Privacy Policy

Introduction

Tether (“we,” “us,” or “our”) is operated by TetherSpot, LLC. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and share information when you use the Tether application and related services (collectively, the “Service”) available at tetherspot.com.

We are committed to protecting your privacy. Tether is designed around the principle that your relationship data is yours alone — private by default, with opt-in sharing only.

Information We Collect

Account information

When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, and authentication credentials. You may also provide optional profile information such as your goals, interests, and professional context to personalize your experience.

Contacts and relationship data

You manually add contacts (“Seeds”) to Tether. We do not import your address book or bulk-add contacts from any source. Each contact you add includes information you choose to provide: name, email address, relationship context, notes, and goals associated with that connection.

Email data (Google and Microsoft)

If you connect your Gmail or Microsoft Outlook account, Tether accesses your email through the following permissions:

• Gmail (google.com): We request gmail.readonly and gmail.send scopes. Read access is used solely to detect replies in email threads you initiate through Tether — this is how we know when a contact has responded to your reach-out. Send access allows you to compose and send emails to your contacts directly from within Tether.
• Microsoft Outlook (microsoft.com): We request Mail.Read, Mail.Send, Calendars.ReadWrite, offline_access, and User.Read scopes. These serve the same purposes as their Gmail equivalents: reply detection, sending emails, and future calendar integration.

What we do NOT do with your email:

• We do not read, scan, index, or analyze the contents of your inbox
• We do not access emails unrelated to threads you initiated through Tether
• We do not use email content to train AI models or for advertising
• We do not share email data with any third party
• We do not store the body content of your emails — we store only metadata necessary for reply detection (thread ID, message ID, timestamp, and reply status)

AI coaching interactions

Tether includes an AI coaching feature (“Guide”) that helps you draft outreach emails through Socratic questioning. Guide does not read your notes, contacts, or inbox in the background. It responds only to your direct interactions within the coaching flow. Your coaching conversations are stored to maintain session continuity but are not used to train AI models.

Usage data

We collect standard usage information including page views, feature interactions, device type, browser type, and IP address. This data is used to improve the Service and diagnose technical issues.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide and operate the Service, including reply detection, outreach tracking, and relationship coaching
• Send you notifications related to your reach-out activity (e.g., reply celebrations, follow-up reminders)
• Support cohort-based features where you have opted in to participate
• Communicate with you about your account, service updates, and support requests
• Improve and develop new features for the Service
• Prevent fraud and enforce our Terms of Service

How We Store and Protect Your Data

Your data is stored on secure, encrypted infrastructure provided by Supabase (database and authentication) and Vercel (application hosting). All data is transmitted over HTTPS/TLS. Database access is protected by row-level security policies that ensure users can only access their own data.

Email OAuth tokens are stored encrypted and are used only to perform authorized API calls on your behalf. You can revoke email access at any time from your Tether settings or directly from your Google or Microsoft account settings.

Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We share data only in these limited circumstances:

• Service providers: We use third-party services to operate Tether (Supabase for data storage, Vercel for hosting, OpenAI for AI coaching features, Resend for transactional email). These providers process data on our behalf and are contractually bound to protect it.
• Cohort features: If you join a cohort or pod, limited activity information (such as your reach-out count and streak) may be visible to other members of that group. This is always opt-in and clearly disclosed at the time you join.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or legal process, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others.

Google API Services — Limited Use Disclosure

Tether’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Specifically:

• We only use Gmail data to provide the reply detection and email sending features described in this policy
• We do not use Gmail data for advertising, market research, or email campaign tracking
• We do not allow humans to read your email content unless you have given explicit affirmative consent, it is necessary for security purposes, it is required by law, or the data is aggregated and anonymized for internal operations
• We do not transfer Gmail data to third parties except as necessary to provide the Service, as required by law, or in an asset transfer as part of a merger or acquisition with equivalent privacy protections

Your Rights and Choices

• Access and export: You can view all data Tether stores about you from within the application.
• Deletion: You can delete your account and all associated data at any time. Contact us at hello@tetherspot.com and we will process your request within 30 days.
• Revoke email access: You can disconnect your Gmail or Outlook account from Tether settings at any time. You can also revoke access directly from your Google Account (myaccount.google.com/permissions) or Microsoft Account (myapps.microsoft.com).
• Opt out of cohort features: Cohort and pod participation is always voluntary.

Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we delete your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required by law to retain certain records. Anonymized, aggregated usage data may be retained indefinitely.

Children’s Privacy

Tether is not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated policy on this page and updating the effective date. Your continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, contact us at: hello@tetherspot.com