiatives you started, even if other people joined; your sign-in details and every signed-in device.
- Kept: circles you started stay open for their other members and are no longer linked to your account; discussion threads you started stay because other members replied to them, and your name may still show on them; initiatives and petitions you launched stay for the people who joined or signed, and are no longer linked to your account; article comments, problem reports and philosophy responses you posted stay, no longer linked to your account, though your name may still show on some of them; anything another member already saved or copied; backup copies for up to 14 days.
- Not removed automatically yet: a few kinds of record store your member ID as plain text instead of as a link to your account, and the automatic deletion does not reach them. Your public profile card is one. Email admin@sosforchange.org from the address you signed up with, with "Privacy request" in the subject, and we will remove them.
10 Security
- Connections to sosforchange.org use HTTPS.
- Passwords are stored as hashes. We cannot read your password.
- The server's access rules are set so that your private records (health, sleep, journal, money and similar) can be read only by your own account through the app.
- If you turn on biometric sign-in on a phone, your email and password are saved in the phone's secure storage so your fingerprint or face can sign you in. SOS never receives your fingerprint or face data. Signing out removes the saved sign-in.
- The database is not encrypted record by record (section 3), and the nightly backup files on the server are not encrypted separately.
- No system is completely secure. If a breach affects your information, we will tell you as the law requires.
11 Your choices and rights
- Download: Settings, Download My Data gives you a file (JSON, CSV or a readable report) of much of what you entered. It does not cover every kind of record yet. Email us for anything that is missing.
- Correct: edit your profile and your entries in the app.
- Delete: remove single entries inside each tool, or delete the whole account (section 9).
- Analytics and notifications: switch them off in Settings.
- Ask us: email admin@sosforchange.org with "Privacy request" in the subject to ask for a copy of your information, to correct or delete something the app cannot, or to object to or limit how it is used. Write from the email address on your account so we can check it is you.
- How quickly we answer is one of the open items at the end of this policy.
12 Children
SOS is not for children under 13. When you create an account you confirm that you are 13 or older; SOS does not check your age. If we learn that a child under 13 has an account, we will delete it and its data. If you think that has happened, email admin@sosforchange.org.
The Family area has child profiles. New child profiles are switched off for now, but a profile made earlier is still there. A child profile stores the name, birthdate, avatar and saved settings you entered, and any feelings check-ins made in Kids Mode, on SOS's server, linked to your account. The saved settings are not applied anywhere else in the app: they do not limit what a child can see or do. To control what a child can open, use the parental controls built into the phone or tablet.
The finance tools are meant for adults (18 and over). If you are under 18, please read these documents with a parent or guardian. Some parts of SOS, such as the community, direct messages and the finance tools, are written with adults in mind.
14 Rules where you live
What is true everywhere: SOS does not sell personal information and does not share it for advertising. You can download much of your data, correct it and delete your account in the app, and you can email us.
To be completed by the operator and a lawyer
Not yet written: which privacy laws apply and what notices they require, for example the EU and UK GDPR (the legal basis for each use of your information, explicit consent for health information, transfers outside the EU and UK, how to complain to a regulator), California (notice at collection and how to make a request), Washington's My Health My Data Act (a separate consumer health data policy), and other US states. Also not yet decided: how many days we have to answer a request, and what happens to the data if SOS is ever handed to another organisation.
15 Open items
To be completed by the operator before this policy is final
These things cannot be checked from the app's code. Each one affects a sentence above.
- Say how long server logs are kept and where the server is located (section 8).
- Confirm the operator really runs the encrypted backup script on their computer, and that the computer's disk is encrypted (section 8).
- Confirm what happens to child profiles, their saved settings and Kids Mode check-ins when an account is deleted, then say so in sections 9 and 12.
- Confirm the server's disk is encrypted at the host, and that the mobile apps connect over HTTPS (section 10).
- Confirm the Doctor Finder relay to the US NPI Registry exists on the server (section 6).
- Say whether the people who run SOS use an AI assistant to read the notes and reports members send, and name it (section 5).
- Confirm that the way the operator handles member content in section 3 matches how the service is run.
- Set the time limit for answering rights requests (sections 11 and 14).
16 Changes to this policy
We will change the date at the top of this page whenever the policy changes. For a significant change we will tell members before it takes effect, in the app and, where email is set up, by email.
17 Contact
Questions or requests
One address handles privacy and data requests, legal notices, account problems and general help. A person reads it and replies. For a privacy request, put "Privacy request" in the subject.
You can also send us a message from the website at sosforchange.org/help/contact, no sign-in needed.