Privacy

Your stories, and what we do with them

Last updated 25 October 2026.

The short version: we keep what we need to print your stories and post them to you, nobody else sees them, we never sell or share them for advertising, and you can have it all deleted.

Who we are

The Adventure Box is a small UK business. You can reach us at contact@theadventurebox.uk.

We decide how your information is used, which makes us the "controller" under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

What we keep

Your account: your name, email address and password (stored scrambled, so nobody - including us - can read it), and whether you'd like occasional emails from us.
Your postal address, so we can post your postcards and boxes.
What you write: your stories, the dates and places you pin them to, your photos and their captions, and the name engraved on your boxes. When you upload a photo we remove its hidden details, such as the location your phone recorded.
The person you share with: their name and email if you invite them.
People you send postcards to: their name and postal address, kept in your address book so we can post your cards to them and you can send another. We use them for nothing else and never contact them; you can edit or remove them at any time, and they're deleted with your account.
If you buy a Gift Pass without an account: your name, email address and the delivery address, to post it, send your receipt and answer questions about it - and the name and note you chose for the card. We keep them as a record of the sale, as for any other order.
Invitations: if you joined through a friend's link, who invited you. When you pay for your first month we tell them your first name, and to check nobody is inviting themselves we compare your email, address and card (by a reference Stripe gives us, never the number) with theirs.
Payments: Stripe handles your card. We never see or store card numbers - just a reference to your Stripe customer and membership, and what you paid.
Orders: what we printed or engraved for you, where we sent it and how its delivery is going.
Security and running records: the emails we've sent you, and the internet address you connect from, which we use to stop people guessing passwords and to keep the site working.

Your stories and photos are private. Nobody else can see them except the one person you choose to share your Adventure Box with. There's no public profile and no way to make one.

Why we use it

To do what you signed up for - keeping your stories, printing and posting your postcards, engraving and sending your boxes, and taking payment. The law calls this "performing our contract with you".
To keep things running safely - preventing fraud and misuse, fixing problems, and keeping the records a business needs. This is our "legitimate interest", and it never outweighs your privacy.
To tell you about new things we make, only if you've ticked the box. You can untick it in your account settings whenever you like.
Because the law says so - for example, keeping records of sales for tax.

We don't use your information for advertising, we don't sell it, and we don't make any automated decisions about you.

Who helps us

A few companies do work for us and handle some of your information to do it. They may only use it for that work.

Amazon Web Services - our servers, where your account, stories and photos are stored (in London), and the service that sends our emails.
Stripe - takes card payments.
PostGrid - prints and posts your postcards. They receive your name and address and the postcard itself: the photo, your words and the map.
Royal Mail - delivers your boxes, so they receive your name and address.
Maps and place search - the maps you see come from OpenFreeMap and OpenStreetMap, and the place search from Photon. Your browser loads the map directly, so those services see your internet address, as any website you visit does. Place searches go through our server, so they don't see who searched.

Some of these companies are based outside the UK, in the United States, Canada or the EU. Where your information leaves the UK, it's protected either by the UK recognising that country's protection as equivalent, or by the legal safeguards the UK requires.

How long we keep it

Your account, stories and photos stay for as long as you have an account.
When you ask us to delete your account, we delete it within 30 days. Copies in our backups disappear as the backups expire, within six months.
Records of what you paid and what we sent you are kept for six years, because tax law requires it.
Server logs, which record internet addresses, are kept for 14 days.

Your rights, and deleting your data

You can ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, ask us to stop using it or limit how we use it, or ask for it in a form you can take elsewhere. If you agreed to marketing emails, you can change your mind at any time.

To take your stories with you, use Download your stories on your settings page: a zip of every story and photo, readable on any computer. We email you a link when it's ready, and delete the file after 7 days.

To delete your account and everything in it, email us at contact@theadventurebox.uk from the address you signed up with. We'll check it's you, cancel any membership, and delete your stories, photos and account. If you share your Adventure Box with someone, tell us whether their stories should go too - they're in the same box. We'll reply within a month, and usually much sooner.

For anything else on this page, write to the same address.

Cookies

We use one cookie, to keep you signed in, and one small note in your browser so a tip you've closed stays closed. Nothing tracks you. There's more on our cookies page.

Complaints

If you're unhappy with how we've used your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection regulator: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or 0303 123 1113.

Changes

If we change how we use your information, we'll update this page, and email you if the change matters.

Terms · Privacy · Cookies · Questions: contact@theadventurebox.uk