Privacy Policy

BERFO (“BERFO,” “we,” “us”) is built by Berforia LLC. This policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, and — just as importantly — what we deliberately don’t collect or can’t see. BERFO is currently available in the United States only, for users age 13 and older.

The short version

BERFO is built on end-to-end, zero-knowledge encryption. The content you store in BERFO — notes about the people in your life, reminders, relationship details — is encrypted on your device before it ever reaches our servers. Our servers only ever see scrambled, unreadable data. We designed it this way on purpose: even if someone gained access to our systems, or if we wanted to look, the substance of what you write is not something we can read.

Information we collect

We collect the minimum we need to run the service and keep your account secure:

• Account information — your name, email or Apple ID, and a device-generated credential we use to sign you in.
• Age verification — at signup, you tell us your birthdate so we can confirm you meet our 13+ minimum age. We don’t store your actual birthdate — we store a one-way cryptographic hash of it instead, so even in the event of a data breach, your real birthdate can’t be recovered from what we keep. This is one concrete example of how we try to minimize what we store everywhere in BERFO, not just here.
• Encrypted content — the notes, relationship details, and reminders you create in the app. This is stored on our servers only as ciphertext we cannot read.
• Basic technical data — things like app version, device type, and crash reports, which help us keep BERFO working. We may use limited, privacy-respecting analytics and crash-reporting tools for this purpose. We do not use the content of what you write in BERFO for analytics of any kind.
• Payment status — whether you’re subscribed to BERFO Plus. Your actual payment card details are never sent to or stored by us — see “Payments” below.

Account recovery

Because your content is encrypted in a way that even we can’t read, losing access to your account is a real risk worth taking seriously — so BERFO gives you a few ways to recover it if you lose your device:

• iCloud Keychain (on by default) — by default, your recovery key is protected using your iPhone’s iCloud Keychain, which is Apple’s own encrypted credential system. This means Apple’s account security practices — including your Apple ID password and two-factor authentication — become part of your account’s recovery chain. For the strongest protection, we recommend turning on Apple’s “Advanced Data Protection for iCloud” setting. You can find current instructions by searching Apple Support for “Advanced Data Protection.”
• Self-managed recovery phrase — you can also set up a 12-word recovery phrase that only you control. BERFO never stores this phrase in a usable or readable form — if you lose it, we cannot recover it for you.
• Trusted person — you can designate someone you trust who can help you recover your account after a waiting period (72 hours by default). The waiting period exists so that a single stolen phone or compromised login can’t be used to hijack your account instantly.

Whenever a recovery attempt happens on your account, BERFO notifies your other signed-in devices, so you’ll know if someone else tries.

What we don’t do

• We do not sell your personal data to third parties.
• We do not use your relationship notes or personal content for ad targeting.
• We do not run behavioral advertising.
• We cannot read the substance of your encrypted content, by design — not “we choose not to,” but the system is built so we structurally can’t.

Payments

BERFO Plus purchases are processed entirely through Apple’s App Store and StoreKit. BERFO does not receive or store your payment card details — Apple handles all billing directly.

Age requirements and children’s privacy

BERFO is intended for users age 13 and older, and is only available in the United States. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. Because our minimum age is 13, BERFO is not directed at children under 13, and we design our signup flow — including the birthdate hash described above — to keep it that way.

Deleting your data

You can delete your account and your data from within the app, from Settings. If you need help, email us and we’ll walk you through it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we’ll let you know through the app or by email before they take effect.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data? Email privacy@getberfo.com.