Privacy Policy

Ottilie (“Ottilie”, “we”, “us” or “our”) provides a daily phone call and a letter home for older Australians, and keeps their family gently in the loop. We take your privacy seriously, and we handle personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, how we keep it safe, and how you can access, correct or complain about the way we handle it. By using Ottilie you agree to this policy.

1. What we collect

Depending on how you use Ottilie, we may collect:

• Account details — names, phone numbers, email addresses, time zone, the call time and voice chosen, and the preferences you set up.
• Conversation information — recordings and transcripts of calls, and the notes we draw from them (for example the summary in your letter, things to pass on, or a sign that a day was harder than usual).
• Care circle contacts — the names and contact details of the family members or friends you nominate to receive letters or to be told if something sounds off.
• Life-admin notes — the practical things mentioned on a call that you’ve asked us to keep an ear out for, such as “the tap’s dripping” or “a script is waiting at the chemist”.
• Technical and usage information — collected automatically, such as device and browser type, IP address, log and activity data, and cookies (see section 9).
• Payment information — handled by our third-party payment provider. We do not store full card numbers.
• Sensitive information — some of what is said on a call may be health-related or otherwise sensitive. We only collect sensitive information with your consent and where it is reasonably necessary to provide the service.

2. How we collect it

We collect most information directly from you — when you join the waitlist, sign up, set up a call, or use your dashboard — and from the calls themselves. Where a family member sets up the service for an older person, we rely on them confirming they have that person’s agreement to take part.

3. Why we use it

• To make the daily call and write the letter home.
• To remember what matters — names, dates, the dog, last week’s conversation — so each call picks up where the last one left off.
• To notice when a day sounds harder than usual and, if you’ve asked us to, let a nominated family member know during business hours.
• To pass on the practical things mentioned on a call. We relay them — we never book, buy, pay for or order anything, and we never give health, money or legal advice.
• To operate, support, secure and improve the service, including billing and customer support.
• With your consent, to send you occasional updates about Ottilie.

4. Consent

We ask for consent when someone joins — including consent for the calls to be recorded and for us to draw wellbeing notes from them, and for a nominated family member to be told if something sounds off. You can withdraw consent at any time by changing your settings or contacting us; some parts of the service may not work without it.

5. Who we share it with

• Your nominated care circle — only the people you choose, and only what you’ve turned on (letters, things to know, life-admin notes).
• Service providers — trusted suppliers who help us run the service, such as telephony, hosting, AI processing, data storage, analytics and payments. They are bound by confidentiality and privacy obligations and may only use the information to provide their service to us.
• Safety and legal reasons — where we reasonably believe it is necessary to lessen a serious threat to someone’s life, health or safety, or where the law requires or authorises it.
• Business transfers — if Ottilie is ever restructured, merged or sold, information may be transferred under appropriate privacy safeguards.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

6. Overseas disclosure

Some of our service providers — for example those providing AI processing, telephony or hosting — may store or process information outside Australia, including in the United States. Where we disclose information overseas we take reasonable steps to ensure it is handled consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

7. Keeping it safe

We protect personal information with encryption in transit and at rest, access controls, monitoring, and contractual safeguards with our suppliers. No system is ever completely secure, so please take care with the sensitive information you share.

8. How long we keep it

We keep information for as long as it is needed to provide the service — call recordings, transcripts and the notes drawn from them, account details while your account is active, and billing records for as long as the law requires. When information is no longer needed, we destroy or de-identify it. You can ask us to delete information at any time, and we will do so unless we are required to keep it.

9. Cookies and analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in, run core features and understand how the site is used. You can disable cookies in your browser, though some features may not work properly.

10. Children

Ottilie is for adults. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If we learn we have, we will delete it.

11. Access, correction and complaints

You can ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct anything that is wrong, by emailing us. We may need to verify who you are first. We will respond within a reasonable time.

If you think we have mishandled your personal information, please tell us first and we’ll do our best to put it right. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

12. Contact us

Email [email protected]. Our business details, including our ABN and registered address, are available on request.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top shows the current version. If a change materially affects how we handle your information, we’ll let you know by email or in the app before it takes effect.