What we collect, and why.
Compass is built for people living with dementia and the people who support them. That means we hold information about people who may not be in a position to police how it is used — so the short version is that we collect as little as we can, and never sell any of it.
Last updated 22 August 2026
Who we are
Compass is an early-stage project built and run by one person, David, in the United Kingdom. It is not yet a registered company, and the beta is not yet open. For the purposes of UK GDPR, David is the data controller for everything described below.
You can reach us about anything on this page through the contact form, and we will reply from a personal address. As Compass becomes a company, this page will be updated to name it — and we will say so here rather than changing it quietly.
This site, and the app, are different things
They collect different information and it is worth keeping them apart in your head:
- getcompass.co.uk — this marketing site. Two forms, and the live demo you can play with.
- app.getcompass.co.uk — the product itself. Only holds real information once someone has an account and has signed in.
The demo on the front page holds nothing
The Compass demo embedded on this site runs entirely in your browser on made-up sample data. It has no database connection at all — not a restricted one, not a read-only one, none. Nothing you tap in it is recorded, and no real person's information is ever shown in it.
What this site collects
The waitlist form
Your email address, and nothing else. We use it to email you about Compass — an invitation when we have room, and occasional notes on progress. We do not sell it, share it for anyone else's marketing, or add you to anything you did not ask for. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and asking us to delete you removes the record entirely.
Lawful basis: consent, which you gave by submitting the form and can withdraw at any time.
The contact form
Your name, email address, the subject line, and whatever you write in the message. We use it to reply to you and to keep track of the conversation afterwards.
Lawful basis: legitimate interests — replying to someone who has deliberately contacted us.
Please don't send us anyone's medical details
People often write to us about a parent or a partner. That is exactly who we built this for, and we want to hear from you — but health information about a named person is a special category under UK GDPR, and someone living with dementia may not be in a position to consent to you sharing it.
So tell us about your situation in general terms. You do not need to include a diagnosis, a medical history, or anything clinical for us to understand why you are writing. If you do send us something like that, we will not pass it on, and we will delete it once we have replied.
What the app holds
Only for people with an account. During the current beta, accounts are created by us by hand — there is no public sign-up.
| What | Why it exists |
|---|---|
| Name and email address | To sign in, and to know who you are in the app |
| Schedule, contacts, meals, TV channels | The content of the person's day — the product itself |
| Standing facts (“Ask Compass”) | Answers the person needs to hand when someone asks them something |
| Requests, and what happened to them | So a helper can see what was asked for and respond |
| Activity history | A record of what was done, and by whom |
| Who supports whom, and at what level | Decides what each helper can see and change |
| A record of every access change | A safeguarding trail — see below |
Lawful basis: performing the contract with the account holder. Where health-adjacent information is held, explicit consent from the person it is about, or their authorised representative.
Access changes are permanently recorded
Compass lets someone hand over control of their account gradually, and every one of those steps is written to a log that nobody can edit or delete — not the helper, not the person, not us through the app.
That is deliberate. If someone's independence is reduced, there should be a permanent answer to who did it and when. It also means those particular records are not erasable on request: they are a safeguarding measure, and one that could be quietly deleted would not be one. Closing an account removes them along with everything else.
Who else touches it
We keep this list short on purpose. Each of these is a processor acting on our instructions, not a party we sell anything to.
| Who | What for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Netlify | Hosts this site and receives its form submissions | USA, under standard contractual clauses |
| Vercel | Hosts the app | USA, under standard contractual clauses |
| Supabase | The app's database and sign-in | Ask us and we will confirm the region |
| Zoho Mail | Our email | EU/UK data centre |
| Google Fonts | Serves the typefaces on this page | See below |
Google Fonts is loaded from Google's servers, which means your IP address reaches Google when this page loads.
We do not use analytics, advertising trackers, or third-party cookies on this site.
Cookies and local storage
This site sets no cookies. The app stores your sign-in session in your browser's local storage — that is what keeps you signed in, and it is strictly necessary for the app to work. There is nothing to consent to because there is nothing optional being set.
How long we keep things
- Waitlist addresses — until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete you, or until the waitlist is retired.
- Contact messages — up to 24 months from your last contact, then deleted.
- Account data — for as long as the account is open. Delete the account and it goes, including the access log.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you can ask us to:
- Give you a copy of what we hold about you
- Correct anything wrong
- Delete it — subject to the access-log point above
- Stop or limit what we do with it
- Hand it over in a portable format
- Object to processing we are doing on legitimate-interest grounds
Ask through the contact form. We will respond within one month, and it costs you nothing.
If someone you support cannot exercise these rights themselves, you can do it on their behalf where you hold the appropriate authority — a lasting power of attorney, or deputyship. Ask us and we will tell you what we need to see.
If you are not happy with how we have handled it, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, or on 0303 123 1113. We would rather you came to us first, but that is your right and not conditional on anything.
Children
Compass is not designed for or directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information about anyone under 18.
Changes to this notice
If we change how any of this works we will update this page and change the date at the top. Anything that materially affects account holders, we will email about rather than leaving you to notice.