Simmer privacy
Who runs Simmer
Simmer is a MedRise app, operated by ViaAI LLC ("MedRise", "we"). Questions about this notice: [email protected]. The rest of med-rise.com is covered by the MedRise privacy policy.
What happens to the sound
While a session is running, your browser hands Simmer short slices of microphone sound, each about 43 milliseconds long. Simmer turns each slice into a few numbers (loudness, pitch and a voice-shape measurement used to tell the two of you apart) and then drops the sound. Audio is never saved, uploaded or sent anywhere, including to us.
Camera (flashlight only)
If you allow it, Simmer opens the back camera only to switch on the flashlight while the alarm is going off, then closes it. It never reads, shows, saves or sends any image. Your phone may show its camera indicator while the light is flashing.
Other phone features
Notifications, vibration, keeping the screen awake and asking the browser to keep Simmer's data are all handled by your phone. Nothing about them is sent to us. If you connect a Bluetooth heart-rate sensor (Chrome on Android or a computer), its readings go straight to the page and are saved only with your sessions on your device.
What Simmer keeps, and where
These are saved in this browser's local storage on this device only:
- Your two names and your settings.
- Per-second session numbers: loudness, pitch, who was speaking, the heat index, cool-offs, and any tags, notes or "felt heard" ratings you add.
- Voice profiles, if you choose voice-profile mode: a short list of numbers describing each person's voice. Some state laws treat this kind of data as a voiceprint, so both people must agree before one is made.
- Apple Watch heart-rate readings, only if you import them (Pro). Simmer keeps only readings from 10 minutes before to 30 minutes after each session and discards the rest of the file. The file is read on your device and is not uploaded.
None of this is sent to us. Because the data lives only on your device, we cannot see it, recover it or delete it for you.
What reaches our servers
- Hosting. med-rise.com is served by Cloudflare. Like any web host, it processes basic technical data, such as IP address, browser type and the page requested, to deliver the site and protect it from abuse.
- Visit counts. We keep our own daily count of how many times each page is viewed, whether a view was engaged, and a general source label (for example "google" or "direct"). It uses no cookies and stores no IP address, browser details or anything about your sessions. Cloudflare Web Analytics also counts visits without cookies or local storage.
- No Google Analytics runs on the Simmer app or this page. Fonts, icons and the unzip helper used for Apple Health imports are all hosted on med-rise.com.
Deleting your data
- In Simmer, open Settings and use Delete voice profiles, Delete heart-rate data or Delete everything.
- Or clear this site's data in your browser settings. That removes everything Simmer saved.
- Export your data in Settings gives you a copy of your sessions as a file first, if you want one.
Payments
Every Simmer feature, including Plus and Pro, is free for now. Plus and Pro will become paid options later; nothing is charged today and no card details are requested or collected.
What Simmer is not
Simmer is a communication aid. It is not therapy, counseling or a medical device, and it cannot tell who is right. It should only be used by two adults who both agree to it.
If you feel unsafe at home, this app is the wrong tool. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788. In an emergency, call 911.
Changes
We will post any changes here with a new date at the top.