Your privacy on Focusverse

Who is responsible

Focusverse is run by Cahelle Vleeshouwers, a private individual based in the Netherlands. In this policy, “we” means Cahelle Vleeshouwers, the controller of your personal data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For any question or request about your data, email privacy@focusverse.io.

The short version

• No ads, and we never sell your data. Focusverse itself sets no cookies; the embedded YouTube and Spotify players can (see below).
• You can use Focusverse without an account.
• Your profile and online status are public. Your notes and tasks are private.
• You can ask us at any time to see, correct or delete your data.

What we collect

Whenever you use Focusverse, with or without an account:

• A random guest ID for your browser, so you can appear in rooms and shared sessions.
• While you’re online: the display name and character you pick, the universe and place you’re in, whether you’re focusing or on a break, and your seat in a 3D room.
• Your settings, timer, progress, notes and tasks, saved in your own browser (see “Data stored in your browser”).

When you create an account:

• Your username and password. The password is only stored in scrambled (hashed) form, so nobody can read it.
• A recovery email, only if you add one. It is used for password resets and account emails, nothing else.
• The profile you fill in: display name, character and colour, bio, current goal, country (optional), favourite places, featured experience, and which stats to show.
• Your focus statistics: time spent focusing and on breaks, sessions, streaks, tasks completed, time per universe and place, and time on the site while the timer is idle.
• Your notes and tasks, encrypted in your browser before they are saved, so they sync across your devices.
• Music links you add from YouTube or Spotify.
• When you joined and when you were last active.

When you chat or join a shared session (accounts only):

• Your chat messages, edits and reactions.
• Sessions you create or join: the session name and settings, its members, and what is playing (universe, place, timer, sounds and music), so everyone stays in sync.

When you contact us: the message you send through the feedback form and, if you add it, your email address. Emails you send us directly.

Technical data: like every website, the servers that deliver Focusverse receive your IP address and basic browser information. This is used to deliver the site and protect it, for example to limit repeated sign-in attempts. Focusverse never asks for your location, camera or microphone. Day and night in the 3D rooms simply follow your device’s clock.

What other people can see

• Anyone, including visitors without an account, can see account profiles: username, display name, character, the profile card (goal, bio, country flag, featured experience and the stats you haven’t hidden), when you joined and when you were last active.
• While you’re online, others can see that you’re there: your display name, character, which universe and place you’re in, whether you’re focusing or on a break, and your seat in a 3D room. This applies to guests too.
• Chat messages in place chats and the lounge are visible to all signed-in members. Messages in a shared session are visible to that session’s members.
• Public shared sessions are listed by name.
• Your notes and tasks are visible only to you.

Why we use it

• To run Focusverse for you: accounts, syncing your progress, rooms, presence, chat and shared sessions. The legal basis is our agreement with you (GDPR article 6(1)(b)).
• To keep it safe and working: preventing abuse and spam, filtering offensive language, limiting sign-in attempts and fixing problems. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a safe, working service (article 6(1)(f)).
• To understand how Focusverse is used, in totals only: for example total minutes focused across the community, or how many people visit. This is also a legitimate interest; it never builds a profile of you.
• To answer you when you send feedback or an email.
• Timer notifications are only shown if you turn them on and allow them in your browser.

We don’t use your data for advertising, and we don’t make automated decisions about you.

Data stored in your browser

Focusverse itself doesn’t set cookies. It does save a few things in your browser’s storage so the app works:

• your settings, timer, stats, favourites and progress;
• your notes and tasks, encrypted, plus the key that unlocks them on this device;
• your sign-in, so you stay signed in;
• downloaded soundscapes, so they don’t download again.

This storage is needed for features you use, so it doesn’t require a consent banner. You can clear it in your browser settings at any time, and signing out of an account removes that account’s data from the browser.

Background videos and music come from YouTube, and you can choose Spotify for music. Those players are run by Google and Spotify, which may set their own cookies and collect data under their own policies.

Services we use

Focusverse relies on these services to work. Each only receives what it needs for its job:

• Supabase: database, accounts, real-time rooms and chat, and account emails.
• Netlify: hosts the website.
• Cloudflare: delivers sounds and other media, and protects some of our server functions.
• Cloudinary: delivers images.
• Google Fonts: delivers the fonts. Your browser loads them from Google, which receives your IP address.
• YouTube (Google): background videos and music. Focusverse uses YouTube API Services, so the Google Privacy Policy applies to what YouTube collects.
• Spotify: only when you choose Spotify music. See the Spotify Privacy Policy.
• Simple Analytics: counts visits and a few anonymous events, without cookies or personal data.
• Formspree: handles the feedback form.
• ImprovMX and Gmail (Google): receive and forward email sent to us.

Some of these companies are based outside the EU, mainly in the United States. When your data goes there, they use the safeguards the GDPR requires, such as the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. We never sell your data, and we only share it beyond these services if the law requires us to.

How long we keep it

• Your online status: removed about 15 minutes after you go offline.
• Guest data on our servers: deleted automatically after 30 days without a visit.
• Shared sessions and their chat: deleted about 30 minutes after the session’s last activity.
• Account data (profile, stats, notes, tasks, chat messages and reactions): kept until your account is deleted.
• Notes and tasks you delete: fully removed after 30 days.
• Feedback and emails: as long as needed to handle them.
• Data in your browser: until you clear it.

Your rights

Under the GDPR, you can:

• see the data we have about you and get a copy of it;
• correct it (you can edit most of your profile yourself in Settings);
• have it deleted, including your whole account;
• object to or restrict how we use it;
• receive it in a format you can take elsewhere.

To do any of this, email privacy@focusverse.io. Account deletion currently happens on request: we remove your account together with your profile, stats, notes, tasks, chat messages and reactions. We may first ask you to show that the account is yours. We reply within one month.

If you think we are mishandling your data, you can complain to the Dutch Data Protection Authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, or to the authority in your own country. We’d appreciate the chance to fix it first.

Security

Connections to Focusverse are encrypted (HTTPS), and passwords are only stored hashed. Notes and tasks are encrypted in your browser before they are saved. That isn’t end-to-end encryption, but we don’t look at their contents. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach ever affects your data, we will inform you and the authorities as the law requires.

Children

You must be at least 13 to use Focusverse. If you’re under 16, please ask a parent or guardian before creating an account. If we learn that a child under 13 has an account, we will delete it. Parents can reach us at privacy@focusverse.io.

Changes to this policy

When this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. For important changes, we will also give notice on the site. See also our Terms of Use.