Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 8, 2026

Ember ("we," "our," or "us") operates the Ember mobile application (the "App") and the website at ember-cigars.com (the "Website"). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use the App or the Website.

1. Information We Collect

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect:

• Email address — used for authentication and account recovery
• Display name — shown in your profile and on community feed posts
• Authentication provider — Google Sign-In or email/password
• Date of birth — collected at sign-up to verify you are 21 or older. We store the date you provide along with a timestamp of when you attested to it. Date of birth is set once and is not editable from the App afterward.
• Premium subscription state — if you purchase a Premium subscription through Apple, we store whether your account is currently entitled to Premium and the date that status last changed. Payment is processed entirely by Apple; we do not receive or store your payment method, card number, or billing address.

User-Generated Content

When you use the App, you may choose to provide:

• Smoke log entries (ratings, tasting notes, pairings, personal notes)
• Photos of cigars you've smoked
• Humidor inventory data (cigars, quantities, aging info, per-stick price paid)
• Wishlist entries (cigars, priority, notes)
• Onboarding preferences (experience level, flavor preferences)
• Comments and likes on community feed posts
• Submissions of new cigars and cigar shops to our catalog
• Cigar shop reviews, photos, and check-ins
• Feedback and bug reports submitted through the App

Community Feed & Public Visibility

Ember includes a Community Feed where smoke log entries — including cigar name, rating, tasting notes, personal notes, and photos — are visible to all other registered Ember users. By logging a smoke, you consent to that entry appearing in the Community Feed.

Your display name is shown alongside your posts in the Community Feed. You can set a custom display name in Settings to use instead of your account name, giving you control over how you appear to other users. Your email address and date of birth are never shown publicly.

Comments you post on feed entries are visible to all registered users. Likes are aggregated (only the count is shown — individual likers are not displayed). Cigar shop submissions, reviews, photos, and check-ins are visible to other registered users in the App's shop discovery features.

Location Information

When you use the cigar shop discovery feature, we collect your device's approximate location (latitude and longitude) to find nearby shops. This location data is transmitted to our server and to Google Maps Platform to return relevant results. We do not store your location persistently.

Govee Sensor Integration (Optional)

If you choose to connect a Govee humidor sensor, you provide us with your personal Govee API key and select a device. We store your API key, the selected device's ID, model, and name on our server, and we use the API key to poll Govee's API for temperature and humidity readings on your behalf. We retain a history of those readings so you can view trends in the App. You can disconnect the sensor at any time, which deletes the stored API key and device information. Your interactions with Govee's API are also subject to Govee's Privacy Policy.

Push Notifications

If you grant the App permission to send push notifications, your device's push token is registered with our push notification provider (OneSignal) so we can deliver notifications such as feed likes, comments, and important announcements. You can revoke this permission at any time in your device's notification settings.

Website Waitlist

If you sign up for the waitlist on the Website, we collect the name and email address you provide, the referral source (if any), and your IP address and browser user agent for abuse prevention.

Automatically Collected Information

We do not use third-party analytics or advertising SDKs in the App, and we do not track you across other apps or websites.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information solely to:

• Provide and maintain the App's features (journal, humidor, wishlist, search, shop discovery, sensor integration)
• Authenticate your account and secure your data
• Verify that users of the App are 21 years of age or older
• Process and display your smoke logs, humidor, and wishlist
• Display your smoke logs in the Community Feed for other registered users
• Power search functionality and personalized recommendations (cigar data and a summary of your recent smoke history may be processed by AI services for search results and one-sentence personalized rationales on the Discover screen)
• Enable social features (likes and comments on community feed posts) and deliver related push notifications
• Validate your Premium subscription entitlement with Apple
• Respond to feedback and support requests you submit
• Communicate with people who join the waitlist about Ember's launch

3. Data Storage and Security

Your structured data (smoke logs, humidor, wishlist, account info, sensor readings) is stored in a PostgreSQL database hosted on a private server. Photos you upload are stored in Firebase Storage (Google). All communication between the App and our servers is encrypted via HTTPS. Authentication is handled by Firebase Authentication (Google).

We do not sell or rent your personal information. We share information with the third-party processors listed below only as needed to operate the App and Website.

4. Third-Party Services

The App and Website use the following third-party services:

• Firebase Authentication (Google) — for account creation and sign-in. Subject to Google's Privacy Policy.
• Firebase Storage (Google) — for storing photos you upload. Subject to Google's Privacy Policy.
• Google Vertex AI — for processing cigar search queries (embedding generation) and for generating one-sentence personalized rationales on the Discover screen. For rationales, a summary of your recent smoke history (cigar names, ratings, and tasting notes) is sent to the model. Subject to Google Cloud Privacy Notice.
• Google Vision API — for cigar band scanning. When you use the band scanner, an image of the cigar band is sent to Google Vision API for text recognition and image analysis. Subject to Google Cloud Privacy Notice.
• Google Gemini — for cigar band identification (as a fallback when other identification methods are inconclusive) and for generating Discover rationales. Subject to Google Cloud Privacy Notice.
• Google Maps Platform — for cigar shop discovery. Your location is sent to Google Maps to find nearby shops. Subject to Google's Privacy Policy.
• Apple (App Store / StoreKit) — for processing in-app purchases of Premium subscriptions. Apple handles your payment and shares only the entitlement status with the App. Subject to Apple's Privacy Policy.
• OneSignal — for delivering push notifications. Your device push token is registered with OneSignal. Subject to OneSignal's Privacy Policy.
• Govee — used only if you connect a Govee humidor sensor. Your Govee API key is used to poll readings from Govee's API. Subject to Govee's Privacy Policy.
• Airtable — used internally to triage feedback, bug reports, and waitlist signups. Records are mirrored from our database to Airtable. Subject to Airtable's Privacy Policy.
• Discord — used to notify our internal team of new waitlist signups. The signup name and email are posted to a private Discord channel via webhook. Subject to Discord's Privacy Policy.
• Cloudflare — for secure API routing and Website hosting. Subject to Cloudflare's Privacy Policy.

5. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, your data will be permanently removed from our servers within 30 days, including any stored Govee API keys and sensor history. Waitlist entries are retained until you ask us to remove them or until we close out the waitlist.

6. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access your data — all your data is visible within the App
• Delete your data — you can delete individual smoke logs, humidor items, wishlist entries, and comments from within the App. Deleting a smoke log also removes all associated likes and comments. To delete your entire account and all associated data, contact us at the email below.
• Export your data — contact us to request a copy of your data
• Disconnect integrations — you can disconnect your Govee sensor at any time from within the App, which deletes the stored API key and device information.

7. Children's Privacy

The App is not intended for use by anyone under the age of 21. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 21. If we learn that we have collected data from someone under 21, we will delete it immediately.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the App after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

9. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your data, contact us at:

support@ember-cigars.com