Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 2026

Reality Awake ("we", "us") runs realityawake.com. This policy explains exactly what we collect, why, where it is stored, and the rights you have over it. We collect as little as possible and we do not sell your data, ever.

What we collect

• Account: your email address, a display name, a hashed password (if you register with one), and a profile image if your sign-in provider supplies one.
• Profile (optional): anything you choose to add: username, short bio, website link, avatar, and interests.
• Your activity: comments, likes, votes, bookmarks, follows, reactions, journal entries, saved readings, submitted stories, and direct messages are stored against your account so the features work.
• Newsletter: if you subscribe, we store your email address for that purpose only.
• Aggregate page views: we count views per article. This is anonymous and not tied to your identity.

We do not collect your phone number, postal address, payment details, or location. If we don't need it, we don't ask for it.

Where your data is stored

Your data is stored in a PostgreSQL database on our own server hosted with Amazon Web Services in the Asia Pacific (Mumbai), India region. It is not copied to third-party data brokers. Encrypted backups are kept for a short rolling window and then deleted.

How we use it

• To authenticate you and keep your session active.
• To show your posts, comments, and profile to other readers.
• To send notifications about replies, follows, and other activity.
• To send the newsletter, only if you subscribe.

What we don't do

• We don't sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for their own use.
• We don't run third-party advertising or analytics trackers.
• We don't track you across other websites.

Cookies

We use a single first-party session cookie to keep you signed in. That is a strictly necessary cookie, so no consent banner is required for it. We also store a small theme preference (light or dark) in your browser's local storage. We set no advertising, analytics, or cross-site tracking cookies of any kind.

Third-party services

• Google sign-in (OAuth): only if you choose it. Google shares your email and basic profile with us; we receive only what you authorize.
• Email delivery: used to send sign-in and newsletter emails to addresses you give us.
• Google Fonts: our fonts load from Google's servers, which means your browser's IP address is visible to Google when fonts are fetched. No cookie is set by this.

Your rights (GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA and others)

Wherever you live, you have the following rights over your data, and we have built tools so you can exercise most of them yourself, instantly:

• Access & portability: download a copy of your data from Account settings (Export my data).
• Erasure ("right to be forgotten"): delete your account and all associated data from Account settings (Delete account). This is immediate and permanent.
• Rectification: edit your profile and account details at any time.
• Objection / restriction: unsubscribe from the newsletter via any email's link, or contact us.
• CCPA: we do not sell personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of; your access and deletion rights above apply.

If you prefer, you can also email us to exercise any of these and we will respond within 30 days.

Children

Reality Awake is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their data.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update the date above. Material changes will be noted on the site.

Contact

Questions, or want to exercise a right manually? Email hello@realityawake.com.