Privacy policy
Last updated 14 October 2026
PausePal pairs adults with a meditation pal for live video sits. This policy explains what we collect, why, who helps us run PausePal, how long we keep things and what you can do about it. It covers the website at pausepal.co and the PausePal apps for Android and iPhone, which show the same service.
PausePal is run by Aditya Aswani in New York, USA (“we”). Questions or requests: hello@pausepal.co.
The short version
- We collect what we need to pair you and run your sits: your first name, email, time zone, times and preferences, and your attendance.
- Sit video and audio go directly between you and your pal, encrypted. Nobody records or listens to them, including us.
- We don't sell your data, show ads or use advertising trackers.
- Your pal sees your first name, your video in sits, whether you came to your shared sits, and any note you add when you ask to move a sit. Your pal never sees your email address unless you give it to them yourself.
- You can delete your account at any time in Settings, and everything tied to you goes with it.
What we collect and why
Name and email address
Your first name and the email address you sign up with.
Why: To create your account, sign you in with emailed links, introduce you to your pal, and send sit emails and calendar invites. Your pal never receives your email address: each calendar invite is addressed only to the person who gets it, and names your pal by first name.
Kept: Until you delete your account.
Account ID
A number that identifies your account, stored in a sign-in cookie on your device.
Why: To keep you signed in (for up to 30 days per device).
Kept: Until you delete your account or sign out.
Time zone and availability
Your time zone, the weekly times you can sit, how many sits a week and how long.
Why: To find a pal whose times overlap with yours and schedule your sits.
Kept: Until you delete your account.
Gender identity and partner preference (optional)
Only if you choose to tell us: your gender identity, the gender you'd prefer your pal to be, and whether that is a must.
Why: Matching only. Your pal is not shown these answers.
Kept: Until you change them or delete your account.
Your practice record
Your matches, sit times, when you joined each sit, minutes late, completed sits, missed sits, streaks and a reliability score.
Why: To run sits, pair reliable people with each other, end a match after two missed sits in a row, and show you your progress.
Kept: Until you delete your account.
Things you write
Your intention and notes on the join form, feedback, an optional testimonial you agree to publish, reasons you give for wanting a different pal, notes on a change of sit time, answers to "How was the sit?", and reports about another member.
Why: To run the service, answer you, improve PausePal, keep members safe, and publish a testimonial only if you said yes.
Kept: Until you delete your account. Notes in "How was the sit?" answers are deleted after 180 days and the answers after 2 years.
Device push token
Only if you turn on reminders on a device: a push address or token for that device, and its browser or app name.
Why: To send sit reminders to that device.
Kept: Until you turn reminders off, sign out on that device, the device stops accepting them, or you delete your account.
App activity and analytics
Simple events in our own database (for example "signed in" or "joined a sit", with ids but never your words), and page views and page speed measured by Cloudflare Web Analytics, which uses no cookies and does not track you across sites.
Why: To understand which parts of PausePal work and fix the parts that don't.
Kept: Our events: until you delete your account, then kept without your ID. Cloudflare Web Analytics: aggregated by Cloudflare.
Crash logs and diagnostics
Error reports from the website and app (what broke, the page, the browser or device type), sent to Sentry with personal details switched off. Call-quality numbers from sits (connection type, packet loss, delay; never audio or video) if we turn that measurement on.
Why: To find and fix bugs and keep video sits working.
Kept: Sentry: up to 90 days. Call-quality numbers: 90 days.
Sit video and audio
The app asks for your camera and microphone only to run live sits. Video and audio travel directly between you and your pal, encrypted (WebRTC with DTLS-SRTP). When your networks can't connect directly, Cloudflare relays the encrypted stream without being able to see it. Nothing is recorded or stored. Microphones mute automatically during the silent meditation. You can sit with your camera off.
What we don't collect
No precise location (only the time zone you choose, and the country described under PausePal updates if you say yes to updates at sign-up), no contacts, photos, files or calendar, no health data, no payment details, no recordings, and no advertising IDs.
Emails we send
We send sign-in links, match and sit emails with calendar invites, reminders, and a short email at the end of your program about supporting PausePal by donation (one click turns it off). We keep a record of each email (address, subject, time); the body is cleared after 30 days. Sign-in links work once and expire after 30 minutes.
PausePal updates (mailing list)
Joining from the “Get updates” box on this site subscribes you straight away and sends you one welcome email. If you register for PausePal, the last step of the join form has a box that adds you to the list when you first sign in with your emailed link; leave it unticked and you are not added. The box is ticked by default in the United States and unticked elsewhere, including when we can't tell your country from your connection. You can change this any time in Settings. We then send occasional product news. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing stops updates only; emails about your account and your sits continue. We stop emailing an address that hard-bounces or marks one of our emails as spam. We store your email address, how you joined the list (sign-up, Settings or the website box), the time you consented and your language, in our database and in Resend, the service that sends our email. If you tick or keep the sign-up box, we also keep, in our database only, the country your connection came from when the form opened (it set the box's default). To have this data removed, email hello@pausepal.co and we'll remove it from the list and from our email provider.
Who helps us run PausePal
These companies process data for us, only to provide their service to PausePal, under their data processing terms. We don't share your data with anyone else, except if the law requires it or to protect someone's safety.
- Cloudflare (Database in Western Europe; network worldwide): Hosts the website, app and database; relays sit video when a direct connection is not possible (encrypted, never recorded); runs Cloudflare Web Analytics.
- Resend (United States): Sends our emails (sign-in links, sit emails, reminders, PausePal updates).
- Migadu (Switzerland and the European Union): Receives and stores email you send to hello@pausepal.co.
- Sentry (Germany): Error and crash reports.
- Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) and your browser's push service (United States and worldwide): Deliver reminder notifications to devices where you turned them on.
- Anthropic (United States): Only when we switch on AI-drafted emails (currently off): helps write your pal introduction and reminder emails. It receives first names, the experience level and intention you wrote, the sit length and sit times, never your email address. Anthropic does not train its models on this data.
- Stripe (United States): Takes donations on our website. You pay on Stripe's page; we never see your card details. Stripe shares the donor name, email and amount with us.
Some providers are in the United States. Where the law requires it, transfers are covered by the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.
Cookies and similar storage
We use a sign-in cookie (30 days), a cookie that remembers which device has reminders on, and your browser's storage for your theme choice and reminder setting. They are needed for the service to work. We use no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies, and Cloudflare Web Analytics sets none.
Security
Everything travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Sign-in links are stored only as a one-way hash. To stop abuse, we count sign-up and sign-in attempts per email address and IP address for up to 2 days. Access to the admin tools is limited to the people who run PausePal.
Safety reports
If you report another member, we store your report with both accounts so we can look into it. The member you report is not told who reported them or what you wrote. We may end matches or close accounts that break our rules.
Deleting your account
Go to Settings → Delete account in the app or on the website. Deletion happens at once and signs you out everywhere. It removes your account and everything tied to it: name, email, time zone, times and preferences, attendance and streaks, things you wrote, reports you made, devices registered for reminders, and your PausePal updates subscription. If you have a pal, your sits together are cancelled and they are matched with someone new; they are not told why. Reports other members made about you are kept for safety, no longer linked to your account. Database backups roll off within 30 days, and copies of emails already sent may stay with our email provider for up to 30 days. Can't sign in? Email hello@pausepal.co from the address you signed up with and we will delete it within 30 days, usually much sooner. Step by step: pausepal.co/delete-account.
Your rights
You can see and change most of your details in Settings, and delete your account at any time. You can also ask us for a copy of your data, to correct it, to restrict or object to how we use it, or to delete it, by emailing hello@pausepal.co. We answer within 30 days. Depending on where you live (for example the EU, the UK or California) you may have further rights under local law, including complaining to your data protection authority. We do not sell or share personal information for advertising.
Where EU or UK law applies, we use your data because we need it to provide the service you asked for (account, matching, sits, emails), because of our legitimate interest in keeping PausePal safe and working (security, error reports, analytics, safety reports), or with your consent (optional gender details, reminders on a device, PausePal updates), which you can withdraw at any time.
Adults only
PausePal is for people 18 and over; everyone confirms this when they join. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone younger. If you think someone under 18 has an account, tell us at hello@pausepal.co and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
We'll update the date at the top when this policy changes, and email account holders before any change that affects how we use their data.
Contact
Aditya Aswani, New York, USA. Mailing address: 9169 W State St #4486, Garden City, ID 83714, USA. hello@pausepal.co. Support.