privacy

Last updated: June 22, 2026 · Applies to: Pearlz closed beta (TestFlight)

Pearlz is a daily wellness journal that happens to track your cycle. This policy explains, plainly, what the app collects, where it goes, and what stays on your phone. Pearlz is built privacy-first, so most of the answer is: it stays on your phone.

Pearlz is operated by Johanna Weber, who trades under the name "Cool Girl Apps." Johanna Weber is the person legally responsible for the app and, for the purposes of the GDPR, is the data controller. Throughout this policy, "we" and "us" refer to Johanna Weber, trading as Cool Girl Apps.

For any questions about this policy, contact privacy@coolgirlapps.com.

1. Who this applies to

This is a closed beta released through Apple TestFlight. Pearlz is intended for people 17 and older. Please do not use it if you are under 17.

2. What Pearlz collects

Data you choose to log (stays on your device)

When you use Pearlz, you can log things about your day and your cycle. Depending on what you choose to track, this can include cycle dates and period flow, mood and energy, body symptoms and pain levels, sleep, movement and fitness, supplements, and free-form lifestyle notes and reflections. We refer to this throughout as your personal tracking data.

A note on the legal side: even though Pearlz is a wellness journal rather than a medical app, privacy laws such as the GDPR, along with Apple's own guidelines, treat menstrual cycle information as sensitive health data. We agree that it is sensitive — which is precisely why we keep it on your device. We hold this data to the higher standard those rules require, regardless of how casual the app feels to use.

Where it is stored: All of this is saved locally on your phone using Apple's on-device storage (SwiftData / SQLite). It is not uploaded to any server we run. We have no copy of it.

Voice tracking data

If you use the voice tracking feature:

• Your speech is converted to text on your device using Apple's built-in Speech framework. The audio itself is processed locally and is not stored or sent anywhere.
• The resulting text transcript is then sent to our AI processing service (described in section 3) so it can be organized into structured entries.
• The raw transcript is saved on your device as your record of what you said.

Usage analytics (anonymous)

We use PostHog to understand how the app is used — for example, which features people open, whether a screen loads correctly, and where the app might be confusing or broken. This is important for fixing bugs during the beta.

• Analytics capture usage events only — taps, screen views, feature interactions, and basic technical and device information.
• Analytics do not capture the content of what you track. Your moods, symptoms, notes, and cycle data are never sent to PostHog.
• We do not link analytics to your identity, because Pearlz has no accounts and no identifying information about you.

Your choice: You can opt out of analytics. During the beta we will honor opt-out requests sent to privacy@coolgirlapps.com, and we are adding an in-app analytics toggle. If you opt out, the app's core tracking features work exactly the same.

What we do not collect

• No name, email, phone number, or login. There are no user accounts.
• No advertising identifiers, and we do not run ads.
• No location tracking.
• No contacts, and no access to your other apps.

3. When data leaves your device, and where it goes

Pearlz is built so that your tracking data stays local. The only routine exception is voice tracking. Here is the full path:

1. You speak; your phone transcribes it locally into text.
2. That text transcript is sent over an encrypted connection to a small relay we operate (a Vercel-hosted proxy). The relay's only job is to securely forward the request — it does not keep a database of your entries.
3. The transcript is processed by Anthropic's Claude API, which reads the text and returns it organized into structured categories, along with your words kept verbatim.
4. The structured result comes back to your device and is saved locally.

About the AI processing: Anthropic processes the transcript to generate the structured output and short reflections. Anthropic's own data handling and retention policies apply to that processing. You can review them at anthropic.com. We send only the text transcript needed for this feature — never analytics data, and never your broader on-device history.

If you never use voice tracking, your tracking data never leaves your phone at all.

4. Third-party services we rely on

Each of these has its own privacy policy governing how it handles the data it receives.

5. How your data is protected

• Tracking data is stored in the app's private on-device storage, protected by your device's own security (passcode / Face ID / Touch ID and iOS app sandboxing).
• Data sent for voice processing travels over encrypted (HTTPS) connections.
• Because we do not run a database of your tracking data, there is no central store of it for anyone to breach.

No system is perfectly secure, and this is beta software, but keeping data local is the strongest privacy choice we can make.

6. Your rights and choices

Because everything lives on your device, you are largely in direct control:

• Access and review: Open the app — it is all there.
• Correct or edit: Edit or delete any entry inside the app.
• Delete everything: Uninstall Pearlz. That removes all local data permanently. There is no server-side copy for us to hold or delete.
• Opt out of analytics: Use the in-app toggle (rolling out during beta) or email privacy@coolgirlapps.com.

If you are in the EU/EEA or UK (GDPR): You have rights to access, rectify, erase, restrict, and port your personal data, and to object to its processing. For on-device data, you exercise most of these directly in the app. For anything involving our analytics or the voice-processing relay, contact privacy@coolgirlapps.com and we will respond. Our lawful bases: we process your sensitive tracking data on the basis of your explicit consent (you choose to log it and to use voice features); analytics, where used, rely on consent as well. You can withdraw consent at any time. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

If you are in California (CCPA/CPRA): You have the right to know what personal information is collected, to delete it, and to opt out of its "sale" or "sharing." We do not sell or share your personal information, and we do not use it for cross-context behavioral advertising. To exercise your rights, email privacy@coolgirlapps.com.

7. Children's privacy

Pearlz is for people 17 and older. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 17. If you believe someone under 17 has used the app, contact privacy@coolgirlapps.com and we will address it.

8. International processing

The AI processing described in section 3 may occur on servers located outside your country, including in the United States. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards for such international transfers. Only the voice transcript text needed for that feature is involved.

9. Changes to this policy

This is beta software and the app is evolving, so this policy may change. We will update the "Last updated" date at the top, and for material changes we will surface a notice in the app.

10. Contact

Johanna Weber, trading as Cool Girl Apps
privacy@coolgirlapps.com

Pearlz is a wellness journaling app, not a medical device. See our Terms of Service for what that means.