BowelAwareSign in

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 28 August 2026

1. Who we are

BowelAware is an Australian bowel-health tracking and education service. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect your personal information when you use our website and Progressive Web App.

We are committed to handling your information responsibly and in accordance with thePrivacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

2. Information we collect

  • Account and profile information: email address and the details you provide during sign-up and profile setup, such as preferred name, date of birth, sex, state or territory, postcode and GP contact details.
  • Agreement records: which legal documents you agreed to, the version and the date, plus whether you opted in to AI summaries.
  • Diary entries: dates, symptoms, Bristol stool observations, pain scores, notes and any photos you choose to upload.
  • Appointments: doctor or specialist name, speciality, location, date and time, and any notes you add before or after the appointment. This information is private to you.
  • Family and screening history: information you voluntarily record to help you prepare for conversations with your GP.
  • Reminder preferences: when you want diary check-in, GP prompt and appointment reminders, and whether notifications are enabled.
  • Stories you submit: if you choose to share a story, the content you write, your consent choices, and the contact details you give us so we can respond about moderation.
  • Anonymous usage events: counts of partner referral clicks (for example Rotary Bowelscan) and counts of when the app is shared, including the channel used and the page shared from. These events contain no health data and are not linked to your account.
  • Audit records: timestamped logs of key actions such as diary changes, photo uploads, story submissions and approvals, AI edit acceptance, deletion requests and administrator access.
  • Technical information: basic server logs needed to operate the service securely, such as IP address, browser type and access times. We do not use third-party advertising or analytics cookies.

3. Sensitive health information

Bowel symptoms, appointments and related diary entries may be sensitive health information under the Privacy Act 1988. We only collect this information with your consent and use it solely to provide the BowelAware service to you.

4. How we use your information

  • To provide your private diary, appointments, trends, reminders and GP summary tools.
  • To send the notifications and reminders you have opted in to.
  • To generate anonymous, aggregated statistics where you have consented.
  • To moderate and publish stories that people choose to submit.
  • To maintain the security, performance and integrity of the service.
  • To respond to your support requests, deletion requests or legal obligations.

5. Artificial intelligence features

Two optional features use an AI service: the facts-only "Summarise for my GP" tool and the story editing assistant. Both only run when you ask them to. The GP summary requires your AI consent and restates only what you recorded — it never diagnoses, estimates risk or recommends treatment. The story editor only improves wording, spelling and grammar of text you submit.

Text sent to the AI service is processed to return your result and is not used to train public models by us. Your photos and appointment details are never sent to AI services. You can decline AI features at any time and still use the rest of the app.

6. Disclosure of information

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information. We only disclose information:

  • To our hosting, authentication and storage provider (Lovable Cloud / Supabase) strictly for the purpose of operating the service.
  • To our AI provider, only for the optional AI features described above and only for the text you submit to them.
  • When you choose to share a GP summary via an expiring link — the recipient can only view the summary you explicitly generate.
  • When you publish a story after moderation, in the form you approved.
  • When required by law or to protect our legal rights.

Sharing the app with friends, family or on social media only shares our public web address. No diary entries, photos, appointments or health information are included.

7. Security

  • Data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest in the managed database.
  • Row-level security means your diary entries, photos and history are only accessible by you (and administrators only where necessary for service operation).
  • Your appointments are strictly owner-only. Administrators cannot view them, and they are excluded from GP reports, AI summaries, exports and shared links.
  • Photos are stored in private buckets, stripped of EXIF and geolocation metadata before upload, and served through short-lived signed URLs.
  • We use strong authentication and immutable audit logging for administrative access.

8. Offline storage and notifications

If you install BowelAware to your home screen, pages you have visited are cached on your device so key parts of the app work offline. Clearing site data or uninstalling the app removes that cache. Reminder and appointment notifications are opt-in and can be turned off in your reminder settings or your browser's site permissions. See our Cookie Policy for detail on browser storage.

9. Retention and deletion

We keep your information for as long as your account is active. You can export or delete your diary data at any time from Privacy & my data, or submit a formal request through data deletion. Confirmed requests are queued automatically: diary records, appointments, photos and, if you choose, your account are removed, and you can follow the status of your request in the app. Deletion is completed promptly and generally within 30 days. Anonymous referral and share counts contain no personal information and are retained in aggregate.

10. Your rights

Under Australian privacy law you have the right to access, correct and delete your personal information. You can do most of this directly in the app; otherwise contact us at the email below.

11. Complaints

If you believe we have mishandled your personal information, please contact us first. If you are not satisfied, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will always be available at this page with the updated date.

13. Contact us

Privacy questions or requests can be sent to: privacy@bowelaware.app