Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 27, 2026

Ethos National ("Ethos," "we," "us," or "our") operates the Ethos mobile application (the "App"). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your information when you use the App. By creating an account or using the App, you consent to the practices described in this policy.

Information You Provide

When you create an account and use Ethos, we may collect the following information that you provide directly:

• Account information: Email address, mobile phone number, first name, last name, and username.
• Profile information: Birthdate, grade or year, area of study, and living location.
• School affiliation: Your university, vetted by the domain of your school email address (for example, an @nd.edu domain matches Notre Dame).
• App activity: Reading progress, group meeting attendance, accountability call logs, captain applications, schedule preferences, feedback submissions, and referral activity.
• Sensitive behavioral data: Self-reported behavioral tracking data, including habit streaks, setback events, and related questionnaire responses. This data is collected only with your affirmative consent and is described further below.

Phone Number and SMS Verification

We collect and verify your mobile phone number as the primary method of confirming account ownership. When you sign up or sign in, we send a one-time verification code to your phone via SMS through our messaging provider, Twilio, Inc. (described below). By providing your phone number and tapping "Send code," you consent to receive a single verification SMS for that request.

• Verification codes are 6 digits, expire after 10 minutes, and are not used for marketing.
• Standard message and data rates from your mobile carrier may apply.
• We retain your phone number on your account for as long as your account is active. You may update it from the App's Settings screen at any time.
• Your phone number is shared only with Twilio (to deliver the verification SMS) and, in limited cases, with members of your accountability group as described in the "Data Sharing" section. It is not shared for marketing or advertising.
• You may reply STOP to any verification message to opt out, although doing so will prevent you from receiving the codes needed to sign in.

Information Collected Automatically

When you use the App, we may automatically collect certain information, including:

• Device information: Device identifiers and push notification tokens necessary to deliver notifications to your device.
• Usage data: Aggregated performance metrics such as effort scores and content completion, computed from your activity within the App.

Information We Do Not Collect

• We do not collect precise location or GPS data.
• We do not access your contacts, camera, or microphone.
• We do not track you across other apps or websites.
• We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Create and manage your account.
• Verify account ownership and authenticate sign-ins via one-time SMS codes sent to your mobile phone.
• Place you into an accountability group with other students at your university.
• Match you with an accountability partner based on your grade and living location.
• Provide reading content and track your progress.
• Send push notifications and account-related emails (group updates, reminders, and other operational messages).
• Enable board members to manage campus groups and captain applications.
• Display your effort score, daily call and reading streaks, and weekly meeting attendance to other members of your small group so the group can track its own progress. These per-user metrics are visible only inside your assigned group.
• Generate anonymized, campus-level aggregate reports for board members and partner schools. No individual user is identifiable in any such report.
• Perform automated processing such as group assignments, effort score calculations, scheduled notifications, and automatic account deletion at the end of your graduation year.

Sensitive Behavioral Data

The App may collect sensitive self-reported behavioral data, including private streak tracking for pornography and masturbation, setback events, and the optional yearly setback frequency you may provide during onboarding. This data is collected only with your express consent (private streak tracking is opt-in and the setback-frequency question can be skipped) and is handled with the highest level of care:

• All behavioral data is stored securely and encrypted in transit.
• Your private streak details (current streak length, streak goals, individual reset history, and the self-reported yearly setback frequency) are never visible to other users, including your accountability partner, your group members, your group captain, your board members, or anyone outside our small operations team. This data is not shared with universities, administrators, advertisers, or any third party.
• If you opt in to setback notifications under Settings, the App will notify your accountability partner and your group when you log a setback. You can turn this off at any time in Settings; doing so does not retroactively delete prior notifications already sent.
• The three Ethos commitments — daily call with your partner, daily content reading, and weekly meeting attendance — along with your effort score are visible to other members of your assigned small group inside the App so the group can track its own progress. These metrics are not part of private streak tracking and are not the sensitive behavioral data described above.
• Behavioral data may be used in anonymized, campus-level aggregate form for board reports. No individual user is identifiable in any such report.
• If you delete your account, all individual behavioral data is removed from our systems as described in the “Data Retention and Deletion” section below. We retain only the longest-streak length, total reset count, and which streak categories you tracked, as part of the alumni record.

Data Sharing

Your name, group membership, accountability partner information, and certain activity metrics (such as effort scores and daily call completion) are shared with members of your accountability group and your accountability partner within the App.

Board members at your university can view student signup information, group rosters, and aggregate activity data for their campus. Board members are bound by their responsibilities to handle student data appropriately.

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate the App:

• Twilio: For delivering one-time SMS verification codes to your mobile phone during signup and sign-in. Twilio receives your phone number and the verification code; it does not receive any other profile data. Subject to Twilio's Privacy Notice.
• Google Firebase Cloud Messaging: For delivering push notifications to your device. Subject to Google's Privacy Policy.
• Mailgun: For sending operational emails (group updates, reminders, password reset where applicable).
• Amazon S3 / Tigris: For storing the Ethos reading curriculum (images and audio files we author). No user-uploaded data is stored on S3 or Tigris.
• Fly.io: For hosting our backend servers and database in the United States.
• Vercel: For hosting the Ethos web app.
• Expo: For delivering over-the-air JavaScript updates to the mobile app. Expo receives only your device platform, app version, and update channel, not your account data.

These service providers may process your data on our behalf and are contractually obligated to protect your information. We do not authorize them to use your data for their own purposes.

Data Retention and Deletion

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. You may delete your account at any time from the Ethos mobile app (Settings → Delete Account), from the Ethos web app (Profile → Delete Account), or by emailing support@ethosnational.org from the email address on your Ethos account. You may also request deletion of specific pieces of personal data without deleting your entire account by emailing the same address with the subject line Partial Data Deletion Request. We will verify any request and complete it within 30 days.

When you delete your account we permanently remove your activity history, private streak details, push notification tokens, group and partnership records, notification history, and active sessions. We retain an alumni record containing your name, school email, personal email (if provided), phone number (if provided), region, student type, graduation year, semester history, whether you served as a captain, your final and average effort scores, and your longest streak length and total reset count for any streak categories you tracked. We retain the alumni record indefinitely to support alumni outreach and historical reporting. To request deletion of your alumni record, email support@ethosnational.org and we will remove it within 30 days. For details, see our account deletion page.

Automatic deletion at graduation. If you remain in Ethos through your graduation year, your account is automatically deleted on June 30 of that year using the same process described above. The alumni record is kept unless you also request its deletion. You will not receive a separate notice before this happens.

Data Security

We use industry-standard security measures to protect your information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), secure password storage, and access controls on our servers. However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children's Privacy

Ethos is intended for university students aged 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under the age of 18. By creating an account you confirm that you are at least 18 years of age and currently enrolled at a participating university. If you believe that someone under 18 has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can remove it.

Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, including the right to:

• Access and review the personal information we hold about you.
• Update or correct your personal information through the Profile page in the App.
• Delete your account and associated data through the Settings screen.
• Request a copy of your personal data in a portable format.
• Opt out of certain data processing activities.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information below. We will respond to your request in accordance with applicable law.

California Residents

If you are a California resident, you may have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), including the right to know what personal information we collect, the right to request deletion of your personal information, and the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information. We do not sell personal information. To exercise your rights, please contact us using the information below.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by updating the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, through in-app or email notification. Your continued use of the App after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your privacy rights, contact us at:

Ethos National
6702 Pleasantview St NE
Rockford, MI 49341
Email: support@ethosnational.org