Privacy

• You don't need an account, and we never ask for your name.
• We run Google Analytics to see which sections get read. That's the only analytics tool on the site.
• One cookie remembers your reactions so they survive a page refresh. It isn't linked to any identity.
• We don't sell or share your data, run ad networks, or host advertising pixels.
• You only ever give us an email address if you type one into a form yourself.

When you load a page, Google Analytics records the pages you viewed, roughly how long you stayed, the site that referred you, and your device and browser type. It derives an approximate location (usually city or region) from your IP address. Google processes your IP address in order to do that; QuestWell does not store it or keep our own analytics database.

Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs, including IP addresses, for a short window for security and debugging.

Some features remember things in your browser's local storage. This data stays on your device, is never sent to us, and disappears if you clear your browser data:

• when you last visited, so we can mark stories that are new since then;
• which topics you opened this week, for the private weekend recap;
• your saved topic mix, your theme, and whether the desktop sidebar is collapsed;
• whether you signed up for the weekly email, so we can stop showing the signup form;
• whether you've visited before, so the invitation waits until you've looked around a little;
• whether you saw or closed the email invitation, so it stays away for a while;
• how many stories you've opened, so the invitation waits until you've read a little;
• for this visit only, which invitation, if any, was shown and how many stories you've opened;
• a copy of the stories you saved, so the Saved tab opens instantly;
• whether you dismissed the intro card, the daily word, the notification invite, or the Add to Home Screen banner, how many pages you've viewed (so that banner waits before asking), and whether you've seen the tip about saving stories.

Google Analytics also receives a few anonymous events so we can see what's useful: opening a story (its source and topic), following a link out (the site's domain and topic), saving or sharing a story, changing topics, loading more stories, turning on notifications, signing up for the email, seeing or closing the email invitation, tapping the tip link, whether the Add to Home Screen banner was shown, dismissed, or used, and searching. Searches include the words you typed, so we can see what readers look for and add sources to match.

These are all the cookies the site sets. There are no third-party advertising cookies.

Your browser settings control all of these. Blocking or clearing them costs you nothing but your saved reactions. To opt out of Google Analytics everywhere, Google publishes a browser opt-out add-on.

The suggest form stores what you type into it. The email field on that form is optional and exists only so we can reply. It is never added to our mailing list.

If you turn on notifications, your browser gives us a subscription address for your device, plus the keys needed to deliver a message to it and your browser's user-agent string. We use these only to send the notifications you asked for. Turning notifications off in your browser ends it.

If you sign up for our weekly email, your address goes straight to our email provider, Kit. We don't keep a copy. Kit sends you one confirmation email, and nothing else arrives until you tap its confirm link. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe link. We never sell, rent or share your email address. Kit records whether emails are opened and links are clicked; we use that only to see which picks are useful.

We keep the list of outside services short, and none of them is used for advertising:

• Google Analytics — traffic measurement, as described above.
• Railway — hosting and the database behind the site.
• Kit (kit.com): stores the email addresses of people who sign up for the weekly email, and sends it.
• Ko-fi (ko-fi.com): if you leave a tip, Ko-fi and its payment providers handle the payment. We never see your card details. Ko-fi shares your name or display name, email, the amount and any message with us so we can say thanks and keep records.
• Resend — delivers the email a form submission generates.
• S3-compatible object storage — holds images used on the site.
• Google's favicon service — your browser loads each source's small logo from Google.
• Publishers' own servers — story images and podcast audio load straight from the publisher's site, so the publisher sees a request from your browser, just as it would if you visited.
• YouTube, in its privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com) — only when you press play on a video.
• Your browser's push service (Google, Apple, or Mozilla, depending on your browser) — only if you enable notifications.

Google Analytics is capable of recognizing a browser across other sites that also use it. The other services above receive data only to perform their function for QuestWell. We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Browsers can send a Do Not Track signal, but no common standard exists for how a site should answer one, so QuestWell does not currently respond to it. The Google Analytics opt-out above and your browser's cookie controls are the reliable way to stop analytics collection here.

Because the site holds no account for you, most of what you can change lives in your own browser: clear the cookies, install the analytics opt-out, or switch notifications off. Your reactions are tied only to the random qw_did ID, which isn't stored with your name, email, or IP address; clearing your cookies gives you a new one and cuts the link to your old reactions. If you have a question about anything on this page, send it through the privacy request form. Leave an email there if you'd like a reply.

QuestWell is meant for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has sent us something, use the form above and we'll remove it.

If this policy changes in a way that affects what we collect, we'll update the effective date at the top and post the revised version here before the change takes effect. It's worth a glance now and then.