privacy policy

Who we are

Gathered Home & Kin, based in Minnesota, USA, runs Making a Home — the app, website, and member library. We're the ones responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

Questions or requests about your information: email us any time (address at the bottom of this page).

Information you give us

You don't have to give us anything beyond an email address and password to create an account, and you can use the app without ever joining our email list.

• Your account: name and email address, plus a password (stored only as an encrypted hash, never as plain text).
• Your membership: plan type, purchase and renewal dates, and whether your access is active.
• Your use of the app: The Home Audit answers you submit, the home plan you save, and the templates you mark as favorites.
• Anything you email us about — a question, a billing issue, a request.

Information from your payment provider

When you buy a membership, Stripe handles the card details — we never see or store full card numbers.

We do receive and keep what we need to run your account: your Stripe customer ID, the plan and amount, purchase and renewal dates, payment status, and the last four digits, expiry month/year, and billing country of the card used.

Information collected automatically

When you use the app we collect basic technical information: your device and browser type, whether you installed the app to your home screen, which pages and templates you open, your progress through The Home Audit, and standard server logs (IP address, referring page, timestamps).

We use this to keep the service secure, fix problems, and understand which templates are actually being used. We don't run advertising trackers or third-party ad cookies in the app.

How we use your information

We use your information to run the service you signed up for. We don't build advertising profiles about you.

• To give you access and deliver your files.
• To show your saved plan and favorites, and to keep your Home Audit results.
• To process payments, receipts, renewals, cancellations, upgrades, refunds and disputes.
• To keep the app secure and stop files or logins from being shared.
• To reply when you contact us.
• To send marketing emails — only if you opted in.
• To improve the library and figure out what to build next.

Email & marketing

You only land on our email list if you tick the opt-in box — for example when you ask us to mail you your Home Audit results. When you do, we record that you consented and when.

Marketing emails are sent through Drry. Every email has an unsubscribe link you can use instantly, and you can also email us and we'll take you off the list.

Your membership works exactly the same whether or not you're on the list.

Where your information lives & who we share it with

Your account and content are hosted on secure cloud infrastructure in the United States.

We share information only with the companies that help us run things: Stripe (payments), Drry (email), Canva (template editing), Wix (our main website), and Google (web fonts and app delivery). Each is bound by its own contract and privacy policy, and we don't allow them to use your information for their own advertising.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

We may disclose information if we're required to by law, to enforce these terms, or to protect the rights, safety, and property of Gathered Home & Kin or others.

Cookies & browser storage

The app stores a sign-in session in your browser so you stay logged in between visits, and remembers small preferences such as your most recent Home Audit result.

None of this is used for advertising. You can sign out or clear your browser data at any time — clearing it just signs you out and clears your local copy.

How long we keep your information

Account, plan, and library information stays while your account is open.

Purchase and receipt records are kept as long as financial and tax record-keeping rules require, which is typically several years.

Your Home Audit answers and saved plan stay until you retake the audit, delete them, or close your account.

Marketing consent records are kept until you unsubscribe, plus a short period so we can honor the request.

Your choices & rights

You can ask us for a copy of what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it.

You can withdraw marketing consent at any time, and ask us to restrict or stop processing your information.

To make a request, email us from the address on your account so we can confirm it's really you. We'll respond within 30 days.

You can also handle most of this yourself in the app: unmark favorites, retake The Home Audit, or update your name and password on your account page.

If you live in California, the EEA, the UK, or another region with specific privacy rights, you have the equivalent rights there — including the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

How we protect your information

The app runs over an encrypted connection, passwords are hashed rather than stored, member files sit in private storage that only hands out short-lived signed links, and access to systems is limited to people who need it.

No method of storage is perfectly secure, so we can't promise absolute security — but we take it seriously and review it as the app grows.

Children

Making a Home is for adults 18 and older and isn't directed at children. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 18 — if you believe a child has given us information, email us and we'll delete it.

Outside the United States

We're based in Minnesota and your information is processed in the United States. If you use the app from elsewhere, that means your information is transferred to and processed in the US.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in a meaningful way we'll update the date below, and where it makes sense we'll tell you in the app or by email.

How to reach us

Gathered Home & Kin · Minnesota, USA — email us for anything on this page: a copy of your data, a deletion request, or an unsubscribe that isn't working.