Privacy Policy
Saving Scents Effective date: October 25, 2026
Saving Scents is an iPhone app, and a website at savingscents.com, that compares fragrance prices from several stores. It is run by Mason Brunson, an individual ("we", "us"). This policy says what we collect, why, who handles it for us, how long we keep it and how you can delete it.
The short version:
- We collect your email address and sign-in details, your Watchlist and Targets, your settings, your Alert history and, if you switch on Phone Alerts, a registration for your phone (an Expo push token and a random installation ID), to run your account.
- Usage counts and crash reports are two separate switches in Account. Both start Off, send nothing until you turn them On, and go back to Off when you sign out.
- We do not sell your personal information, use advertising IDs or track you across other companies' apps or websites.
- You can delete your account in the app at any time.
What we collect
Information you give us
- Email address and sign-in details. When you create a Member account, our sign-in provider (Supabase) stores your email address, your Member ID, how you sign in and when. If you use email, you set a password, which is stored only as a one-way hash; we cannot read it. We email you a code to confirm the address.
- Sign in with Apple. The app asks Apple for your email address only, not your name. We receive your Apple account identifier and an email address; if you choose Hide My Email, that is Apple's private relay address, and email we send to it reaches you through Apple. When you sign in, we trade the one-time code Apple gives the app for a long-lived Apple token, and keep that token and your Apple identifier on our server, where only our own backend can read them. We use the token for one thing: to revoke Saving Scents' access to your Apple ID when you delete your account. We ask Apple to revoke it first and delete your account only after Apple accepts; if Apple does not, nothing is deleted and you can try again. If we hold no usable Apple token for you, the app still deletes your account and then shows you how to remove access yourself: in iPhone Settings, tap your name, then Sign-In & Security, then Sign in with Apple, choose Saving Scents and stop using Apple ID with it.
- Google sign-in. The app sends Google's sign-in token to Supabase to create your account and asks for nothing else from Google (no Gmail, contacts or calendar). We receive your Google account identifier and email address, and Google may also send your name and profile photo address. Supabase stores what Google sends with your account; the app does not read, show or use your name or photo, and does not download the photo.
- Your Watchlist. The Watched products you add (fragrance, concentration, size and Condition) and any Target you set.
- Your settings. Your Alert switches, your Condition and your usual size.
- Alert history. For each Alert: the fragrance, the price, the store and when it happened.
- Messages to support. If you email support@savingscents.com, we receive your email address, what you write, anything you attach, such as a screenshot, and ordinary email details such as the time it was sent. Please do not send passwords, sign-in codes or other sensitive information.
Information from your phone and browser
- Sign-in session. The app keeps your sign-in session on your phone so you stay signed in.
- Phone registration (only if you switch on Phone Alerts). In Account, Phone Alerts is an On/Off switch. Turning it On asks iPhone for permission to send notifications. If you allow it, your phone gives us an Expo push token, and the app creates a random installation ID that stays on the phone. We store both privately with your account to send Alerts to that phone, plus a record of each send (the Alert, the installation ID, the delivery status and any error code). Other Members cannot see your registrations. If notifications are still allowed on your iPhone when you sign in again, and you did not leave Phone Alerts Off, the app registers the phone again without asking. The lock-screen message never shows the fragrance, price or Target; it reads "A Watched product has a price Alert. Open Saving Scents to see it."
- Turning Phone Alerts Off. Switching Phone Alerts Off deletes this phone's registration at once, and the app remembers the choice so it does not register again. This needs a connection: if the app cannot reach us it says so, and it tries again the next time you open the app. Signing out also deletes the registration first (if you are offline, the app asks you to try again instead of leaving it behind), as does deleting your account, and so does opening the app after you turn off notifications for Saving Scents in iPhone Settings. Backups do not contain phone registrations or send records, so after a restore your phone registers afresh the next time you open the app, if Phone Alerts is On and notifications are allowed. Send records keep the random installation ID but not the token, and stay with your Alert history until you delete your account.
- Usage counts (off unless you turn them on). In Account, the Privacy switch "Share usage counts" sends Aptabase a short record when you open the app, finish signing in, view a fragrance, add or remove a Watched product, open an Alert or tap Buy. A Buy record includes the store name only. No record includes your email, Member ID, Watchlist, Targets, prices, search words or the fragrance. Aptabase also receives the app version and build, iOS version, its own library version, a language code, the time and a temporary session identifier, which starts again after an hour without use. Aptabase uses your connection's IP address to work out your country and region and a code that changes every day, then discards the IP address. We do not use these counts to identify you or link them to your account.
- Crash reports (off unless you turn them on). In Account, the separate Privacy switch "Send crash reports" sends Sentry technical details when the app breaks: the time, app version and build, phone model and processor type, iOS version and where in the code the problem happened. Sentry receives your connection's IP address to accept the report; we set Sentry to remove IP addresses, device names, installation identifiers and error text before a report is stored. We do not add your email, Member ID or Watchlist. Both switches are saved only on your phone. Turning one Off stops it at once (usage counts waiting to be sent are discarded), and signing out or deleting your account sets both back to Off, so the next person to use the phone starts with nothing sent.
- Product photos. Fragrance photos load from FragranceNet's image server and the image hosts supplied in Perfumania's CJ feed, including its CDN. The host receives your connection's IP address and which photo was requested, as any website does when it serves an image.
- Website visits. Our website host, Vercel, keeps ordinary server logs with your IP address and browser details. The website has no advertising or analytics scripts and sets no cookies. Because we do not track you across other websites, we do not change anything in response to a browser's "Do Not Track" signal.
- Search. Catalog search runs on your phone. Your search words are not sent to us.
What we do not collect
- No advertising ID (IDFA) and no tracking across other companies' apps or websites, so the app never asks for permission to track.
- The app does not access your location, contacts or photo library, and we do not receive health or payment-card information.
Prices and the Catalog
Prices, Verdicts and the Catalog are about fragrances, not about you. Every Member sees the same prices.
How we use it
- To run your account, keep your Watchlist and Targets, and show or send the Alerts you asked for.
- To email you a sign-in code, a password reset or a reply from support.
- If you turned them on: to count which parts of the app are used, and to find and fix crashes.
- To keep Saving Scents secure, prevent abuse and recover from failures.
We do not use your information for advertising and do not build advertising profiles.
Affiliate links and purchases
When you tap Buy or a Store listing, you go to the store's own website. Some of those links are affiliate links: they tell the store, or the network that runs its affiliate program, that the visit came from Saving Scents, and the store or network may use cookies on its website to credit us. The links do not include your email, Member ID or Watchlist. Once you are on the store's website, its own privacy policy applies.
We do not process payments. Affiliate networks report purchases made through our links, such as the amount and date, so they can pay us a commission. We do not receive your name, address or payment details from them. See our Affiliate Disclosure.
Who handles your information
These services help us run Saving Scents. For the personal information they handle for us, we choose services that protect it at least as well as this policy describes.
| Service | What it does | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database and sign-in | Your email address, Member ID, sign-in details, Watchlist, Targets, settings, Alert history, phone registration and send records, and Apple token. Hosted in the United States (Ohio). |
| Google (Gmail) | Sends sign-in codes and password resets, and holds support email | Your email address and the content of those emails |
| Squarespace (with Mailgun) | Forwards email sent to support@savingscents.com | Support emails as they pass through |
| GitHub | Runs the daily Check, sends phone Alerts and makes an encrypted nightly backup | Your push token and Alert while an Alert is sent; your account and Member data (including any Apple token) while the backup is made, then the encrypted backup (without phone registrations or send records), which is set to expire after 7 days |
| Aptabase | Usage counts, only if you turn them on | The records described above. Hosted in the United States (Virginia). |
| Sentry | Crash reports, only if you turn them on | The crash details described above |
| Expo | Sends phone Alerts to Apple and delivers app updates | Your push token, the fixed lock-screen text and an Alert number; your device type and IP address when the app checks for an update |
| Vercel | Hosts savingscents.com | Your IP address and browser details in server logs |
Apple and Google also handle information under their own privacy policies when you use Sign in with Apple, Google sign-in, Apple's push notification service, the App Store or TestFlight. Stores, affiliate networks, FragranceNet's image server and Perfumania's feed image hosts (including its CDN) handle information for their own purposes, as described above.
We may also disclose information when the law requires it, or to protect the rights, safety or security of our Members, Saving Scents or others. If Saving Scents is transferred to a company we control or to anyone who takes it over, your information may go with it, under this policy and with any notice the law requires.
How long we keep it
- Phone registration: until you switch Phone Alerts Off, sign out or delete your account, or until you open the app after turning off its notifications in iPhone Settings.
- Account, Watchlist, Targets, settings, Alert history, send records and Apple token: until you delete your account. Deleting it removes them from our database when the deletion completes.
- Backups: deleted information can remain in an encrypted nightly backup, which is set to expire after 7 days. Backups are used only to recover from a failure. If we ever restore one, we first remove every account deleted after it was made; if we cannot tell which accounts those are, we do not restore accounts from it.
- Sign-in logs: kept briefly by Supabase, for the period Supabase sets.
- Crash reports: kept by Sentry for up to 90 days.
- Usage counts: kept by Aptabase for up to five years. They are not linked to your account, so deleting your account cannot find or remove them.
- Support emails: kept as long as we need them to help you and keep a record.
- Inactive accounts: we do not delete accounts automatically. Delete yours if you stop using Saving Scents.
- Price history: the Catalog's price history is not personal information and stays after you leave.
Your choices
- Delete your account in the app (Account, then Delete account). If that does not work, email support@savingscents.com from the address on your account and we will delete it after confirming the request is yours. More about deleting your account.
- Turn usage counts or crash reports on or off at any time in Account; each is its own switch. Turning one off stops future records from your phone.
- Turn Alerts on or off in Account. Phone Alerts has its own switch there, and you can also turn notifications off for Saving Scents in iPhone Settings.
- Affiliate cookies are set by stores and networks on their own websites; you can block or clear them in your browser settings.
Your privacy rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights under the law to see, correct or delete your personal information, or to object to how we use it. To make a request, email support@savingscents.com from the address on your account. We may need to confirm that the request is yours, and we will answer within the time the law requires. We will not treat you differently for making a request.
Children
Saving Scents is not for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has given us information, email us and we will delete it.
Where Saving Scents is offered
Saving Scents is offered only in the United States.
Security
Information travels over encrypted connections, and backups are encrypted. Other Members cannot see your Watchlist; we and the services above can access it only to run, secure, support and back up Saving Scents. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your information, we will tell you as the law requires.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will update the effective date above and tell you in the app or by email before the change takes effect.
Contact
Mason Brunson support@savingscents.com