The short version: We collect what you choose to share with us — your email address, your name, your province, your due date or your baby's birth date, and details about your pregnancy or your children that you add to your profile. We use it to send you the right information at the right time. We don't sell it. You can access, correct, or delete your data, or unsubscribe, at any time. If you use the Benefits Scanner on the website or in the app, the documents you upload are read by us and our AI provider, and we delete the files after 30 days. Because our database, email and AI providers store data in the United States, your information may be processed outside Canada.
1.Who we are
Maternly ("we," "us," "our") is a free Canadian maternal health companion. This policy covers everything we run: the website at maternly.ca, the email reminder service, Maternly accounts, and the Maternly mobile app. We are based in Canada and handle personal information in accordance with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial privacy laws.
2.What we collect
We aim to collect the minimum information needed to provide the Service:
- Email address — so we can send the reminders and content you sign up for.
- Due date or expected dates (if you provide them) — so reminders can be timed to your stage of pregnancy or postpartum.
- Your name (if you provide it) — your first name so we can personalize what we send you, and your last name if you choose to add it to your profile.
- Your province or territory — so reminders and resources match where you live.
- Your role — whether you're the birthing parent, a partner, or an adoptive parent.
- Information about your children, provided by you — a child's name and date of birth, if you add them to your profile. See Children's information below for how we treat this.
- Your pregnancy status — if you use the "Something has changed" option, we record that your circumstances changed (for example, a loss, a decision to stop reminders, or a NICU stay). We explain why in "Why we collect it" below.
- Account information — your email address is your login. We sign you in with a secure link sent to your inbox, so there is no password for us to store.
- Wellness check-ins — if you use mood check-ins, we store the entries you create so you can look back on them. They're yours; see Section 9 to get a copy or have them deleted.
- Your employer and phone number (both optional) — you can add these under "Additional info" on your profile. We use them to build a fuller picture of who Maternly is for, so we can shape the service around the people actually using it. Leave them blank if you'd rather, or clear them at any time. We don't use your phone number to call or text you.
- Leave estimate (if you use the leave calculator while signed in) — the results it works out, such as your weekly benefit, weeks of leave and totals, so they appear on your dashboard and in the app. We don't store the salary you enter.
- Household income range and saved benefits (both optional) — if you choose an income range in the benefits finder, we save it to your account so the website and the app show the benefits that fit; saved benefits are the ones you mark to come back to. We never ask for your exact income.
- Benefits documents and scan results (only if you use the Benefits Scanner on the website or in the app) — the photos, screenshots or PDFs of your workplace benefits documents you upload, and the coverage summary we make from them. See The Benefits Scanner below.
- Concierge pilot sign-up (optional) — if you join the waitlist, the services you picked, anything you typed under "Something else", and the price you said feels fair.
- Consent records — the date and time you signed up or turned on a feature, so we can show that we only email you because you asked us to.
- Basic technical and usage data — such as the fact and time you submitted a form, and limited delivery information (for example, whether an email was opened or a link clicked) provided by our email service.
- How Maternly gets used — our hosting provider measures overall site traffic, such as page views and referrers, from server logs. This happens on the server: we run no analytics or tracking scripts in your browser, set no cookies for this, record nothing about how you move around a page, and never use it to identify individual visitors. The Benefits Scanner also records a short list of events tied to your account, such as "scan started" or "joined the waitlist", so we can tell whether it's working. These events contain no document content.
Some of what you share with us is sensitive — a due date, a child's birth date, a pregnancy loss, a NICU stay, how you're feeling. We treat all of it with the care that sensitivity deserves: we collect it only when you actively give it to us, we use it only for the purposes described in this policy, and we never sell it or use it for advertising. Maternly is still not a medical record system, and it is not a substitute for your healthcare provider.
3.Why we collect it (purpose)
We use your information only to: deliver the reminder emails and tools you request; time and personalize that content; respond to your questions; and operate, secure, and improve the Service. Two of those deserve to be spelled out:
- Timing what we send you. A due date or a child's birth date lets us send the right information at the right stage, rather than everything at once.
- Knowing when to stop. If you tell us your circumstances have changed, we record that so our systems stop sending reminders that no longer fit — immediately and reliably. We keep that record for exactly that reason, and so we can put things back if you come back to us later.
We rely on your consent, which you give when you sign up, and which you can withdraw at any time (see Section 9).
4.The Benefits Scanner
The Benefits Scanner on maternly.ca and in the Maternly app reads your workplace benefits documents and shows what your plan covers, what you've used and what's left. It's optional, and nothing is uploaded unless you choose files and tap to scan.
- What we read. Coverage amounts, limits, reset dates and past claims. We don't need member IDs, policy numbers or other identifiers, and you're welcome to cover them before you upload. Your file names stay on your device.
- Our AI provider. Your files are read by our AI provider on our behalf. Under its terms with us, our AI provider doesn't use what we send it to train its models, and it deletes it within 30 days, unless it must keep it longer by law or to investigate misuse of its service.
- What we keep. We instruct our AI provider to leave out names, ID numbers, addresses and similar details, and we check for and remove any that slip through, before we save your coverage summary. The summary, and any answers you give to firm it up, stay in your account until you delete your account or ask us to delete them.
- Your original files. We keep them for 30 days so you can add to a scan, then delete them automatically. You can delete them sooner with "Delete my uploaded files" on your coverage page.
- Someone else's plan. If you upload your partner's plan or documents that describe someone else, please make sure they're OK with you sharing them.
- Emails. If you ask us to, we'll email you once when your scan is ready. We don't send any other scanner emails.
- Concierge pilot. If you join the waitlist, your sign-up answers and your email address and province are sent to our team so we can contact you about a spot. If you leave the waitlist, we mark your sign-up as left; email us if you'd like it deleted.
The scanner gives estimates based on your documents. It isn't a decision about your coverage: your insurer has the final word.
5.How we share it
We do not sell your personal information or share it for advertising. We share it only with service providers that help us run the Service, and only as needed for them to do so:
- Database and accounts — where your account, your profile, your children's details (if you've added them), and your check-ins are stored.
- Email delivery — sending the reminders you signed up for, and holding the subscriber details needed to send them.
- AI document reading — reading the benefits documents you upload to the Benefits Scanner (see Section 4).
- Hosting — serving the website, processing anything you submit through it, and measuring overall traffic from server logs.
Each of these providers is bound by contract to protect your information, to use it only to provide their service to us, and never for their own purposes. We don't list them by name here, because the list changes as our tools do and we'd rather this policy stay accurate than go stale — but it isn't a secret. Email us at hello@maternly.ca and we'll tell you exactly who they are.
We may also disclose information if required by law or to protect our legal rights.
6.Where your data is stored (cross-border)
Our service providers are based in the United States and may store and process your information there or in other countries. That includes our database, which is hosted in the eastern United States, along with our email delivery, hosting and AI providers. As a result, your personal information may be subject to the laws of those countries, including lawful access by their courts, law enforcement, and government authorities. By using the Service, you consent to this cross-border handling of your information.
7.How long we keep it
We keep your information for as long as you remain subscribed and for a reasonable period afterward to maintain records and meet legal obligations. When you unsubscribe or ask us to delete your data, we remove it from our active systems within a reasonable time, except where we must retain it by law.
Benefits Scanner files are deleted 30 days after you upload them, or sooner if you ask; see Section 4 for scan results and sign-ups.
If you tell us your circumstances have changed, we ask what you'd like us to do with what you've saved. You can leave everything as it is, clear your dashboard, or clear your dashboard and your saved checklists. Whichever you choose, two things stay: your account, so you can sign back in if you want to, and the record that your circumstances changed — that record is what keeps the reminder emails switched off, so removing it would undo the thing you asked for. Your email address also stays on our mailing list marked as unsubscribed, which is what stops anything further from being sent to it. If you'd like all of it gone instead, email us and we'll delete it (see Section 9).
8.How we protect it
We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, and we rely on reputable providers that maintain their own security measures. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.
9.Your choices and rights
Under PIPEDA you have the right to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you.
- Correct information that is inaccurate or out of date.
- Withdraw consent and unsubscribe at any time — use the link in any email, or contact us.
- Request deletion of your information, subject to legal limits.
To make a request, email us at hello@maternly.ca. We will respond within a reasonable time. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
10.Children's information
Maternly is a service for parents and expecting parents, not for children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children, and no part of Maternly is directed at them. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.
We do collect some information about children — but only when you, as a parent or guardian, choose to share it: a child's name and date of birth added to your profile. We use it solely to time and personalize what we send you, such as stage-appropriate resources and reminders. We never use children's information for advertising, never sell it, and delete it when you remove a child from your profile or delete your account.
11.Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date above reflects the current version. Significant changes affecting how we use your information will be communicated where appropriate.
12.Contact us
For any privacy question or request, contact us at hello@maternly.ca.