Privacy policy

Last updated: May 10, 2026

Hivehut is provided by Nathan Di Lucca, an individual carrying on business as “Hivehut”, located in Alberta, Canada (“Hivehut,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). [Update this clause when the business is incorporated or a trade name is registered.]

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use and protect it, what we deliberately cannot see, and the choices and rights you have.

This policy is governed by the laws of the Province of Alberta and the federal laws of Canada applicable in Alberta. We comply with Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and, where applicable, the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the privacy laws of other Canadian jurisdictions where our users reside.

If anything in this policy conflicts with a more specific notice we show you in the app at the time we collect your information, the in-app notice governs that activity.

Summary

• Your household content is end-to-end encrypted. Lists, calendar data, recipes, meal plans, notes, vault files, and similar content are encrypted on your devices using keys we do not hold.
• Our relay sees routing metadata, not plaintext. To sync encrypted data between your devices, our service observes identifiers such as household ID, document ID, device ID, message timing, and encrypted payload sizes — never the meaning of your content.
• AI runs on-device by default. Optional cloud-assisted features only send what you explicitly opt in to send, and we describe what is sent at the time of use.
• We do not sell your personal information and do not use your end-to-end encrypted content to train AI models.

1. Information you provide

You may provide personal information when you:

• Create or manage a Hivehut account (handled through Apple’s App Store flows, including subscription status).
• Contact our support team at support@hivehut.com for general product help — in which case the contents of your message are processed by us.
• Contact our privacy team at privacy@hivehut.com for privacy-specific requests — in which case the contents of your message are processed by us.
• Choose to share information through optional features (for example, opting in to a cloud-assisted feature).

2. Information we process automatically

Depending on how you use Hivehut, we process:

• Relay and infrastructure metadata needed to route encrypted sync traffic and operate the service. This may include TLS connection data, technical logs, household ID, device ID, document ID, message timing, and encrypted payload sizes. We work to minimize what we log.
• Encrypted blobs you upload for sync or storage (for example, vault attachments). These are stored as ciphertext; we cannot read them without your keys.
• Diagnostic data if you opt in to sharing crash reports or analytics through platform mechanisms (such as Apple’s diagnostic sharing settings). Where we do not offer an in-app analytics toggle, we do not access analytics beyond what the platform provides by default.

3. How we use your information

We use personal information for the following purposes:

• To operate, maintain, and improve the Hivehut service.
• To route encrypted sync traffic between your authorized devices.
• To respond to your support requests and communicate with you about the service.
• To detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, abuse, security incidents, and violations of our terms.
• To comply with our legal obligations under Canadian law.
• For any other purpose for which you provide your express consent.

Under Alberta’s PIPA and PIPEDA, we collect, use, and disclose personal information only for purposes that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances.

4. Consent

By creating a Hivehut account and using the service, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described in this policy. For optional features (such as cloud-assisted AI), we ask for your express consent at the time you enable the feature.

You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. To withdraw consent, contact us using the information in Section 14. Withdrawing consent may mean we can no longer provide certain features or the service to you.

5. Disclosure to third parties

We do not sell your personal information. We may disclose personal information in the following limited circumstances:

• Service providers (subprocessors): We use third-party providers to host infrastructure, deliver the service, and process optional cloud AI requests. These providers are bound by contract to use personal information only for the purposes we specify and to protect it appropriately. [Maintain and link a current subprocessor list before launch.]
• Legal requirements: We may disclose information when required to do so by law, court order, or other lawful authority in Canada or in jurisdictions where our service providers operate. Because your household content is end-to-end encrypted, we cannot disclose its contents in response to such requests.
• Business transfers: If Hivehut is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law.
• With your consent: We may share information for any other purpose with your express consent.

6. International transfers and storage

Hivehut is operated from Canada, and your personal information is primarily stored and processed in Canada. However, some of our service providers may store or process personal information in the United States or other countries. When personal information is transferred outside of Canada, it is subject to the laws of those jurisdictions, which may differ from Alberta and Canadian privacy law and may permit access by foreign government authorities under their own legal processes.

We take contractual and technical measures to ensure that personal information transferred outside Canada receives a comparable level of protection. End-to-end encrypted household content remains encrypted in transit and at rest, regardless of jurisdiction.

If you have questions about cross-border transfers, contact us using the information in Section 14.

7. What we cannot do

• We cannot read your end-to-end encrypted household content.
• We cannot recover your encrypted household data if you lose every authorized device and any recovery materials. This is the trade-off that keeps your content hidden from us.
• We do not use your end-to-end encrypted content to train AI models, ours or any third party’s.

8. Metadata and realistic limits

Strong encryption protects the contents of your data. Like any networked service, determined observers may infer patterns from metadata (for example, timing, sizes, or correlation with billing records). We mitigate this by minimizing logged metadata and using modern transport encryption (TLS), but we do not claim to hide the fact that you use Hivehut or to defeat all forms of traffic analysis.

Hivehut is built for family organization with strong privacy — it is not designed for high-risk operational security scenarios.

9. Optional cloud AI

When a feature offers cloud assistance, we ask for your express consent before enabling it and send only the minimum context required for that request. Third-party AI providers process those requests under their terms and our agreements with them. We design our proxy not to log the content of user requests. Details of what is sent for each cloud-assisted feature are described in the app at the time you enable the feature.

10. Retention

We retain personal information only as long as reasonably necessary to:

• Provide and operate the service;
• Comply with legal, accounting, or reporting obligations under Canadian law;
• Resolve disputes and enforce our agreements; and
• Protect the security and integrity of the service.

Server-side metadata and encrypted blobs are retained according to our internal retention schedule, which may be affected by backup cycles and any applicable legal holds. When personal information is no longer required, we delete or anonymize it. [Confirm specific retention windows with counsel before launch.]

11. Security

We use industry-standard security measures to protect personal information, including:

• End-to-end encryption of household content using device-bound keys;
• Modern transport security (TLS) for all data in transit;
• Access controls, monitoring, and audit logging on our infrastructure; and
• Minimization of metadata we collect and retain.

No method of storage or transmission is perfectly secure. You are responsible for keeping your devices, your Apple ID, and your recovery materials secure. If we become aware of a security breach involving personal information that creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify affected individuals and the appropriate authorities as required by applicable Canadian law.

12. Children

Hivehut is designed for adults coordinating a household. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children in a way that requires their independent consent under applicable Canadian law. Parents and guardians are responsible for any use of Hivehut by minors within their household. If you believe we have collected a child’s personal information improperly, contact us and we will take appropriate steps to address it.

13. Your rights

Under Alberta’s PIPA, PIPEDA, and other applicable Canadian privacy laws, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you;
• Correct personal information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
• Withdraw consent to our collection, use, or disclosure of your personal information, subject to legal or contractual restrictions;
• Request information about how your personal information has been used and to whom it has been disclosed; and
• Make a complaint about our handling of your personal information (see Section 15).

Many requests for household content must be fulfilled on your own devices, because we cannot decrypt that content. We can respond to requests about information we actually hold, such as billing and support records.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the information in Section 14. We will respond within the time periods required by applicable law (generally 30 days under PIPEDA and 45 days under Alberta’s PIPA, with limited extensions where permitted).

14. Contact and Privacy Officer

Nathan Di Lucca is the designated Privacy Officer responsible for our compliance with Canadian privacy laws. You can reach the Privacy Officer with questions, requests, or complaints at:

Email: privacy@hivehut.com

We will acknowledge your inquiry promptly and respond within the time required by applicable law.

15. Complaints

If you are not satisfied with our response to a privacy inquiry or complaint, you have the right to file a complaint with the appropriate regulator:

• Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta (for Alberta residents) — oipc.ab.ca
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada — priv.gc.ca
• Your provincial or territorial privacy regulator if you reside elsewhere in Canada.

16. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top and, where the changes are material, notify you through the app, by email, or by another reasonable means before the changes take effect.

This policy was prepared for informational purposes. Have it reviewed by qualified Alberta legal counsel before publication, and align it with your App Store privacy labels, your actual analytics SDKs, your current subprocessor list, and any enterprise or beta program terms before launch.