Somnus Explained · Issue Nº 06
Built
for
Deletion.
Data you do not keep cannot be misused.
Editor's Note: This is installment Nº 06 of Somnus Explained, a series on who we are, what we build, and the principles that guide the work. The principles themselves are set out in How We Work. This series expands on them.
Most software is built to keep things. Storage is cheap, and deleting feels like losing something. So data piles up long after anyone needs it.
We build the other way. Data you do not keep cannot be misused. Deletion is designed in from the first line of code, not bolted on later.
Why it matters
Every recording that exists is a recording that could be exposed, copied or put to a use nobody intended. A night that is no longer stored cannot be any of those things. Keeping less is the plainest protection there is.
Deletion is also a matter of control. If you cannot remove something, it is not fully yours. Your nights stay yours only if you can let them go.
Why it is hard
Deletion that is added late tends to be partial. Copies linger in places nobody planned for. A delete button that clears the screen but not the store is worse than none, because it tells you something false.
The answer is to decide where data lives before it is created. Then there are few places to clear, and each one is known.
How we think about it
Keep as little as we can
The audio stays on your phone. It never uploads to us. That one choice means the largest and most personal part of a night never has to be deleted from our side, because it was never there.
Know what we hold
What can reach us is a short set of numbers, sent only when you choose. That is the part we would ever need to delete for you, and you can ask.
Design it in from the start
Deletion is part of the design, not a feature added after launch. When we build something that stores a night, we decide at the same time how it goes away.
How it works
- Seven nights. Snore clips clear from the phone after 7 nights.
- Delete the app. Delete the app, and the recordings on the phone go with it.
- Ask us. Ask us, and we delete what you sent.
Nightsong is a wellness app. It does not diagnose, screen for, or treat any condition.
Questions we ask
- Do we need to keep this at all?
- If we keep it, where does it live, and how does it go away?
- Can it be deleted?
- When something is deleted, is it gone, or only hidden?
In short
Built for deletion. Snore clips clear from the phone after 7 nights. Delete the app and the recordings go with it. Ask us and we delete what you sent. Data you do not keep cannot be misused.
What comes next
Keeping less is one half of honest software. The other half is the intelligence that reads the night. In installment Nº 07, we explain how we use AI: what listens, what checks it, and who answers for the number.
We are glad to talk further about how we think and how we build. Reach us at [email protected].