Privacy Policy
Last updated October 2, 2026
PlaceMatHQ ("PlaceMatHQ", "we", "us") makes a simple daily screen, the placemat, for older adults, and a Family Portal where their family and caregivers set it up. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. It applies to placemathq.com, the placemat, the Family Portal and our assistant, Mat.
Information we collect
From family members and caregivers
- Account details: name, email address, a password (stored only as a secure hash), and an optional photo.
- Whether you're family or a caregiver, and your relationship to the resident (for example "Son" or "Nurse"), if you add it.
- Payment details are handled by Stripe; we receive only a customer reference and the last digits of a card, never the full card number.
About the resident (the person using the placemat)
- Their first name, a PIN (stored only as a secure hash), their town or city for the weather, and display preferences such as text size and colours.
- What family, caregivers or the resident add: contacts, photos, reminders, tasks, calendar events, notes, messages, doctors and medications, radio stations and news interests.
- Conversations with Mat, the placemat's assistant.
Calendars and contacts you choose to connect
- Google Calendar (permission: see and download your calendars): event titles, dates and times from the calendars you tick, to show on the placemat.
- Google Contacts (permission: see and download your contacts): names, phone numbers and profile photos, read once so you can choose who to add to Family & Friends.
- Apple iCloud calendars and contacts: read using the Apple ID and an app-specific password you provide.
- Calendar links you paste (for example a club or school calendar).
Automatically
- Basic technical information needed to run the service securely: sign-in sessions (a cookie), IP address for rate limiting, and error logs.
How we use information
- To show the placemat: the day's plans, calendar, weather, photos, messages, contacts, radio and news.
- To let Mat answer the resident's questions and help with tasks they ask for.
- To deliver messages and video calls between the resident and their family.
- To send account emails (for example sign-in links and receipts) and to take payments.
- To keep the service secure and fix problems.
We do not sell personal information, use it for advertising, or build profiles for anyone else.
Google user data
When you connect a Google account, PlaceMatHQ requests read-only access:
| Permission | What we do with it |
|---|---|
Google Calendar, read only (calendar.readonly) | Read event titles, dates and times from the calendars you choose, and show them on that resident's placemat. We never create, change or delete events. |
Google Contacts, read only (contacts.readonly) | Read names, phone numbers and photos once, so you can pick people to add to Family & Friends. Only the people you choose are saved. We don't keep the rest, and we give back Google's access straight away. |
For Google Calendar we store an encrypted access key so the placemat stays up to date; disconnecting it in Settings deletes the key and withdraws our access at Google. You can also remove PlaceMatHQ at myaccount.google.com/permissions.
When the resident chats with Mat, Mat is given what's on their placemat so it can answer questions like "what's on today?". That can include event titles from a connected Google Calendar and the names of contacts imported from Google. They're sent to our AI provider, OpenAI, only to produce that reply; OpenAI doesn't use this data to train its models.
We don't use Google user data for advertising, we don't sell it, we don't use it to train AI models, and we don't let people read it except where you've asked us to (for example for support), for security, or where the law requires it.
Apple iCloud data
To read iCloud calendars, we store the app-specific password you give us, encrypted. It can only read; it can't change your calendars or anything else in your Apple account, and it stops working as soon as you delete it at account.apple.com. For iCloud contacts the password is used once and not kept, unless it's already saved for iCloud Calendar.
Who we share information with
We share information only with the companies that help us run PlaceMatHQ, and only what each needs:
| Service | What for |
|---|---|
| Railway | Hosting our servers and database |
| Cloudflare | Delivering the website securely |
| OpenAI | Mat's replies and voice. The resident's question and the placemat details needed to answer it (such as family names, calendar events and appointments) are sent; OpenAI does not use API data to train its models. |
| Stripe | Payments |
| Resend | Account emails |
| Daily | Video calls |
| Google Maps | Searching for places and addresses in forms |
| Open-Meteo and OpenStreetMap | Weather and finding the resident's town (only the place name is sent) |
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety. If PlaceMatHQ is ever sold or merged, this policy would continue to apply to your information.
How long we keep it
- Mat conversations: 30 days.
- Notes from family: shown for 24 hours.
- Everything else: for as long as the account is open. When an account is deleted, we delete its placemat, contacts, photos, calendars, messages and connections.
Security
Data is sent over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Passwords and PINs are stored as secure hashes. Google and Apple access keys are encrypted. Only people linked to a placemat can see or change it, and a placemat shared with another household is read-only and only after someone there approves it.
Your choices and rights
- See and change most information in Settings or the Family Portal at any time.
- Disconnect Google or iCloud in Settings → Calendar.
- Ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, or to delete your account, by emailing us.
Children
PlaceMatHQ is for adults. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 13. Family photos may include children; they're shown only on the placemat they were added to.
Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll update the date above and let account holders know by email.
Contact us
PlaceMatHQ, Inc., Ontario, Canada
Email: [email protected]