Privacy

Last updated 30 October 2026

erl is a small photo-sharing app for people you actually know. There’s no algorithm, no ads and no tracking. This page explains what we keep, why, and how to get rid of it.

erl is made by Ellwood Creative. Questions about your data: hello@erl.life.

What we keep, and why

• Your email address, to send you sign-in codes. We never show it to anyone.
• Your profile: username, name, bio and photo. People can find you by your username or name.
• What you post: photos, captions, alt text, comments and likes. Only people you’ve accepted as followers see your posts.
• Who you follow and who follows you.
• Messages and photos you send in chats. Only the people in that chat can read them.
• Events: title, area, time, description, cover photo, who’s invited and going, and the photos in the event album. The exact address is shown only to people who are going.
• Invite codes you make. When you text a friend an invite, you pick them with Apple’s contact picker and send the text from your own Messages app. Their name and number never reach us; we only keep the code and who made it.
• Reports and blocks, to keep people safe and to moderate.
• Your phone’s notification token, so we can send the notifications you’ve turned on.
• The agreements you accepted (which version and when), and that you confirmed you’re 18 or over.

What we don’t do

• No ads, no selling or sharing your data for marketing, and no tracking across other apps or websites.
• No access to your contacts list.
• Your photo library stays on your phone. erl shows it so you can choose a picture to share, and only the photo you share is uploaded.
• No location tracking. Photos are re-saved before they’re uploaded, which removes hidden location data.

Who else handles it

• Supabase hosts our database and photo storage in the EU (Ireland).
• Expo and Apple deliver notifications. They see the notification, not your posts; message notifications never include the message itself.
• Resend sends sign-in codes by email.

How long we keep it

We keep your information while your account exists. When you delete your account (Settings › Delete account), we delete your profile, posts, photos, comments, likes, messages and event photos straight away. Copies in our hosting provider’s backups are removed as those backups expire. Records of reports and moderation decisions may be kept longer, without your details, where that’s needed for safety.

Your rights

You can see and change your profile in the app at any time, and delete your account there. You can also ask us for a copy of your data, or ask us to correct or delete it, by emailing hello@erl.life. If you’re in the UK, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).

Children

erl is for people aged 18 and over.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, we’ll tell you in the app first.