Privacy Policy

Who we are

The Shortlist is a web app developed and operated by Ratio Decidendi Limited (company no. 09635107), registered in the United Kingdom. The app is hosted at theshortlistapp.uk and distributed on Google Play.

If you have any questions about this policy or your data, get in touch: markstorry@ratiodecidendiconsulting.com.

What data we collect

Almost nothing on our servers. There are no user accounts, and we never see your quiz answers, the names you've liked, your shortlist, or anything else you do inside the app. The only things our servers ever store are the small premium purchase record described below, anonymous totals that aren't about any individual person, and — only if you switch them on — the delivery address for daily-name notifications.

What's stored on your device

The app saves a few things locally using your browser's standard storage (localStorage) so the app can remember where you left off:

• Your most recent quiz answers (heritage, era, energy, etc.)
• The names you've liked or starred in the current round
• A timestamp of when you last used the app, so we can show you a "welcome back" screen
• Your sound preferences (whether music or the match-reveal sound is muted)
• A random device code and, if you've bought it, your premium unlock state (the code contains nothing about you — see below)

All of this lives on your device. Apart from the purchase record described next, none of it is ever uploaded to any server we control.

If you buy the premium unlock

Premium is a one-time purchase with no account. So that your unlock survives reinstalls and new phones, we store a small record in our database: the random device code above plus a reference to the purchase (the token our payment provider issues). It contains no name, no email, and nothing about the names you're considering.

Payment itself is handled by our payment providers — Stripe on the web, or Google Play on Android — and we never see your card details. Stripe shares the order record with us, which includes the email address you enter at checkout; we use it only for purchase support and refunds, never for marketing.

Anonymous usage totals

To understand which names people love and where the app could be better, the app counts a small set of anonymous, aggregate totals — for example "the name Caspian was swiped right 40 times this week" or "120 quizzes were completed". These counts carry no identifiers of any kind: no account, no device ID, no round ID, and no IP address is stored with them. They cannot be linked back to you, your device, or your shortlist — we can only ever see totals, never anyone's individual answers or swipes. They are never shared or sold.

Daily-name notifications (optional, off by default)

If you switch on "a name a day," your browser creates a push subscription — an opaque delivery address that lets us send your device a notification. We store that address, your chosen frequency (daily or weekly), and the date we should stop sending. Nothing else travels with it: no name, no quiz answers, no device or account identifier. The notification itself is a fixed "a name is waiting for you" message — the actual name is chosen on your device when you open the app, so our servers never know which names you're seeing, today's included.

The subscription cleans itself up: pause it in the app, tap "Start fresh," or uninstall, and we stop sending and delete the address. If you simply stop visiting, sending stops by itself within a couple of weeks and the address is deleted shortly after.

What you share with your partner

When you tap "Send to partner" or "Send the matches back," the app generates a URL that contains your encoded quiz answers and the names you've liked. You then share this URL through whatever messaging app you choose — WhatsApp, Messages, email, anything you like.

The content of that URL doesn't pass through our servers. It goes directly from your messaging app to whoever you sent it to.

Third-party services

Hosting — Vercel

The website is hosted on Vercel. When your browser loads the site, Vercel automatically logs some technical information about the request — your IP address, the page path, the browser user-agent, and a timestamp. These are standard server logs and Vercel retains them for a limited period in line with their own retention practices. We don't access or analyse these logs. Vercel's privacy policy: vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy.

Analytics — Vercel Web Analytics

The site uses Vercel Web Analytics, a cookieless page-view counter. It records which pages are visited, the visitor's country, and the device type — with no cookies and no cross-site identifiers, so visits can't be traced back to you.

Payments — Stripe

Web purchases are processed by Stripe under Stripe's own privacy policy. We never receive your card number. Purchase records and the anonymous totals are stored with Upstash, our database provider.

Distribution — Google Play

If you installed The Shortlist via the Google Play Store on Android, Google may collect information related to that installation (device identifiers, install and uninstall events, crash reports). This is governed by Google's own privacy practices, not ours: policies.google.com/privacy.

Children

The Shortlist is intended for adults choosing a baby name together. The app is not designed for or directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has used the app and you'd like us to address it, please contact us at the email above.

Your rights

Under the UK GDPR, the EU GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and similar privacy laws around the world, you have rights over your personal data — to access it, correct it, delete it, port it, or object to its use.

Because almost no personal data ever reaches our servers, most of these rights are satisfied automatically: your data is already in your own browser, and you can view it, export it, or delete it yourself using your browser's standard tools or the in-app "Start fresh" button.

The exception is the premium purchase record. Email us and we'll delete it — though deleting it switches off the premium unlock on your device. You can also ask us about the limited technical log data held by Vercel on our behalf. Either way, we'll respond within 30 days.

Changes to this policy

If we update this policy, we'll change the "Last updated" date at the top of the page and describe any material change — anything that genuinely affects what data the app handles — here on this page.

Contact

Questions, concerns, or just want to say hi?