Privacy Policy

Effective July 5, 2026

Altar holds some of the most personal things a family has. This policy explains what we collect, why, and what we will never do — written to be read, not skimmed past.

What we collect

• Account information — your name, email address, and a password (stored only in securely hashed form). If you sign in with Google, we receive your name and email from Google.
• Memorial content — the stories, photos, dates, timeline events, and other memories you and your invited family members add.
• Guestbook entries — the name and message a visitor chooses to leave on a public memorial.
• Guided conversation text — if you use the guided memorial-building conversation, the text you write in it.
• Technical basics — logs and simple first-party usage events (like "a memorial was published") that help us keep the service working. We do not use third-party advertising or cross-site trackers.

How we use it

To run Altar: showing memorials to the people you've chosen, sending the emails you'd expect (verification, invitations, notifications you can turn off), processing payments, and understanding, in aggregate, whether the product works. That's the whole list.

What we never do

• We never sell or rent your information to anyone.
• We never show advertising — not on memorials, not anywhere.
• We never use your family's memories to build or train AI models.
• We never make a private memorial visible without your action.

The guided conversation and AI

When you use the guided conversation to build a memorial, the text you write is processed by a third-party AI service so it can respond helpfully in the moment. We use it only to guide that conversation. The AI never invents facts about your loved one and never speaks as them — it only helps you organize what you share.

Who can see a memorial

• Private — you and the collaborators you invite.
• Unlisted — anyone who has the link.
• Public — anyone; the memorial may appear in our directory and in search engines.

You can change a memorial's visibility at any time, including back to private.

Services we rely on

Like any small company, we use trusted providers to operate. Each receives only what it needs to do its job:

• Hosting and database — our application and data run on cloud infrastructure in the United States.
• File storage — photos and media you upload are stored with our storage provider.
• Payments — handled by Stripe. Your card number never touches our servers.
• Email delivery — a transactional email service sends verification and notification emails.
• Sign in with Google — optional; used only for authentication.
• Bot protection and error monitoring — to keep the service safe and working.

Cookies

We use cookies only to keep you signed in and to protect forms from abuse. There are no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

Your choices

• Export — request a complete export of your memorial anytime; see our Preservation Promise.
• Notifications — every notification email can be turned off in your settings.
• Deactivation and deletion — you can deactivate your account in account settings. To permanently delete your account or a memorial's content, email support@altardigital.ai and we will handle it promptly and confirm when it's done.

Children

Altar is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information.

Changes to this policy

If we make a meaningful change, we will email account holders before it takes effect. We will never quietly weaken the promises above.

Questions, requests, or concerns: support@altardigital.ai — a human replies within one business day.