Privacy policy
Last updated 30 September 2026
The short version
- Waitlist: we keep your email, what you said you're shopping for, and where and when you signed up. We use it to email you when Whittle launches, and for nothing else.
- The app: we keep your account, your searches and reports, and your balance, so the app works. Your searches are sent to AI and search services, most in the United States, to do the research.
- We don't sell your data, and none of the services we use may train AI on it, except one search service, which gets product search terms and never your name or email.
- You can see, fix or delete what we hold at any time. Email hello@whittleapp.co.
Who we are
Whittle is run by a sole trader in Australia. "We" and "us" on this page means Whittle. For anything about your privacy, email hello@whittleapp.co. This policy follows the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988.
The waitlist
When you join the waitlist on whittleapp.co, we keep:
- your email address;
- what you're shopping for, if you filled that in;
- where you came from: if the link you followed carried a tag saying where it was shared (a UTM tag, such as "from Instagram"), we keep that tag;
- the page and version of the page you signed up on, and the time. Together these are our record that you asked to hear from us;
- your country, worked out from your internet address at the moment you sign up. We don't keep the address itself.
What we use it for. We send you a short note to say you're on the list, and one email when Whittle launches. What you're shopping for helps us decide which products to research first, and the tag tells us which posts bring people in. If you later sign up in the app with the same email, we match it to your waitlist entry.
How long we keep it. Until you leave the list, and no more than 12 months after Whittle launches.
Leaving the list. Reply to any email from us, use the unsubscribe link in the launch email, or write to hello@whittleapp.co. We act on it within 5 business days, and every email from us says who it's from.
whittleapp.co sets no cookies and uses no ads or tracking tools. The page keeps the UTM tag in your browser for the length of your visit only, so it's saved with your sign-up.
The app
The Whittle app isn't out yet. This section says what it will collect when it launches, and will be updated before then if anything changes.
What we keep
- Your account. Your first search needs no account. After that you sign in with Apple, Google or your email, and we keep your email address and an account ID. If you use Apple's "Hide my email", we only see Apple's relay address.
- Your preferences, if you give them: your country, whether you usually shop cheap, middle or buy-for-life, and brands or shops you'd rather avoid.
- Your searches and reports. Your brief (your answers to Whittle's questions) and the report it produced, so you can find them again in your catalogue and export them.
- Your balance: searches bought, given and used, and codes you've redeemed.
- A notification token, so your phone can be told when a report is ready.
- Your feedback: the "Something off?" chips you tap on a report, and any price, shop or words you type with them.
- A free-search marker for your phone. Each phone gets a set number of free searches. On iPhone we record that with Apple's DeviceCheck, which stores two yes-or-no marks with Apple for your phone. On Android we store the app's device ID for your phone. Neither contains your name or anything about you.
We don't collect health details. If a question needs something like your height or hearing to pick well, the answer is used for that one search and never saved to your profile. Please don't put anything in a brief you'd rather not share.
We don't handle your payment details. Apple or Google takes the payment. We see only what you bought and when.
What we use it for
- to run your searches and show you your reports;
- to keep your balance right and stop free searches being misused;
- to tell you when a report is ready, and to reply when you email us;
- to find and fix mistakes in reports and make Whittle better.
Research is shared between people shopping in the same category, so Whittle doesn't read the whole web again for each person. That shared research holds product facts only: never your brief, and nothing that could identify you.
Who handles your data for us
We use outside services to run Whittle: hosting, our database, email, payments, notifications, and the AI and search services that do the research. Each gets only what it needs for its job. Your account and data are stored in Sydney, but most of the AI and search services are in the United States, so your brief leaves Australia while a search runs. Most keep what they're sent for up to 30 days to check for misuse, then delete it. Email hello@whittleapp.co for the full list.
None of them may train AI on your data, with one exception: a web search service (Exa) may use the product search terms we send it, such as "robot vacuum under $500 for pet hair". Those never include your name, email or account. We don't sell your data or share it with anyone else, unless the law requires it.
How long we keep it
- While you have an account, we keep what's listed above.
- When you delete your account, your briefs, reports, catalogue, preferences and notification token are deleted straight away.
- Feedback you gave on a report stays after your account is deleted, without your account or the search it was about. Anything you typed in it stays as you wrote it, so please leave out personal details.
- Purchase and give-away records are kept for 5 years without your email, because Australian tax law requires those records.
- The free-search marker for your phone stays after you delete your account, so free searches can't be claimed again. It doesn't identify you.
- If you only ever used Whittle without an account, that anonymous record is deleted after 24 months without use.
Seeing, fixing or deleting your data
You can ask for a copy of what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email hello@whittleapp.co from the email address you use with Whittle. We reply within 30 days, and usually much sooner. You can export any report yourself in the app.
Age
Whittle is for people 16 and older. If you think someone younger has given us their details, email us and we'll delete them.
Keeping it safe
Your data is stored with access limited to the people and systems that need it, sent over encrypted connections, and the keys to our services are kept on our servers only, never in the app. If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we'll tell you.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, email hello@whittleapp.co and a person will reply. If that doesn't settle it, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Changes
We'll update this page when what we collect or who handles it changes, including before the app launches. The date at the top shows the latest version. If a change matters to you, we'll tell you in the app or by email first.