Backstop Commitments
Effective Date: January 2, 2026
Last Updated: January 2, 2026
Introduction
Backstop Commitments (“we,” “our,” or “the App”) is a personal productivity application that helps you track commitments from your email. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your information when you use our mobile application and related services.
By using Backstop Commitments, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.
Information We Collect
1. Google Account Information
When you sign in with Google, we receive:
- Your email address
- Your display name
- Your Google profile ID
This information is used to create and identify your account.
2. Gmail Data
With your explicit consent, we access your Gmail account to:
- Read incoming emails in your inbox to identify potential commitments and action items
- Read sent emails to identify promises you’ve made to others
What we access:
- Email subject lines
- Email sender and recipient information
- Email body content (for commitment extraction)
- Email metadata (dates, thread IDs)
What we DO NOT do:
- We do not modify, delete, or send emails on your behalf
- We do not access emails outside your inbox and sent folder
- We do not store the full content of your emails permanently
3. Extracted Commitments
When we identify a potential commitment in your email, we store:
- A short title describing the commitment
- The due date (if mentioned)
- The sender’s name and email domain
- A reference to the source email (for linking back to Gmail)
- Your triage decisions (accepted, ignored, done)
4. Device Information
We collect:
- Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) tokens for push notifications
- Basic device identifiers for crash reporting and analytics
How We Use Your Information
Commitment Extraction
We use Google’s Gemini AI (via Vertex AI) to analyze your emails and extract actionable commitments. This processing:
- Happens on secure Google Cloud servers
- Does not train AI models on your data
- Only extracts structured commitment information (title, due date, type)
Push Notifications
We send push notifications to alert you when new commitments are detected. You can disable notifications in your device settings.
Service Improvement
We may use anonymized, aggregated data to improve our service. This data cannot be used to identify you.
Data Storage and Retention
Where Your Data is Stored
Your data is stored securely on Google Cloud Platform:
- Region: Europe (europe-west3, europe-west9)
- Database: Google Cloud Firestore
- Encryption: Data is encrypted at rest and in transit
Retention Periods
| Data Type | Retention Period |
|---|---|
| Active commitments (proposed, open) | Until you complete or ignore them |
| Completed/ignored commitments | 7 days, then automatically deleted |
| Account information | Until you delete your account |
| Email content | Not stored permanently; processed in memory only |
Data Sharing
We DO NOT:
- Sell your personal information
- Share your data with advertisers
- Provide your email content to third parties
We DO share data with:
| Service Provider | Purpose | Data Shared |
|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud Platform | Infrastructure and database hosting | All app data (encrypted) |
| Google Vertex AI (Gemini) | AI-powered commitment extraction | Email content for processing |
| Firebase Cloud Messaging | Push notifications | Device tokens |
| Sentry (optional) | Error monitoring and crash reporting | Anonymous error logs |
All service providers are bound by their own privacy policies and data processing agreements.
Your Rights and Choices
Access Your Data
You can view all your commitments and account information within the app.
Delete Your Data
You can delete your account and all associated data by:
- Signing out of the app
- Contacting us at privacy@getbackstop.com to request complete data deletion
We will delete your data within 30 days of receiving your request.
Revoke Gmail Access
You can revoke our access to your Gmail at any time:
- Go to Google Account Security
- Find “Backstop Commitments” and click “Remove Access”
Export Your Data
Contact us at privacy@getbackstop.com to request an export of your data.
Security
We implement industry-standard security measures:
- All data transmitted over HTTPS/TLS encryption
- Gmail refresh tokens stored securely on server-side only
- Authentication via Google Sign-In (we never see your Google password)
- Regular security reviews of our infrastructure
Children’s Privacy
Backstop Commitments is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have collected such information, please contact us immediately.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by:
- Posting the new policy on our website
- Updating the “Last Updated” date
- Sending an in-app notification for material changes
Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your data, contact us:
Email: privacy@getbackstop.com
Website: https://getbackstop.com
Additional Information for EU/EEA Users
If you are located in the European Union or European Economic Area:
Legal Basis for Processing
We process your data based on:
- Consent: You explicitly grant access to your Gmail account
- Contract: Processing necessary to provide the service you requested
- Legitimate Interest: Improving our services and preventing fraud
Your Additional Rights
Under GDPR, you have the right to:
- Access your personal data
- Rectify inaccurate data
- Erase your data (“right to be forgotten”)
- Restrict processing
- Data portability
- Object to processing
- Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority
Data Controller
The data controller for your personal information is:
Backstop Commitments
Contact: privacy@getbackstop.com
Google API Services User Data Policy Compliance
Backstop Commitments’ 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 commitment tracking functionality you requested
- We do not use Gmail data for advertising purposes
- We do not transfer Gmail data to third parties except as necessary to provide the service
- We do not use Gmail data to train AI models
This privacy policy is available at: https://getbackstop.com/privacy