The fine print, minus the fog
Effective July 28, 2026
Sidetracked is an event-discovery app for Los Angeles, made by Marie Danilychev ("we", "us"). This policy says what we actually collect, who processes it, and how to get rid of it. It's written to be read.
Sign up with your email and a password, or with Sign in with Apple (if you use Apple's Hide My Email, we only ever see the relay address). You can also browse without an account — in that case the app uses an anonymous session ID instead of anything about you.
Username, name, bio, profile photo, Instagram handle, and phone number. The phone number exists for one reason: so friends who already have your number can find you. Leave any of it blank and the app works fine.
If you grant location access, we use your position while you're using the app to show events near you, sort the map, and tell you how far a venue is. We use it to answer that request — we don't build a history of where you've been. Say no (or turn it off later in your device settings) and you can still browse everything by neighborhood.
If you tap "find friends from contacts," we read the phone numbers in your address book and check them against existing Sidetracked accounts. We don't store your contacts — the numbers are used for that one lookup and discarded. This only happens when you tap the button, and only if you grant the permission.
Chats with the Guide are kept on your phone, not in an archive on our servers. When you send a message, it — plus recent context like your preferences and, if enabled, your location — is processed by our servers and Google's Gemini API to generate the answer. If you ask the Guide to remember something, that fact is saved to your account and the Guide says so out loud; it never quietly keeps notes. Deleting your account deletes those memories.
If you connect Spotify, we read your top artists to learn your music taste and rank events accordingly. That's the whole use. Disconnect anytime; we never post or change anything on your Spotify.
We collect analytics events (screens viewed, taps, saves, that a search or Guide message happened) and crash reports so we can fix what's broken. Analytics never includes the text of your messages or Guide chats — for a chat we record only that one was sent and how long it was. Crash reports are stripped of your email and IP address before they're stored.
We don't have "partners." We have service providers that run parts of the app, processing data on our instructions:
Beyond that, we'd share data only with your direction, or if the law genuinely requires it.
Off unless you opt in. If you do, we store a push token for your device to deliver them. Turn them off anytime in your device settings and the token goes unused.
Settings → Delete Account, right in the app. That's a real deletion, done server-side: your profile, saves, messages, preferences, Guide memories, and login are all erased — not "deactivated." If you'd rather not open the app, email us at sidetracked.hq@gmail.com and we'll do it for you. We keep your data only while you have an account; deletion removes it.
If you join the waitlist on getsidetracked.app, we store your email (with our email provider, Resend) solely to tell you about the launch — unsubscribe or email us and it's gone. The website uses PostHog and Vercel Analytics to count visits and clicks.
Data moves over encrypted connections, access is locked down per-account, and deletions are enforced server-side. No internet service can honestly promise perfection, so we won't — but we build like it's our own data, because it is.
Sidetracked is not directed at children. Our Terms require you to be 18 or older, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has given us data, email us and we'll delete it.
You can ask us what we have on you, ask for a copy, or ask us to delete it — email sidetracked.hq@gmail.com and we'll handle it. We don't sell or share personal information as those terms are defined in the CCPA, so there's nothing to opt out of.
If this policy changes, we'll update this page and the date at the top. If a change meaningfully affects your data, we'll say so in the app, not bury it here.
Questions, requests, complaints: sidetracked.hq@gmail.com. A person reads it.