Privacy policy

Why? shows fun "do you know why…" facts. You can use it as a guest without giving us anything. If you create an account, we keep what's needed to save your progress. We don't show ads, we don't use tracking or advertising tools, and we never sell your data.

Your coins, streak and favourites are kept only in this browser or app session and disappear when you close it. We don't ask for your name or email. If you type a question into search or tap "But… Why?", the text of that question is sent to our AI provider to write an answer (see "Who we share data with").

Account details: a username and password (stored securely by our authentication provider, never in plain text). Adding an email is optional and it is only used to reset a forgotten password — never for marketing. On the website you can instead sign in with Google or Apple, in which case we receive your name, email and profile picture from them.

Profile: the display name, username, avatar (and what it's wearing), short bio and status message you choose, your age range and favourite topic if you set them, and your privacy choices (such as hiding from leaderboards). We also keep the store items you own, whether bought with coins or received as free gifts.

Birthday: the month and year you were born, asked once when you sign up (or, on the website, when you next visit or in Settings). We use it to check you're old enough for an account and, on the website only, for the adults-only section. It can't be changed afterwards.

Activity: facts you've discovered, favourites, saved "But… Why?" chains, quiz answers and scores, daily missions, streaks, coins, achievements and store items.

Purchases: Why? Plus is bought by a grown-up. On the website, Paddle handles the payment; in the apps, Google Play or the App Store does, with RevenueCat keeping track of the subscription for us. We store whether you have Plus, which plan, when it renews or ends, and reference numbers, never your card details.

To run the app: saving your progress, awarding coins and achievements, showing leaderboards, preventing cheating and abuse, and fixing errors. We don't use your data for advertising.

Your display name or username, dressed-up avatar and scores can appear on leaderboards and your public profile. You can turn this off in Settings with "Hide me from public leaderboards" and "Hide profile from public pages". A "But… Why?" chain is only public if you choose to share it.

We use a small number of service providers who process data on our behalf:

• Lovable Cloud and Supabase — hosting, database and sign-in.
• AI providers — Groq, OpenRouter, Pollinations and Lovable AI Gateway (Google Gemini) — write facts and "But… Why?" answers. Only the question text is sent, not your name or email.
• Paddle — payments on the website.
• Adults-only section (website, 18+ only) — questions you ask OG are sent to our AI providers and to our own "OG" chat service to be answered, with an anonymous code instead of your account details. We don't keep these chats.
• Google Play, the App Store and RevenueCat — Why? Plus subscriptions bought in the apps. RevenueCat receives your account ID (not your name or email) to link a purchase to your account.
• Google and Apple — only if you choose to sign in with them on the website.

We don't sell or rent personal data to anyone.

Why? is made for curious minds of all ages. Accounts are for people aged 13 and over; younger explorers can use guest mode, which doesn't collect personal information. If you're a parent and think your child under 13 created an account, contact us and we'll delete it. The website has an optional adults-only section for accounts whose birthday shows they're 18 or over. It's never available in the Android or iPhone apps.

We keep your account data until you delete your account. Deleting it removes your profile and activity straight away. Paddle keeps payment records as the law requires.

You can see and change your profile in Settings, hide yourself from leaderboards, and delete your account at any time on the delete account page (also in Settings). Depending on where you live, you may have further rights, such as getting a copy of your data. Contact us to use them.

We store small pieces of data on your device to keep you signed in and remember your settings and guest progress. These aren't used for tracking.

Questions about privacy? Use the contact email on our app store listing.

If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top.