Privacy Policy

WordsLater ("WordsLater", "we", "our", or "us") is a service that lets people schedule personal messages - letters, emails, texts, voice notes, videos, and printed mail - for future delivery, including delivery after a person's lifetime. The trust you place in us when you write those messages is not something we take lightly. This Privacy Policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, how we protect it, and the choices and rights you have over it.

If you have questions about this policy, please contact us at admin@dataprocessingllc.com or through our contact page.

1. Information we collect

We collect only the information needed to run WordsLater, deliver your messages, and keep your account secure. There are three broad categories:

Information you give us

• Account information: name, email address, phone number, time zone, and password (stored only as a bcrypt hash with a per-user salt).
• Message content: the text, audio, video, attachments, photos, and printed-letter content you write, along with the recipients and delivery dates you choose.
• Trusted contacts: names and contact information for the people you nominate to confirm your status for posthumous delivery.
• Vault items: documents and notes you place in our zero-knowledge vault. These are encrypted with a key derived from your passphrase and cannot be read by WordsLater under any circumstances.
• Payment information: billing name, billing address, and the last four digits of your payment method. Full payment card details are handled by a PCI-DSS compliant processor and never reach WordsLater servers.
• Communications: messages you send to our support team, feedback you submit, and your survey responses.

Information we collect automatically

• Device and connection data: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, and approximate location derived from your IP.
• Usage data: pages visited, features used, error logs, and timestamps - used for debugging, abuse prevention, and product improvement.
• Authentication data: login times, IP addresses of logins, and two-factor verification events, kept for account security and breach detection.

Information from third parties

• Payment processor: we receive confirmation of successful or failed payments, along with non-sensitive metadata (card brand, last four digits, expiry).
• Email and SMS providers: delivery, bounce, and complaint events that help us keep your scheduled messages reaching their recipients.
• Print partner: shipment confirmations and delivery status for physical letters.

2. How we use information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes only:

• Provide the service: store and deliver your scheduled messages, perform check-ins, verify trusted contacts, process payments, and operate your account.
• Communicate with you: send delivery notifications, security alerts, account confirmations, receipts, scheduled-message reminders, and (with your opt-in) product updates.
• Keep the service safe: detect and prevent abuse, fraud, account takeover, and policy violations.
• Improve the service: analyze aggregated, de-identified usage patterns to fix bugs and prioritize improvements.
• Comply with the law: meet our legal and regulatory obligations and respond to lawful requests.

We do not sell or rent your personal information, use your message content to train artificial intelligence models, profile you for advertising, or share your messages with third parties for marketing.

3. Legal bases for processing (EEA/UK users)

If you are located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, our legal bases for processing your personal data are:

• Performance of a contract - to operate your account and deliver the messages you have scheduled.
• Legitimate interests - to keep the service secure, prevent abuse, and improve our product, balanced against your rights and interests.
• Consent - for optional features like marketing emails, which you can withdraw at any time.
• Legal obligation - to comply with tax, accounting, and other regulatory requirements.

4. Your message content

Your messages are the heart of WordsLater. We treat them differently from ordinary account data:

• Message bodies and attachments are encrypted with AES-256 at rest using per-message data keys, themselves wrapped by master keys held in a hardware security module.
• WordsLater staff do not access message contents during normal operations. Access is limited to narrow, audited situations such as a court order or your direct request for support, and is logged in append-only records.
• Vault items use zero-knowledge encryption. They are decrypted only with a passphrase you control, and cannot be read by us under any circumstances - including a subpoena.
• Your messages are never used to train artificial intelligence models, sold, rented, or shared with advertisers.
• Recipients only receive the messages on the dates you choose, through the channels you choose (email, SMS, voice, video, or printed mail).

For the technical details of our encryption, see Encryption. For storage, retention, and custody specifics, see Data Retention & Custody.

5. How we share information

We share information only with the limited parties needed to operate WordsLater:

• Subprocessors: cloud hosting (United States), payment processor, email/SMS delivery providers, print fulfillment, customer support tooling, and (opt-in) email marketing. Each is bound by a written Data Processing Agreement and only receives the minimum data needed to do its job. A current list is available on request.
• Recipients you choose: when a scheduled message is delivered, the contents are sent to the recipients you specified, on the date you specified.
• Trusted contacts: if you enable posthumous delivery, your nominated trusted contacts will be notified of missed check-ins. They are told that you may have passed; they are not given access to your message contents.
• Legal compliance: we may disclose information if required by valid legal process, to enforce our terms, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of WordsLater, our users, or the public.
• Business transfers: if WordsLater is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred to the successor entity under the same privacy commitments described here, and you will be notified in advance.

We never sell or rent your personal data.

6. Cookies and tracking

We use a small set of cookies and similar technologies to operate the site and remember you between visits:

• Essential cookies - required for login, security (CSRF protection), and session management. These cannot be disabled if you wish to use your account.
• Preference cookies - remember choices like dismissed banners and chosen time zones.
• Analytics cookies - first-party, aggregated usage analytics so we can fix bugs and improve the product. You can opt out from your account settings.

We do not use cross-site advertising cookies or third-party ad networks. See our Cookie Policy for the full list.

7. Data retention

How long we keep each type of data is documented in detail on our Data Retention & Custody page. In short:

• Scheduled (undelivered) messages are held in encrypted storage until delivered or canceled - up to 75 years for digital, 30 years for printed.
• Delivered messages remain in your sent archive while your account is active; you can delete any item at any time.
• Vault items are kept until you delete them.
• Account profile and settings are kept while your account is active.
• Billing and tax records are retained for 7 years to satisfy legal obligations, even if you close your account.
• Server access logs are kept on a 30-day rolling window.
• Security audit logs are kept for at least 1 year.
• Encrypted backups cycle out within 90 days, after which deletion is fully propagated.

8. Security

We protect your data with defense in depth:

• AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit, and hardware-backed key management.
• Zero-knowledge encryption for vault items.
• Two-factor authentication available to every account and strongly recommended for posthumous and vault users.
• Bcrypt password hashing with per-user salts.
• Hardened, audited cloud infrastructure with geographically redundant backups.
• Continuous dependency scanning, automated monitoring, and tested disaster recovery.
• Strict least-privilege access for staff; background checks and annual security training for everyone with production access.

If we ever detect unauthorized access to your account data, we will notify you within 72 hours and explain what we are doing about it. Full technical details: Security Overview.

9. Your rights

You have meaningful rights over your information, regardless of where you live. You can exercise any of these from your account settings or by contacting admin@dataprocessingllc.com:

• Access: see every piece of personal data we hold about you.
• Portability: export all of your messages, attachments, and account data in standard formats.
• Correction: update or correct any personal information.
• Erasure: permanently delete your account and associated data. Backups are purged within 90 days.
• Restriction or objection: ask us to limit or stop certain processing activities.
• Withdraw consent: opt out of marketing emails or any feature you previously opted into.
• Lodge a complaint: contact your local data protection authority if you are not satisfied with our response.

For California residents, WordsLater honors the rights granted by the CCPA/CPRA, including the right to know, right to delete, right to correct, and right to opt out of any "sale" or "sharing" of personal information (we do not sell or share for cross-context behavioral advertising under any circumstances).

10. Children's privacy

WordsLater is not intended for use by anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If you believe a child has provided us with information, please contact admin@dataprocessingllc.com and we will promptly delete it.

Parents and guardians may schedule messages on behalf of a child from their own account (for example, a birthday letter every year until age 18). The child's name and contact information used for delivery are treated with the same care as any other personal data.

11. International users

WordsLater is operated from the United States and stores data in audited data centers in the United States by default. If you access WordsLater from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States. We apply appropriate safeguards to international transfers as required by GDPR (including standard contractual clauses where applicable).

EU data residency is available for enterprise plans on request.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes that affect your rights, we will notify you by email and post a prominent notice in your account before the changes take effect. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page always reflects the most recent revision.

13. Contact us

If you have questions, requests, or complaints about this Privacy Policy or our handling of your data, please contact us:

• Email: admin@dataprocessingllc.com
• Contact form: https://www.wordslater.com/contact-us/
• Postal mail: please email admin@dataprocessingllc.com first and we'll provide a current mailing address.

We respond to every privacy request within five business days and complete most requests within 30 days.