Privacy Policy

Version 2.3 — Last updated: 19 September 2026. Covers the OutingOwl service. This policy forms part of our Terms of Use.

In short

• We collect what we need to suggest weekend outings for your family — your suburb, budget, transport, and preferences, plus your kids' ages (in months, so suggestions fit their stage). We never collect your children's names, birthdates, or photos.
• We never publish your children's details anywhere, and we never share them with anyone outside OutingOwl.
• If you turn on the social features, your weekend availability is only visible to a friend when you've both opted in for that slot — one-sided visibility never happens.
• Shared plan links show only the activity and time to people without an account — never your surname, exact address, or your children's names.
• If you connect Google Calendar, we only ever see free/busy time blocks, never event titles, guests, or locations.
• You can browse without an account. Choosing "Skip for now" creates an anonymous session tied to your device — no name, email, suburb, or children's details. We only ask for your agreement to this policy, and only store anything personal, when you choose to save something (lock in an outing, add your details, or use circles and sharing).
• You sign in with a Google account or an emailed code. Google and our email provider (Resend) see only what that needs — never your children's details or your plans.
• The optional map view loads street-map tiles from TomTom; like any map, that means TomTom sees your device's IP address and the area you're looking at, and nothing else about you.
• We don't sell your data, run ad trackers, or use your information to advertise to you.
• A third-party AI provider (currently Groq, processing in the United States) helps generate your activity suggestions; under our API terms it does not use your data to train its models.
• You can access, correct, or delete your data — including your children's details and any share links — any time.

Who we are

OutingOwl is run under Aftos, operated by a solo Melbourne-based founder, as a small Australian business (outing-owl.com). We build a weekend-activity concierge for parents of toddlers. This policy explains what we collect, why, and what control you have over it.

If you have questions about this policy or your data, contact agent-family@aftos.ai.

What we collect

Account and profile

When you create an account we collect:

• Display name
• Email address — verified either by a one-time code we email you, or through Google sign-in. With Google sign-in we also store the account identifier Google gives us so we can recognise you next time; we never see your Google password. One email address is one OutingOwl account.
• Home suburb and postcode (used to find nearby activities)
• Budget per outing
• Preferred transport mode
• Indoor/outdoor preference

Browsing without an account

If you choose "Skip for now", we create an anonymous session for your device instead of an account. It holds no name, email, phone number, suburb, postcode, or children's details, and you have not agreed to anything yet. Against that anonymous session we keep only what makes browsing work: the weekend time slots you pick, the suggestions we showed you, and any budget, transport, or indoor/outdoor preference you tell the chat. The first time you save something personal — locking in an outing, adding your suburb or kids' ages, rating an outing, or using circles, sharing, notifications, or calendar connection — we ask for your agreement first, and the same session becomes your account. You can delete an anonymous session from Profile just like an account.

Your children's details

We ask for each child's age, in months — that's it. We deliberately don't ask for names, nicknames, birthdates, photos, or any other identifying detail, because we only need enough to suggest age-appropriate activities.

Your children's details:

• Are never shared with any third party.
• Are never shown on any page that doesn't require you to be logged in.
• Are never used for anything except tailoring suggestions to your kids' ages.

Sign-in providers

• Google sign-in. If you use it, Google learns that you signed in to OutingOwl and shares your name, email address and account identifier with us, under Google's own privacy policy. We ask for nothing beyond those basics.
• Email codes and circle emails are delivered by Resend, which processes your email address and the message content on servers in the United States. Sign-in codes expire within minutes.

Map view (optional)

If you open the map, your browser fetches street-map tiles directly from our map provider, currently TomTom. As with any online map, TomTom receives your device's IP address and the map area you're viewing. We send TomTom nothing else — no account details, no children's details, no plans, no search history — and activity pins are drawn by your browser from our own data, not sent to TomTom.

Community suggestions and problem reports

If you suggest an activity or report a problem with one, we store the contribution together with your account identifier so our curators can review it and, where needed, follow up. Published activities never show who suggested or reported them.

Weekend blocks and plans

We store which of your four weekend slots are open or locked, and — for locked slots — the venue, date, and time you've chosen.

Recommendations and feedback

We record which suggestions you accept or reject, why (if you tell us), and any feedback you give after an outing. We use this to train a small ranking model that personalises future suggestions to your family. This model learns from your own feedback — it isn't shared across other users' identities, and it isn't sold or licensed to anyone.

Social features (circles, availability sharing, share links)

These features are opt-in and being rolled out — this section describes how they work once enabled for your account.

• Open-to-company marks. You can mark a weekend block as open to company. That mark is only ever visible to people in your circles, and only when there's a mutual overlap — a friend never sees that you're open unless they've marked the same or an overlapping slot as open too. One-sided visibility is not possible by design.
• Share links. When you share a plan, we generate an unguessable link. Anyone who opens it before signing in sees coarse details only — the activity and the time slot. They never see your surname, an exact address, or your children's names. You can revoke a share link at any time, and links expire automatically.
• Circles. Joining a circle requires mutual opt-in from both people. Circle membership is never broadcast to anyone outside the circle. You can leave a circle or remove someone from yours at any time.

Calendar connection (optional)

If you connect Google Calendar, we request free/busy access only. That means we can see which times you're busy or free — we never see event titles, guest lists, or locations.

If you instead paste a calendar link (an ICS URL) as an alternative to connecting Google Calendar directly: please be aware that, depending on your calendar provider's settings, that link may expose event details (titles, locations, guests) to anyone who has the link, including us. If you paste one:

• We store it encrypted.
• We never log its contents.
• We poll it roughly once a day (not continuously).
• You can disconnect it at any time from your account settings.
• You can also regenerate the link with your calendar provider to cut off our access without visiting OutingOwl at all.

You can disconnect any calendar connection at any time.

Notifications

We send web push notifications — primarily a Wednesday nudge to plan your weekend, which may also include overlap proposals from your circles. Push notifications are opt-in, and you can revoke permission at any time in your browser or device settings.

Analytics

We keep a first-party event log of product usage — for example, that a share link was created, viewed, or joined. We do not use third-party ad trackers, and we do not sell your data or use it for ad targeting, on OutingOwl or anywhere else.

AI processing

Activity ranking and chat responses are generated using a third-party AI (large language model) provider — currently Groq, which processes this content on servers in the United States. We send your chat messages and relevant profile context (like your preferences and your kids' ages) to generate suggestions; we don't include your contact details in these requests unless you type them into the chat yourself. Under our API terms, this data is not used to train our providers' models. If we change AI providers, we'll update this policy.

Technical logs

Like most apps, we automatically record technical logs — request timestamps, error logs, and basic device/browser information — to operate, secure, and troubleshoot the service.

Cookies and local storage

The consumer app sets one session cookie when you sign in or choose to browse without an account, so we know it's you on each request; it carries no personal details and expires when your session does. It also keeps a device identifier and your draft answers in your browser's localStorage so we can recognise you on return visits. We use no advertising or cross-site cookies. Our internal curator dashboard (used only by us) sets its own session cookie to keep our team signed in.

Why we use your data

We only use your data for purposes that are directly related to running OutingOwl:

• Generating and ranking weekend activity suggestions for your family
• Remembering your plans and weekend blocks
• Improving suggestions over time using your own feedback (not anyone else's identity)
• Enabling the social features you opt into (circles, availability overlap, share links)
• Sending you the notifications you've opted into
• Understanding product usage in aggregate, to improve OutingOwl
• Keeping your account secure and responding to support requests

We do not use your data for anything outside these purposes.

Where it's stored

OutingOwl's servers are hosted in Singapore, with our infrastructure provider Hetzner. Chat and suggestion content is additionally processed by our AI provider (currently Groq) on servers in the United States, as described under AI processing. Sign-in codes and circle emails go through Resend (United States), Google sign-in goes through Google, and map tiles come from TomTom, each of which receives only what the relevant section above describes. Because this means your data is handled outside Australia, here's what we do about it:

• We use a reputable hosting provider operating under GDPR-grade data protection terms.
• Data is encrypted at rest.
• Access to production systems is restricted.
• As the operator of OutingOwl, we remain accountable for how your data is handled regardless of where it's stored.

Who can see what

This is the section that matters most if you use the social features, so we're spelling it out plainly:

• Your children's details are visible only to you. Never to friends, never to circle members, never on any public or unauthenticated page.
• Your weekend availability is private by default. If you mark a block as open to company, it becomes visible to a circle member only if they've also marked an overlapping block as open. Nobody sees a one-sided "I'm open" signal.
• Shared plan links show the activity and time slot to anyone with the link — nothing more — until they sign in. Your surname, exact address, and your children's names are never included.
• Circle membership is only visible to people in that circle, and only after both sides have opted in.
• Suggestions and feedback are used to personalise your own account and are not shown to other users.

What we never do

• We never sell your data.
• We never run third-party ad trackers or use your data for ad targeting.
• We never send invitations, messages, or share links to anyone on your behalf without you taking the action.
• We never read your calendar event titles, guests, or locations through the Google Calendar connection — only free/busy time.
• We never show your children's names, ages, or any other detail on an unauthenticated page.
• We don't, and can't, vet, screen, or guarantee the safety of other users, venues, or meetups arranged through OutingOwl. OutingOwl is a coordination tool that helps you plan and share outings — it is not a safety or background-check service, and using it doesn't imply that anyone or anywhere has been checked or approved by us.

Your choices and rights

You can, at any time:

• Access the data we hold about you and your family.
• Correct any inaccurate information.
• Delete your account and all associated data — including your children's details and revoking every share link you've created. Today this is available on request by emailing agent-family@aftos.ai; an in-app self-service option is planned.
• Disconnect your calendar connection at any time.
• Unsubscribe from push notifications at any time, from your browser or device settings.
• Leave or manage circles, removing yourself or others whenever you like.
• Revoke any share link individually.

Data retention

We keep your data for as long as your account is active, so we can keep providing suggestions and remembering your plans. If you delete your account, we delete your data, including your children's details, and revoke all outstanding share links. We may retain minimal records where we're required to by law, kept no longer than necessary.

Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect your data, including encryption at rest, restricted access to production systems, and encrypted storage of sensitive items like calendar links. No system is perfectly secure, but we treat your family's data — especially anything about your children — as sensitive by default.

Data breaches

If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will assess it promptly and notify affected users as soon as practicable, along with the steps we're taking and what you can do to protect yourself.

Children

OutingOwl is a service for parents and guardians aged 18 and over. Children do not use OutingOwl directly, and we do not knowingly collect data directly from children. The limited information we hold about children (age in months — nothing else) is provided by their parent or guardian and is minimised and protected as described above.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the date at the top and, where the change is significant, let you know directly (for example, by email or in-app notice).

Complaints

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your personal information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it. If you remain unsatisfied, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.

Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns about your data: agent-family@aftos.ai.

This policy is written in plain language and has not yet been reviewed by a lawyer. It will be updated as the product and our data practices evolve.