Privacy
Cooee is an SMS service. This page says, in plain English, what we store when you text the number, who else touches it, how long it's kept and how to get rid of it. It's written to meet the Australian Privacy Principles.
What we store
Everything is keyed to your mobile number - there is no account, name or email.
| What | Why | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Your mobile number | It's how SMS works, and it's the record of your opt-in | Until you ask us to delete it |
| Whether you've opted in or out, and when | Required by the Spam Act 2003 so we can show you consented and can stop when you say STOP | Kept as a compliance record even after you opt out |
| The text of every message you send and every reply we send | So the service can follow a conversation ("what about tomorrow?"), so we can show what was actually sent if there's ever a complaint, and to improve the answers (see below) | Until you ask us to delete it |
| A place name you mentioned (e.g. "Grampians") | So a follow-up question doesn't need the place repeated | Used for 12 hours, overwritten by the next place you mention |
| GPS coordinates, if you text them | Only to work out where that is and answer you | Kept as part of the message text, above |
| Whether your number has a subscription, until when, and Stripe's reference for it | To know which plan a number is on, and to find your subscription when you text BILLING | While the subscription exists, then as part of the billing record for 7 years as tax law requires |
| Weather charts we send you as pictures | The picture has to live somewhere for your phone to fetch it | Deleted after 24 hours |
We don't know your location unless you tell us. SMS carries no GPS data, and the network only tells us your number is Australian.
Who else processes it
To answer you, parts of your message go to these providers. Each only gets what it needs for its job.
- Twilio (USA) - carries the SMS in both directions. Sees your number and message text.
- Anthropic (USA) - the AI that writes the replies. Sees your message, our recent conversation with you (up to 10 previous turns) and any place name or weather we've looked up. Does not see your phone number as an identifier beyond what's needed to keep the conversation together.
- WeatherAPI.com - sees the place name you asked about.
- SerpAPI (web search) - sees the search query built from your question, when a search is needed (for example to check a current fire ban).
- OpenStreetMap Nominatim - sees GPS coordinates you send, to turn them into a place name.
- Fly.io (hosted in Sydney) - runs the service and holds the database.
- Stripe (USA, privacy policy) - takes payment if you subscribe. Sees your mobile number, your card details and the email you give it for receipts. Cooee never sees the card.
We don't sell or share your data with anyone else, and we don't use it for advertising.
Improving the answers
To find answers that were wrong or unhelpful and fix them, we read past conversations and try changes to Cooee against real questions people have asked before they go live. Those test runs go to Anthropic the same way a normal reply does.
When a copy of the conversations is taken off the server for this, every phone number in it is first replaced with a random code that can't be turned back into the number. The copy stays on our own computer, not a cloud drive, and is deleted within 30 days. So if you text DELETE, your messages disappear from those copies within the same 30 days.
Security
The database lives on an encrypted disk in Sydney. Incoming messages are only accepted if Twilio's signature checks out, and the only way to read a conversation is with an administrator key. "Who can see it" is a short list: Cooee, and the providers above for their part of the job.
Your choices
Stop messages: text STOP to 0485 088 977. You'll get one confirmation and nothing after that. Text COOEE to come back.
Delete your data: text DELETE to 0485 088 977 from the number in question. You'll get one confirmation, and your messages and place data are erased within 30 days. The bare opt-in/opt-out record (number, dates) is kept, as the Spam Act asks us to be able to show consent history.
To get a copy of what we hold about your number instead, text DELETE and then say you want a copy rather than deletion. Both are handled by hand and answered by text.
Children
Cooee isn't aimed at children and we don't knowingly keep data from anyone under 16. If that's happened, email us and it'll be removed.
Changes
If this page changes in a way that matters, the date at the top moves and the change is described here. We won't start using your data for something new without saying so.
24 September 2026: past conversations are now also used to improve the answers - see "Improving the answers" above.
Complaints
Email first - most things are a quick fix. If you're not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.