Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Filmtelligentsia, Inc. (“we”, “us”, or “our”), a company registered in the United States, handles information in connection with the Bushido: The Path mobile application (the “App”) and the website bushidotheway.com (the “Site”). Filmtelligentsia, Inc. is the data controller responsible for the personal information described here. It describes what we actually do today.

Short version: You can read without an account. If you choose to create one, we collect your email address, a display name you choose, an account identifier, and your reading activity (such as streaks and challenge progress) so those features work across your devices. Your journal entries, highlights and bookmarks are never sent to us — they stay on your device and in your own private iCloud. You can delete your account and its data from inside the App at any time. We do not sell or share your personal information, and we do not use it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

1. The App

Reading without an account

The App does not ask you to sign in to start reading. Hagakure’s opening chapters, the daily insight, the journal, highlights and bookmarks all work with no account at all. An account is required only to continue through the rest of Hagakure and to use the features that are account-bound — syncing your progress across devices, reading streaks, and community challenges.

Accounts and how you sign in

There is exactly one way to create an account: Sign in with Apple. We do not offer passwords, so there is no password for us to store, no reset email to intercept, and nothing for us to leak. Apple confirms your identity to us; if you choose Apple’s private-relay option, we receive only a relay address and never your real one.

The sign-in itself and the account data below are handled by our authentication and database provider.

Account data we collect

When you create an account, we collect and store:

• Email address — from Sign in with Apple, which may be a private relay address rather than your real one. Identifies your account and delivers the newsletter if you opt in.
• Display name — a name you choose, shown in the App.
• User ID — an account identifier we generate to associate your data with your account.
• Reading activity — reading days, streaks and challenge progress, stored with your account so they are available on your other devices.
• Marketing-consent flag — whether you opted in to the newsletter, so we can honour and prove your choice.
• Purchase records — which volumes or supporter tips you have bought, so a purchase survives reinstalling the App. We never receive your payment details.

This account data is stored with our authentication and database provider. We do not collect your payment details, contacts, precise location, advertising identifiers, or biometric data, and the App contains no third-party advertising, analytics, or tracking software.

What you write stays yours

Your journal entries, highlights, and bookmarks are stored on your device using Apple’s on-device database, and — if you are signed in to iCloud — may sync through your own private iCloud account (CloudKit) so they are available on your other Apple devices. This is your personal iCloud storage; we have no access to it, and it is governed by Apple’s Privacy Policy. Reading activity tied to your account (streaks, challenges) is stored with your account as described above; the content of your journal entries is never sent to us.

Audio streaming and downloads

Narrated audio is delivered from our content-delivery network (Cloudflare). As with any app that loads content from the internet, our delivery network processes standard technical request information (such as your device’s IP address) for the limited time needed to serve the audio and to protect against abuse. These are ordinary server logs; we do not use them to build a profile of you, and we do not combine them with any other information about you.

Purchases

The App is free. It offers optional one-time purchases: three supporter tips, and permanent unlocks for The Book of Five Rings and Meditations. These are processed entirely by Apple through the App Store. We do not receive your name, payment card, or other payment details — Apple confirms to us that a purchase is valid, and we record which product it was against your account so the unlock survives a reinstall. Apple’s handling of your purchase is governed by Apple’s Privacy Policy.

2. The Website

Waitlist / “Notify me” signup

If you join our waitlist on the Site, we collect:

• Your email address, which you enter into the form.
• Basic signup details: the page or source you signed up from, your IP address, and the date and time — recorded to prevent spam and abuse.

The form uses a hidden anti-spam field (a “honeypot”); submissions that trip it are discarded and not stored. We store this information in a database hosted by Cloudflare (D1). The Site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages, which processes standard web-server logs to deliver and secure it.

Website analytics

The Site uses Cloudflare Web Analytics, which is cookieless: it sets no cookies, does not fingerprint your device, and reports only aggregate page-view counts. It is not used to identify or profile you, and there is no advertising network on this Site.

Newsletter

If you opt in — on the Site or in the App — we send you an occasional newsletter (a passage from the text and news about the App). When our newsletter tool (Kit, also known as ConvertKit) is enabled, your email address and consent record are shared with that provider solely to deliver these messages. Every message includes an unsubscribe link. We do not sell your email or share it for anyone else’s marketing.

3. Purposes and Lawful Bases

• Email, display name, User ID — create and secure your account and provide account features. Basis: performance of a contract (our Terms).
• Reading activity — provide streaks and challenges and sync them across your devices. Basis: performance of a contract.
• Purchase records — deliver content you paid for and let you restore it. Basis: performance of a contract.
• Marketing-consent flag and email — send the newsletter you asked for. Basis: consent, withdrawable at any time.
• Waitlist email and signup metadata — notify you about launch; prevent spam and abuse. Basis: consent; legitimate interest in security.
• Server and CDN logs — deliver content and secure the service. Basis: legitimate interest in operating securely.

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time by unsubscribing or contacting us; withdrawal does not affect processing carried out before you withdrew.

4. Third Parties We Rely On

• Apple — the App Store, in-app purchases, Sign in with Apple, and (through your own account) iCloud sync. See Apple’s Privacy Policy.
• Our authentication and database provider — stores account data (email, display name, User ID, reading activity, marketing-consent flag, purchase records) and handles sign-in.
• Cloudflare — hosts the Site, the waitlist database, and the audio content-delivery network, and provides the cookieless Web Analytics described above.
• Kit (ConvertKit) — delivers the newsletter once enabled; receives only the addresses and consent records of people who opted in.

We do not sell or rent your personal information to anyone, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

5. Data Retention

• Account data is kept while your account exists, then purged as described in Section 6.
• Newsletter data is kept until you unsubscribe or delete your account.
• Waitlist email is kept until you ask us to remove it or unsubscribe.
• Server and CDN logs are retained only briefly, for security and operational purposes.
• On-device and iCloud data is controlled by you: delete entries in the App, delete the App, or manage your iCloud storage in iOS Settings.

6. Deleting Your Account

You can delete your account from inside the App at any time, in Settings. When you confirm deletion:

• Your account record and associated personal data in our database — email, display name, User ID, reading activity and purchase records — are permanently deleted, typically immediately and in any case within 30 days.
• If you opted in to the newsletter, your address is removed from the newsletter tool as part of, or promptly following, deletion.
• Purchases you made through Apple are recorded by Apple, not by us. Deleting your account does not revoke Apple’s record, and you can still restore eligible purchases through Apple.
• Data stored only on your device or in your own iCloud account is not part of our database; remove it by deleting entries in the App, deleting the App, or managing your iCloud storage in iOS Settings.

If you cannot reach the in-App option, you can request deletion by contacting us (Section 10) and we will verify and complete it.

7. Your Choices and Rights

• Unsubscribe / withdraw consent: every newsletter includes an unsubscribe link. Withdrawing consent does not affect your account.
• Access, correction, deletion: you can view and update your details in the App, and delete your entire account and its data as described in Section 6. You may also ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• California residents (CCPA/CPRA): you have the right to know what personal information we collect (email, display name, User ID, reading activity, purchase records, and on the Site a waitlist email and signup metadata), to access it, to correct it, and to request its deletion. We do not sell or share your personal information, and we do not use it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights.
• EU/UK residents (GDPR): you have rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability and objection. Our lawful basis for account data is performance of our contract with you; for the newsletter and waitlist it is your consent, which you may withdraw at any time. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

8. Security

We use reasonable technical measures to protect the information we hold, including transport encryption (TLS), authentication through a reputable provider, and per-account database access rules that prevent one account from reading another’s data. No system is perfectly secure, but collecting as little as possible — and keeping your journal off our servers entirely — remain our strongest safeguards.

9. Children’s Privacy

The App and Site are intended for users aged 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, and we do not knowingly allow anyone under 13 to create an account. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

10. International Users and Transfers

We operate from the United States. If you use the App or Site, or create an account, from outside the United States, your personal information may be stored and processed in the United States and in other locations where our service providers operate. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards for such transfers.

11. Changes to This Policy

We will update this Policy as the App and Site evolve. We will not begin collecting any new category of personal information until we have updated this Policy to describe it and, where the law requires, obtained your consent. When we make material changes we will update the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, provide additional notice.

12. Who We Are and How to Contact Us

The Site and the App are operated by Filmtelligentsia, Inc., a company registered in the United States, which is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, want to access or delete your data, or wish to exercise any of the rights described in Section 7, see our Contact page.