Privacy

Short version: without an account, everything you put into Semla stays on your own phone or computer. An account is optional: if you make one, we keep your email address so you can sign in, and a copy of your storages and their photos so they sync between your devices. We don't sell or share anything.

What Semla stores, and where

Your storages, boxes, things, notes, tags and photos are saved in your browser's own storage on your device. Without an account they are not sent to us. If you clear your browser's data for semlastorage.app, or uninstall the app, they are gone, which is why Semla lets you save a backup file (Settings, then Save backup file). That file is yours: it goes wherever you put it.

If you make an account

You sign in with a code sent to your email; there is no password. For that we store your email address, when the account was made, and your sign-in sessions (which device and browser, its IP address, and when it expires), so you stay signed in and can see where. The code itself is kept only until it's used or expires after 10 minutes.

While you're signed in, your storages sync between your devices: their names and room sizes, and each box and thing with its name, size, place, notes, tags and counts, with when each last changed. Removed boxes and things are remembered for 180 days, so a device that was offline doesn't bring them back. The photos of your things sync too, in the same small sizes Semla keeps on your device. When you sign in on a device that already has storages, Semla asks before adding them to your account, and you can keep them on that device only.

If you share a storage, everyone you share it with sees everything in it, its photos and your email address, and can change it. You invite someone with a link that works once, for 7 days; we keep only a fingerprint of it, not the link itself. The owner can take anyone out, and anyone can leave. When the owner deletes the storage or their account, it is deleted for everyone.

All of this is stored by Cloudflare, which runs Semla's servers, within the EU (a database, and file storage for the photos), and Cloudflare also sends the code email. It handles this only on our behalf.

You can delete your account at any time in Settings. That removes your email address, sessions and the synced copy of your storages and photos from our servers; your storages stay on your device. Signing out keeps the copy in your account, and your device's copy too.

Usage statistics

To learn which parts of Semla help and where people get stuck, the app notes a few steps you take, such as making a storage, placing a box, adding a thing or searching, and when. These notes are kept with your account on our servers in the EU and are only used to improve Semla. They never include what's in your boxes, the names you type or what you search for, they are never shared or sold, and they are deleted with your account.

When you make an account, apply to the beta or join the waitlist, we also note how you found Semla on that visit: the campaign tags in the link you came by (such as “utm_source=reddit”), the name of the website that sent you (such as reddit.com, never the full address), the first Semla page you opened and when. Until you sign up this stays only in the open page, not in a cookie or anywhere else on your device, and it's gone if you close or reload it. It's kept with your account, only used to learn which places bring people to Semla, and deleted with your account (with a beta application, when the application is deleted; on the waitlist, when you leave it).

If the app crashes, it sends us the error message, the app version, the kind of device and which page it was on, without your account or anything you stored, so we can fix it. These crash reports are kept on our servers in the EU for 30 days.

Photo lists (Semla Pro)

When you ask Semla to list what's in a photo, or to name the photos you snapped, that photo is shrunk and sent to Anthropic, the AI provider that reads it, and the list or names come back to you to check. Only the photo and the language you use Semla in are sent, nothing else from your storage or account. Anthropic handles it on our behalf: it doesn't use it to train its AI and deletes it after a limited time under its data processing terms. Anthropic is a US company; the transfer is protected by the EU's standard contractual clauses. We keep only how many photo lists your account used each month, to keep the monthly allowance. You choose each time whether to use it; snapping photos without it sends nothing anywhere.

The waitlist

If you join the waitlist, we keep your email address, the language you use, where you signed up (the website, the beta page or the app), which link brought you (as described above) and when. We use it only to email you news about Semla: the beta, the launch date and our launch offer, at most twice a month. The legal basis is your consent (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)), which you give by joining. We keep it until you unsubscribe, or, if you never buy, until 3 months after Semla launches, whichever comes first. Cloudflare stores the list in the EU and sends the emails on our behalf. To leave, use the unsubscribe link in any of our emails or write to hello@semlastorage.app. Your address is erased a day after you leave.

What we don't do

No tracking cookies and no advertising. Signing in uses one cookie, only to keep you signed in.

To count visits to the website we use Cloudflare Web Analytics. It sets no cookies, doesn't follow you across sites and doesn't keep your IP address; it only tells us totals, such as how many visits, which pages, which countries and which sites linked here.

Services that see your visit

Like any website, two services handle the request when you open Semla: Cloudflare, which hosts it, and Google Fonts, which serves the typefaces. They see technical details such as your IP address and browser, as part of delivering the page. They don't see your storages.

Camera and photos

When you snap a thing or pick a photo, it's saved on your device with that thing, made smaller first. Without an account it isn't uploaded anywhere; signed in, it syncs to your account with the thing, as above, and only you can open it.

Children

Semla isn't made for children under 13, and we don't knowingly keep an account for one. If you think we do, write to us and we'll delete it.

Your rights, changes and contact

You can ask what we hold about you, have it corrected or deleted, or take it with you. Write to hello@semlastorage.app. If this page changes, we'll update the date above. More help is on the Support page.