1. Our approach to privacy

Hearth is a wellbeing monitoring system that uses passive sensors - motion detectors, a radar-based presence sensor, and a door contact sensor. There are no cameras, no microphones, and no audio recording of any kind. We believe care monitoring should be invisible to the person being cared for, and transparent to the family using it.

2. What data Hearth collects

About the monitored person

• Motion events from the kitchen and bathroom sensors (timestamped presence/absence)
• Presence data from the bedroom sensor (whether someone is in bed or not)
• Door events from the front door sensor (open/closed timestamps)
• No personally identifiable information is collected from the sensors themselves. The sensors detect activity patterns, not identity.

About you (the account holder)

• Email address and name (for account creation and notifications)
• Notification preferences
• Billing information (processed securely via Stripe - Hearth does not store card details)

3. Where data is stored

All sensor data is processed and stored locally on the Hearth Hub in your parent's home. Sensor event data never leaves the home network unless a Care Circle member accesses the dashboard remotely. Remote access is provided via an encrypted Cloudflare Tunnel. Authentication requires email-based one-time password (OTP). Our cloud infrastructure handles account management, billing, and push notification delivery only. It does not store sensor data.

AI-powered insights (optional)

If you enable AI-powered insights (optional, off by default), aggregated daily metrics are sent securely via HTTPS to our AI processing provider (Anthropic) to generate plain-English summaries and reports. This includes room visit counts, wake and sleep times, outing durations, and activity scores. It does not include raw sensor events, names, addresses, or any other personally identifiable information unless you have configured a resident name in your settings. Anthropic does not retain this data after processing. You can disable AI insights at any time in your dashboard settings.

4. Who can see the data

Only invited members of the Care Circle can view dashboard data and receive notifications. Care Circle membership is managed by the primary account holder. Members can be added or removed at any time. Hearth Systems staff do not have routine access to sensor data on the hub. Diagnostic access for troubleshooting is logged and visible to the account holder.

5. Data retention

• Sensor events are stored locally on the hub with rolling retention
• Daily summaries are retained indefinitely on the hub for trend analysis
• Account data (email, name, billing) is retained for the duration of the subscription
• Upon cancellation, account data is deleted within 30 days on request
• The hub can be factory reset at any time, which erases all local data

6. Your rights

Hearth Systems Ltd is the data controller. The data subject is the monitored person (your parent). Our lawful basis for processing is the legitimate interest of the family members in monitoring the wellbeing of a vulnerable person, combined with the informed consent of the monitored person.

As a data subject, the monitored person has the right to:

• Access their data
• Request correction of inaccurate data
• Request deletion of their data
• Request data portability
• Object to processing
• Withdraw consent at any time

To exercise any of these rights, contact info@hearthsystems.co.uk.

7. Children's privacy

Hearth is designed for monitoring elderly adults living independently. It is not designed for, marketed to, or intended for use with children under 18.

8. Changes to this policy

We will notify all account holders by email of any material changes to this policy before they take effect.

9. Contact

Hearth Systems Ltd
Registered in England & Wales
Email: info@hearthsystems.co.uk