Privacy Policy

Athena ("we", "us", "our") built the Athena app as a free personal safety toolkit. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why, the lawful basis for each use, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have over it. It is written to meet our obligations under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. By using Athena, you agree to the practices described here.

1. Data controller & contact

The data controller responsible for your personal data is the Athena app owner. If you have any question about your data or wish to exercise any right in this policy, contact us at athena-safe-path.base44.app via the in-app Feedback feature or the support email published on the app. If we have appointed a Data Protection Officer or representative, their details will be shown here.

2. Information we collect

• Account information: your email address and authentication credentials (managed securely by our platform provider) when you register or log in.
• Profile information: display name and optional profile photo you choose to add.
• Emergency contacts: names, phone numbers and email addresses you add for SOS and journey alerts. These are other people's personal data that you provide on their behalf.
• Location data: your device's live GPS coordinates — only when you actively use SOS, Live Location Sharing, Safe Journey Mode, or Safe Areas reporting.
• Evidence files: audio/video recordings you capture in the Evidence Vault, stored in cloud storage linked to your account, with optional GPS metadata.
• Incident journal entries: private notes you choose to save, including title, date, category, severity and location note.
• Community reports: safe/unsafe area reports you submit. These are stored anonymously (no user ID, device ID or IP address) and may carry an optional display name.
• Usage data: limited analytics events (e.g. which features are opened) to improve the app. These are not linked to your identity where possible.

3. How we use your data & lawful basis

We only process your personal data where we have a lawful basis under UK GDPR Article 6:

• Performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b)): to operate your account and deliver the safety features you requested — sending SOS alerts, sharing your live location with your chosen contacts, journey check-ins, and storing your evidence recordings and incident journal.
• Vital interests (Art. 6(1)(d)): to send alerts and your location to your emergency contacts when you trigger SOS or a Safe Journey, to protect your physical safety.
• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)): for optional features such as community area reports, profile photos, custom SOS messages, and analytics where you have actively opted in. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)): to secure, maintain and improve the service, prevent misuse, and operate advertising on non-emergency screens, where this does not override your rights.
• Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)): where we are required to retain or disclose data by law.

Location data and evidence recordings relating to your safety may reveal information about your health or vulnerability. Where this amounts to special category data under Article 9, we rely on your explicit consent (Art. 9(2)(a)) and/or the substantial public interest / vital interests conditions in the Data Protection Act 2018, and we process only what is necessary to deliver the safety feature.

4. Sharing your information

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only as follows:

• Your emergency contacts: when you trigger an alert, we send your location and message to the contacts you have added. You are responsible for making sure those contacts have agreed to be contacted.
• Our service providers: cloud hosting, authentication and analytics providers who help us operate Athena, under contract and only to process data on our behalf.
• Aggregated, anonymised community data: safe/unsafe area reports may be shared with local police or councils in aggregated, anonymised form only — never in a way that could identify you.
• Legal compliance: where required by law or to protect someone's vital interests.

5. International transfers

Our platform and cloud providers may process data outside the UK. Where this happens, we rely on the UK adequacy regulations for the receiving country, or on Standard Contractual Clauses and appropriate safeguards so your data is protected to UK GDPR standards.

6. Data retention

• Account data: kept while your account is active and deleted when you close it.
• Emergency contacts, evidence and incident journal: kept until you delete them in the app or close your account.
• Location data for an active alert: shared only for the duration needed to deliver the safety feature, then no longer actively shared.
• Community report descriptions: automatically removed after 90 days, retaining only type, approximate location and date for trend analysis.
• Analytics: kept in anonymised or aggregated form only, for as long as useful for improvement.

7. Your rights under UK GDPR

You have the following rights. To exercise any of them, contact us through the in-app Feedback feature or the published support email.

• Right of access: to know what personal data we hold about you and receive a copy.
• Right to rectification: to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten"): to ask us to delete your data, subject to legal retention duties.
• Right to restrict processing: to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability: to receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format and reuse it.
• Right to object: to object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing.
• Rights related to automated decision-making: Athena does not make solely automated decisions with legal or significant effects about you.
• Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting processing already carried out.

We respond to valid requests without undue delay and within one month (extendable by two further months where requests are complex). We will not charge a fee unless a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

8. Right to lodge a complaint

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your data, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve your concern.

9. Third-party advertising

Athena may display ads served by Google AdSense on non-emergency screens. Google and its partners may use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. You can opt out of personalised advertising via Google's Ads Settings, and manage cookies in your browser. Ads are never shown on the SOS, Torch, Alarm or Evidence screens.

10. Security

We use industry-standard measures to protect your data, including encrypted transit, secure authentication, and row-level isolation so that only you can access your personal safety data. No method of transmission or storage is fully secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we work to keep risk as low as possible.

11. Children

Athena is intended for users aged 18 and over and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly process children's data.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time; the date above reflects the latest revision. Material changes will be highlighted in the app where appropriate.