FocusCity

A note from our team:

At FocusCity, your privacy is a top priority. We design all of our products and services thinking about your privacy and taking it seriously, because we would want the same from any website as a team. We know that many privacy policies have complicated language or not enough information. Our goal with this is to write everything in plain language so you can read and understand it.


PRIVACY POLICY

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! We appreciate you trusting us with your information and we will work hard to keep that trust.

This policy applies from January 16, 2026.

  1. Who We Are: Name of Organization and Contact Information

  1. Where this Privacy Policy Applies

  • This privacy policy applies to websites, apps, events, and other services we operate under FocusCity, as well as how we generally handle information within our organization (our “services”). If you agree to use any third party platforms that we use (e.g., Stripe), you also need to agree to their privacy policies and their privacy policies apply - not this one.

  1. Types of Personal Information We Collect

Information we get from you

  • When you register for the platform you share your full name, email address, and confirm you are over 17 years old to create an account.
  • You can also choose to share info about you like what you are currently focused on, your bio, interests, and the projects you’re working on. You can also share links to project or work related content, like your portfolio, LinkedIn, or personal website. These are optional to provide but help us tailor your experience and make meaningful connections between you and others on our platform.
  • When you subscribe to our app, you provide us with information related to the purchases you make from us. You also give our payment processors information such as your debit or credit card number or other financial information.
  • When you participate in surveys, focus groups, give us feedback/suggestions, leave us testimonials, etc., you give us insights into our products and services.
  • When you choose to participate in promotions, events, or contests, we collect the information that you provide to register/enter yourself.
  • When you contact us (e.g., through our help and feedback button, email, social media, etc.), we collect the information you give us during that interaction.

Information we get from others

  • We might get information from other community members on our platform about you as they use our services. For example, as they interact with you or if they submit a report that involves you.

Information generated/automatically collected when you use our services

  • Using our services generates technical data about which features you’ve used and how you’ve used them. For example, usage information like when you logged in, features you’ve been using, actions you've taken, information shown to you, and your interactions with other users (e.g., when you friend someone and send them a message).

Cookies

  • We only use essential cookies to make our websites not annoying to use (e.g., keeping you signed in when you open another tab instead of logging you out each time).

  1. Purposes for collection and use.

The main reasons we use your information are to deliver our services and improve them. We also use your information to help keep you and our community safe. More specifically, we use your information:

  • To create and administer your account, and provide our services to you
  • Examples:
  • Provide you with customer support and respond to your requests
  • Communicate with you about our services - like sending you notifications like your focus timer being up
  • To help you connect with other users and provide our features
  • Examples:
  • Show user’s profiles to each other. Information you disclose that appears on your profile (e.g., your bio, projects, etc.) also helps others on the platform decide whether or not they would like to connect with you.
  • We may recommend you to or place you in rooms with other users and/or recommend other users to you
  • To improve our services and develop new services/features
  • Examples:
  • Running surveys
  • Reviewing interactions with our support team
  • Understanding how people on our platform typically use features and what people like/don’t like, interact with/don’t use, etc.
  • Analyzing profile information to better understand the impact of our platform at a high-level and improve the experience
  • To market/advertise
  • Examples:
  • Promoting FocusCity and measuring which marketing efforts are working
  • Communicate with you about products or services that we believe may interest you
  • To prevent/stop fraud and other activities that violate our Terms of Service
  • Examples:
  • Find and address violations or potential violations of our Terms of Service through reviewing reports from members
  • Better understand and design our platform to prevent violations of our Terms of Service
  • Communicate to people who submit a report, including what we’ve done to address their submission
  • To ensure legal and regulatory compliance
  • Examples:
  • Data about transactions to help us with our accounting, taxes, etc.

  1. Circumstances when data is shared or disclosed.

  • Since our goal is to make a social space to focus, the main way we share your information is with other users. You share information with other users when you voluntarily disclose information on the service (including your username, profile, and statuses for what you’re currently working on). Profiles may be publicly viewable (accessible without logging in), and we may feature, reference, or showcase information you share on FocusCity (including your username, profile, avatar, and statuses for what you're currently working on) in our marketing materials (such as social media posts, videos, or promotional content). Please make sure that the information you are sharing on your profile is stuff that you're comfortable being publicly visible both on and off FocusCity.
  • If someone submits a report involving you (e.g., that you violated our Terms of Service), we might communicate what actions we took, if any, with the person who filed the report.
  • We use vendors to help us operate, distribute, market, and improve our services (e.g., data hosting and maintenance, analytics, payment processing, etc.). Any vendors we work with must agree to strict confidentiality obligations.
  • Law enforcement requests/when required by law.
  • We will only disclose information to law enforcement if they have a warrant, subpoena, or other order unless we think there is a significant danger for user(s) on our platform, in which case we may respond to investigative requests as long as they comply with applicable law.
  • With your consent or at your request
  • We might ask for your consent to share information outside of the other cases we’ve described. In any case like this, we’ll make it clear why we want to share the information. If we ever want to do things like feature you for a story or share a testimonial you give us non-anonymously, we will explicitly ask you for your consent and how you would like to be attributed.
  • Non-personal information
  • We may use and share non-personal information (i.e., information that by itself does not identify who you are like general demographics of people on our platform, general behavioural data, etc.). For example, we may share information with possible institutional customers/partners, investors, and community members about the impact of our platform and the performance of our product (e.g., how many users we have, focus outcomes, etc.).
  • We do not sell your data

  1. Risks of harm and other consequences.

  • While we do our best to create a safe and respectful environment that supports your well-being and protects your privacy, we can’t guarantee FocusCity users will always respect our guidelines and Terms of Service. Please only share what you are comfortable with the possibility of others knowing on and off our platform and use your best judgment when interacting with others.
  • Using FocusCity involves some risks that you should be aware of:
  • Social risks: Because FocusCity is a social platform, other users will be able to see your profile information, username, and what you're working on. We cannot control how other users interact with you or use publicly available information. Please be thoughtful about what you share.
  • Privacy considerations: Information you share on your profile may be visible to other users and could potentially be publicly viewable. This information may also appear in our marketing materials. Once information is shared publicly, we cannot control how others may use, share, or reference it.
  • Screen time: While FocusCity is designed to help you be productive and our team puts a lot of care into making this space good for people, spending extended time on any digital platform can impact your wellbeing. We encourage you to check in with yourself and use FocusCity in a way that supports your overall health and goals (e.g., do your best to sleep, eat, move, stay hydrated, talk to people you care about… even in exam season).
  • Technical issues: Like any online service, FocusCity may experience downtime, bugs, or technical issues that could interrupt your work sessions or affect your ability to access the platform.
  • By using FocusCity, you acknowledge these risks and agree to use the platform responsibly and at your own discretion.

  1. Methods of collection and obtaining consent.

  • Third Parties
  • We do not use third party sources to learn personal information about you.
  • We use service providers in the following categories to help us operate FocusCity:
  • Payment processing (e.g., Stripe)
  • Email communications and marketing (e.g., Beehiiv)
  • Product analytics (e.g., PostHog)
  • Forms and data collection (e.g., Google Workspace)
  • Cloud hosting and infrastructure
  • Authentication services
  • Customer support and communications
  • Contact and relationship management tools
  • User feedback and survey tools
  • For a current detailed list of specific providers, email us at support@focuscity.co
  • All information that you provide us with is opt-in except for name, email address, confirmation that you are over 17, and username. Product analytics data collection is enabled by default, but you can opt out and withdraw your consent to the collection of this data at any time [see next section for how].
  • If you choose to provide us with information that might be considered “special” or “sensitive” in certain jurisdictions (e.g., information about your neurotype, disability, sexual orientation, etc.) on your profile or elsewhere on the platform, you’re consenting to us processing that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

  1. Choices and withdrawal of consent.

  • Usually, you can withdraw your consent to sharing personal information with other users of our services by changing the information on your profile. You can also withdraw your consent or opt out from being included in product analytics data collection by contacting us at support@focuscity.co.
  • We send emails related to your FocusCity account, which may include account notifications, product updates, and other communications about FocusCity. You can adjust your email preferences or unsubscribe from non-essential emails at any time.

  1. Account closing, storage and deletion of information.

  • You can delete your account at any time. When you do so, your personal information will stop being visible to other users.
  • However, deleting your account does not automatically delete your information from our own files. We currently hold information indefinitely to help us understand more about our platform, to help us create a safe community, and to potentially make it easier for you to reopen your account in the future. If you would like your information deleted, you can request this at any time by emailing support@focuscity.co with the subject line “Delete my data” after closing your account, and we will delete all of the information that we are able to.
  • After requesting a data deletion, we may need to hold some limited data to comply with legal data retention obligations and to be able to support us legally as an organization (e.g., we keep transaction data for a minimum of 10 years to comply with tax and accounting legal requirements; we may need to keep “traffic data”/logs for one year to comply with legal data retention obligations; we need to keep records of consents users give us for at least five years to evidence compliance with applicable law; we maintain data necessary to prevent users who were banned or people under 17 from opening a new account for as long as necessary to ensure safety; if we get a valid legal subpoena or request asking us to preserve data we might need to keep the data to comply with legal obligations or otherwise need to keep and share data as part of legal proceedings).

  1. Where data is stored/cross-border transfers.

  • We are a Canadian company. Your data is stored on servers located in the European Union and Canada and may be accessed and processed by our team members and service providers in various countries globally.
  • For users in the European Economic Area (EEA), UK, or Switzerland: Canada has been recognized by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of data protection. For transfers to countries without adequacy decisions, we use appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses.
  • For users in other countries: By using FocusCity, you agree to your data being processed internationally as described in this policy.
  • We use third-party service providers to help us operate FocusCity. These providers may store or process your data in various locations. We ensure that all service providers maintain appropriate data protection standards, including using safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses where required for international transfers. For a current list of all third-party service providers we use and where they process data, email us at support@focuscity.co
  • Your rights: All users have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing of, port, and object to processing of their personal data. If you are in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you may also lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. Contact us at support@focuscity.co to exercise these rights.

  1. Safeguards.

  • All user information will be encrypted when it is stored and when it is transmitted over the Internet.
  • Please also help us keep a safe and secure community by keeping your password information private and emailing us immediately at support@focuscity.co if you think someone other than you has accessed your account.
  • While we take steps to protect your information, no security system is foolproof. We cannot guarantee the absolute security of your data.

  1. Access and correction requests.

  • You can send a request to see the personal information that we have collected about you by emailing support@focuscity.co with the subject line “I want to see my personal information”. After you see what we have, you can request any information be corrected and we will get back to you in 30 days. For your protection and the protection of all of our users, we may ask you to provide proof of the account belonging to you before we can answer the above access and correction requests. We may reject requests if we are unable to authenticate you, if the request is unlawful or invalid, or if it may infringe on trade secrets/intellectual property/privacy/other rights of someone else.
  • You can also correct most information you provided to us by editing your profile directly in the service.

  1. Complaints, questions, and concerns.

  • Any complaints, questions, or concerns you have about our personal information management practices can be made to support@focuscity.co. We will do our best to work with you to resolve whatever it is you’re worried about and/or answer any questions you have.

  1. Amendments.

  • We may update this Privacy Policy as FocusCity grows and evolves. For material changes (such as changes to what data we collect, how we use it, or who we share it with), we'll notify you by email and/or through the platform at least seven days before changes take effect and post the updated policy on our website. For minor updates (such as clarifications, typo corrections, or updated contact information), changes take effect when posted on our website. Continued use of FocusCity after changes take effect means you accept the updated policy. If you disagree with material changes, you may delete your account before the effective date.