The short version
- Your journal stays on your phone. Moods, notes, custom mood definitions, and settings live in a local database. We never receive them.
- There is no account. No sign-up, no password, no profile on a server.
- There is no analytics, advertising, or tracking SDK in the app, and none on this website.
- We do not sell, rent, or share personal data — we do not hold any to sell.
- Backups are yours. You choose whether to make one, whether to encrypt it, and where it goes.
This summary is provided for convenience. The sections below are the operative terms.
Who is responsible
MoodPixels is an independent app operated by Dhruv Saija, based in Gujarat, India. For the purposes of the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation, Dhruv Saija is the data controller for the limited processing described here. Under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Dhruv Saija acts as the data fiduciary.
You can reach us for any privacy question, request, or complaint at support@dhruvsaija.in.
What stays on your device
The following are created by you and stored locally in an app-private SQLite database. They are not transmitted to us or to anyone else, and they are removed when you uninstall the app or clear its data:
- Mood entries: the date, the moods you logged, and the order you put them in.
- Notes you attach to a day.
- Mood definitions: labels, colors, faces, sort order, and which built-in moods you have edited or archived.
- Your profile face and the accent color derived from it.
- Preferences: theme, week start, reminder time, backup reminder, and whether the app lock is on.
Because there is no cloud journal, there is no server-side copy of any of this for us to access, disclose, or be compelled to produce.
What we do not collect
To be unambiguous, MoodPixels does not:
- collect your name, email address, or phone number in the app;
- include an analytics, telemetry, attribution, or crash-reporting SDK;
- display advertising or embed advertising identifiers;
- track you across other apps or websites;
- read your contacts, location, calendar, photos, or files; or
- sell, rent, or trade personal data.
The app makes no network requests to any server operated by us, because we operate no such server. Every core feature — logging, notes, statistics, and browsing your history — works with the device offline.
Backups you create
You can export your journal as a JSON file. Exporting is always something you initiate; the app never backs up on its own or in the background.
When you set a passphrase, the file is encrypted on your device before it is written: the key is derived with PBKDF2-SHA256 at 100,000 iterations using a random salt, the contents are encrypted with AES-256 in CBC mode, and an HMAC-SHA256 tag is stored so tampering is detected on import. The passphrase itself is never stored, never transmitted, and never recoverable — if you lose it, that backup is permanently unreadable, including by us.
You choose the destination through your device’s share sheet. Once the file leaves the app, it is governed by whatever service or storage you send it to, and that provider’s own privacy practices apply. An unencrypted backup is plain, readable text; we strongly recommend a passphrase if the file will pass through cloud storage, email, or a messaging app.
Updates, testing, and third parties
MoodPixels itself has no backend, but two services are involved in getting the app onto your phone and keeping it current. Neither one receives your journal entries, notes, or mood data.
Expo Application Services (app updates)
Installed builds check for over-the-air JavaScript updates from Expo’s update service. To deliver an update, that service necessarily processes technical request information such as your IP address, app version, and runtime version. This is operated by Expo (650 Industries, Inc.) under its own privacy policy.
Firebase App Distribution (preview testing)
The Android preview is distributed through Firebase App Distribution, a Google service. If you join the preview, you provide an email address to Google in order to be invited and to download builds, and Google processes device and installation information to deliver them. That email address identifies you as a tester; it is not linked to anything inside your journal, which never leaves your device. Google’s handling of that data is governed by its own privacy policy.
If you would rather not be identified as a tester, simply do not join the preview programme.
Device permissions
Every permission is optional, requested only in context, and refusable without losing core use:
- Notifications — used only for the optional daily reminder and backup reminder you schedule yourself. Reminders are scheduled locally; no push service is involved.
- Photos / media library — requested only at the moment you choose to save a generated image of your mood grid to your gallery. The app does not read your existing photos.
- Biometrics — if you enable the app lock, authentication is performed by Android. The app receives only a success or failure result; your fingerprint or face data is never available to it.
This website
moodpixels.dhruvsaija.in is a static site hosted on GitHub Pages. It sets no cookies, runs no analytics or advertising scripts, and has no comment system, contact form, or login.
As with any web host, GitHub processes standard server request information — including your IP address and user agent — in order to serve the page and protect the service. That processing is governed by GitHub’s privacy statement. Fonts are bundled and served from this domain, so visiting the site does not issue requests to a third-party font provider.
Legal bases for processing
Where the GDPR applies, the limited processing described above rests on our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) in securely distributing and maintaining the app and in operating this website, and on performance of our agreement with you (Article 6(1)(b)) where you have asked for the app or an update. Where consent is the appropriate basis — device permissions such as notifications — consent is requested at the point of use and can be withdrawn at any time in your device settings.
Where India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 applies, processing is carried out for the specified lawful purposes set out in this notice.
Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to processing of your personal data, to data portability, and to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.
In practice, most of these are exercised directly in the app rather than by asking us, because we hold nothing to give you: your entries are on your device, you can edit or delete any of them, export them in a portable JSON format, turn reminders and the app lock off, and remove everything by clearing the app’s data or uninstalling it.
For anything involving the preview programme — for example removing your tester email address — write to support@dhruvsaija.in and we will action it, and pass on any request that must be handled by Google or Expo. We aim to respond within 30 days.
Retention
Journal data is retained on your device for as long as you keep it, and is deleted when you delete it or uninstall the app. We do not hold copies, so there is nothing for us to retain or purge. Tester records held by Firebase App Distribution persist for as long as you remain enrolled in the preview. Support email is kept only as long as needed to resolve your query and to keep a record of the exchange.
Security
Your journal is stored in app-private storage, which Android isolates from other applications. You can add a biometric lock, and you can encrypt any backup you create with a passphrase as described above.
No system is perfectly secure, and some risks sit outside the app: a rooted or compromised device, a device without a screen lock, or an unencrypted backup stored somewhere insecure. Keeping your device updated and lock-protected does more for the safety of your journal than anything the app can do on its own.
Age requirement
MoodPixels is intended for people aged 18 and over. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you are under 18, please do not use the app or join the preview programme.
Changes to this policy
We will update this policy when the app’s data practices change. The current version is always posted on this page with a revised date at the top. Where a change materially reduces your privacy, we will make it prominent in the app or in the release notes rather than relying on you to re-read this page.
Contact and grievances
Privacy questions, requests, and complaints can be sent to support@dhruvsaija.in. Dhruv Saija, of Gujarat, India, acts as the point of contact for grievances under applicable Indian data-protection law.
If you are in the EEA or the UK and you are not satisfied with our response, you also have the right to complain to your local data-protection supervisory authority.