Privacy Policy

1. Who is responsible for your data

Spiritpedia is run by Ross Aiken, trading as Spiritpedia, 124 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, who is the “controller” of your personal data under UK and EU data protection law. Contact: love@spiritpedia.co.

2. What we collect

When you browse

• Analytics — only if you accept analytics cookies: pages visited, approximate location (country/city), device and browser type, collected through Google Analytics.
• Technical data — like every website, our hosting provider records basic request information (such as IP address and browser) to keep Spiritpedia running and secure. Some images, such as book covers and video thumbnails, load from other sites (for example Amazon, Google and YouTube), which receive the same basic information your browser sends to any site.
• Saved items — the teachers, books, videos and other things you save are stored in your own browser, or on your phone in the app. If you have an account and are signed in, they are kept with your account, so they match on every device you use; signing out removes them from that browser or phone.
• The emotional search — what you type isn't linked to you or your account. To find matches, each search is sent to our database provider, whose short-lived technical logs can briefly include it. When a search finds nothing at all, we count its words, without recording who searched, so we can see what people look for that we don't have yet; anything containing an email address or a phone number is never kept. If what you type matches one of our crisis phrases, the search stops in your browser or the app: nothing more is sent, it is never counted, and we show you where to find support instead.
• Counts of what's popular — we count how often things are opened, saved, shared and searched for, on the website and in the app, without recording who did it: no name, account, device or IP address is kept with these totals, and nothing is stored on your device to make them. They help us see what people find useful and what's missing.

When you create an account

• Your email address and whether you joined to explore or to share your work.
• While you're signing up, we briefly hold your email address and that choice, so it survives if you open your code on another device. It is deleted once you finish signing up, or automatically within two days if you don't.
• Your saved items and any reviews you write. A review is shown publicly with the name you post it under.
• Basic sign-in records (for example, when you last signed in).

If you turn on notifications in the app

• Only if you choose to — the app asks first, and you need to be signed in. We then store a notification token (an address your phone gives us so a notification can reach it), whether it is an iPhone or Android phone, and the app version, linked to your account.
• Which kinds of notification you want (for example, general updates). You can change this in the app at any time.
• Notifications are delivered through Google Firebase Cloud Messaging, which handles the token and the message to get it to your phone. We don't use any other Firebase service, and nothing is used for analytics or advertising.

If you tailor Spiritpedia

• In the app you can choose subjects you'd like to see more of (for example, meditation or shadow work), and subjects you'd rather not see at all (for example, shamanism). Both are optional — you can skip them.
• Your choices are kept on your phone. If you're signed in, they are also stored with your account so they follow you to another device; if you choose before signing in, they are added to your account when you sign in.
• We use them only to tailor what you see in Spiritpedia — a “For You” shelf, the order of subjects, which books, videos and offerings come first, and what is left out. They are never shown to anyone else, shared, or used for advertising.

If you set your area

• To show practitioners near you, you can set your area — on the website or in the app. It is always optional. Your area is a town and its country (for example, “London, United Kingdom”), never your exact location.
• You can type your town, or let us find it. If you choose “Use my location”, your browser or phone gives an approximate position once; we round it to about a kilometre, send it to our database provider to look up the nearest town, keep the town and discard the position. We never store or keep your position, and we never track where you go.
• Your area is kept in your browser or on your phone. If you're signed in, it is also stored with your account so it follows you to another device. It is never shown to practitioners or anyone else, shared, or used for advertising.
• Town names and their locations come from GeoNames (geonames.org), used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.

If you share your name

• In the app you can share your name. It is optional, and we use it only to greet you (for example, “Welcome back, Ross”) and in the emails we send you.
• It is kept on your phone and, if you're signed in, with your account. You can change or remove it at any time in Account.

If you let Spiritpedia learn from what you explore

• It is off unless you turn it on (“Let Spiritpedia learn from what I explore”, in Tailor Spiritpedia in the app or on your account page). With your permission, we note what you open, watch, save, share and review, the subject pills and filters you tap, and the subjects your searches lead to, and use them to put more of what you love first. We never store the words you search for here.
• It is used only to tailor what you see on Spiritpedia and in the discoveries we email you. It is never shown to our team, never shared and never used for advertising, and it never hides anything from you.
• You can turn it off at any time, and what we've learned is deleted straight away.

Introductions and personal discoveries by email

• If you have an explorer account, we send you a short introduction to Spiritpedia a few days after you join, and from time to time a personal edition of discoveries: people, videos and free resources we think you'll enjoy.
• We choose them from the subjects you asked for more of, what you've saved, your area if you've set one and, only if you've let Spiritpedia learn from what you explore, what you've explored. We never include anything you've saved already or asked us never to show, and nobody pays to be included.
• Every one of these emails has an unsubscribe link, and you can turn them off, or back on, at any time from that link or your account page. Emails about your account, your applications and your reviews still reach you.

When you apply or are listed — as a practitioner, channel, podcast, app, publisher or organisation

• What you give us: name, what you do, description, whether you offer sessions in person and, if so, your town, website and social links, images or logo, subjects, how you describe yourself, and contact details. Most of this appears on your public profile — that is its purpose.
• If you ask to claim a listing: which listing, and what you tell us about how you're connected to it. To confirm a request, we may email the contact address published for that listing, or ask you to place a short code on its channel or website.
• Internal notes we make while reviewing your application or profile. These are never shown publicly.

If you are a teacher we feature. Many profiles are of established teachers we feature on our own initiative. These are built from information you or your representatives have already made public: your name, biography, images, public social links, public booking or contact details and, for local practitioners, the town or city where you work. We may also email you about your profile and invite you to claim it. See section 7 for how to correct, claim or remove it.

When you contact us — your message and email address.

3. Why we use it, and our legal basis

We don't sell personal data, show advertising, or use your data to build marketing profiles.

4. Who we share it with

We use a small number of trusted providers who process data on our behalf, under contracts that protect it:

• Supabase — our database, accounts and sign-in, including the codes we email you. Your data is stored in the EU (Ireland).
• Vercel — hosts Spiritpedia. Pages are generated on its servers in the United States.
• Resend — delivers the emails we send you, from its EU region.
• Google — Google Analytics, only with your consent; Google Workspace, which holds the emails you send us; and, if you turn on notifications in the app, Firebase Cloud Messaging, which delivers them.

When you choose to interact with other services through Spiritpedia, they handle your data under their own privacy policies:

• YouTube — videos play in YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode. Opening a video page loads the player, which receives the same basic information your browser sends to any site, but YouTube doesn't store cookies on your device unless you play the video.
• Amazon, Goodreads, World of Books and course providers — when you follow a link to them.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it.

5. International transfers

Our database is in the EU, but some of our providers are based in, or use servers in, the United States. Where personal data leaves the UK or EU, it is protected by the safeguards the law requires, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the EU Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.

6. How long we keep it

• Account data, saved items and reviews — until you delete your account. You can do that yourself at any time from your account page on the website or in the app, and it takes effect immediately; or ask us to do it for you.
• Notification tokens — until you turn notifications off, sign out of the app, delete your account, or the token stops working (for example, after the app is removed). Your notification choices are kept with your account until you delete it.
• Your chosen and hidden subjects — until you change or clear them (Account → Tailor Spiritpedia in the app) or delete your account.
• Your area and your name — until you change or clear them (your area: Tailor Spiritpedia in the app, or “Change” on Practitioners Near You; your name: Account in the app) or delete your account. A position used to find your town is never kept.
• If you let Spiritpedia learn from what you explore: each thing you do is kept for 30 days; what has been learned from it is kept until you turn learning off or delete your account, when it is deleted straight away.
• Personal discovery editions — a record of what we chose for each edition we send you is kept for 12 months, so we don't repeat ourselves, then deleted. You can view an edition online for 30 days after it's sent; the page doesn't show your name. Whether you've turned these emails off is kept until you delete your account.
• Anonymous totals of what is opened, saved and searched for — 25 months. Searches that found nothing — 90 days.
• If you deleted an account linked to a public profile (a teacher's, or a publisher's), the profile stays on Spiritpedia, unclaimed. We remove the contact details and photos you added to it, and keep only a note that the account was closed and which profile it was linked to — not your email or name — so that we know to review it. Ask us if you'd like the profile removed altogether.
• Profiles (practitioners, channels, podcasts, apps, publishers and organisations) — while the profile is listed; declined applications for 12 months.
• Requests to claim a listing — 12 months after we decide them.
• Content you send us to add to your listing or change — 12 months after we decide it (or you withdraw it). An image you upload but never send is deleted within two days. What you remove from your listing is deleted straight away, with its reviews and saves; we keep a note of what was removed, when, and by whom, so it isn't added back.
• Unfinished sign-ups — the email address and choice you entered are deleted automatically within two days.
• Analytics — 2 months.
• Emails to us — as long as needed to deal with them.

7. Your rights

You can ask us to:

• give you a copy of your data
• correct anything that's wrong
• delete your data — you can also delete your account yourself, from your account page on the website or in the app
• restrict or object to how we use it — including objecting to being featured as a teacher
• send your data to you or another service in a portable format
• withdraw consent, for example to analytics cookies or app notifications, at any time

Email love@spiritpedia.co. We'll respond within one month. If you're a featured teacher and would like your profile corrected, claimed or removed, the same address works.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or to the data protection authority where you live — in Portugal, for example, the CNPD (cnpd.pt). We'd appreciate the chance to put it right first.

8. Cookies and similar storage

Spiritpedia sets no cookies of its own for visitors. Signing in, your cookie choice and your saved items use your browser's own storage. Google Analytics sets cookies only if you accept them.

You can change your choice at any time through Cookie settings at the foot of every page, or by clearing cookies and site data in your browser.

9. Age

Spiritpedia accounts are for people aged 16 and over. If you believe a younger person has given us their details, please let us know and we'll delete them.

10. Keeping data safe

We limit who and what can change data on Spiritpedia, keep account and administrative information protected on the server side, and use reputable providers. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.

11. Changes to this policy

We'll update this page when how we handle data changes, and change the date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll tell account holders by email.

12. Contact

Questions or requests about your data: love@spiritpedia.co. The rules for using Spiritpedia are in our Terms of Use.