Somnus Explained · Issue Nº 05
Privacy
Engineering.
Values belong in the software, not in a policy binder.
Editor's Note: This is installment Nº 05 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.
People assume a serious health company needs a large staff, a compliance department and a thick binder of policies. Most are built that way.
We are not. A small team, on purpose. We own every line of code and every decision, and we answer for both. Privacy is built into how it runs, not written into a promise.
Why it matters
A policy tells you what a company intends. The architecture tells you what it can do. If the limits live only in a document, every promise rests on good behavior. We build the limits into the software, so the promise does not depend on anyone’s good behavior, including ours.
Ownership is how trust gets kept. When a number on a phone looks wrong, someone should know why and be able to fix it, fast. Here, the people who build it are the people you can reach.
Why it is hard
A small team cannot police a binder. Nobody here has the hours to audit every rule by hand, every night, for every person. A rule that depends on someone remembering it will fail on the night nobody remembers.
Building the limit in is slower at the start. It means saying no to designs that would be easier to ship. We take that cost early, while it is small.
How we think about it
Private by default
Installing the app is not sharing. Nothing is shared until you share it. Sharing is an action you take, never a setting we flip.
Least data needed
If the score does not need it, the app does not ask for it. Data we never collect is data we never have to guard.
A small team, on purpose
We stay lean. We stay close to patients and providers. We own the loop. Those three commitments come from the founder, and they shape the rest. Fewer hands. Clear ownership. Faster fixes.
The bedroom test
Every product decision has to pass one test. Would we put it in our own bedroom? If a feature would make us uneasy at our own bedside, it does not belong at yours.
How it works
The architecture enforces what a binder would only describe.
- The audio stays on the phone. It cannot leak from a server it never reaches.
- What can leave is a set of numbers, and only when you choose to send them.
- Deletion is designed in. Snore clips clear from the phone after 7 nights.
- Every release is replayed against the same 60 held-out sleep-lab recordings. The test decides whether it ships, not anyone’s memory.
- A named person owns every output we ship.
Questions we ask
- Can the code enforce this, or does it rely on someone remembering?
- Does the score need this data?
- Who owns it if it breaks?
- Would we put it in our own bedroom?
In short
Privacy is engineered, not promised. Private by default. Least data needed. The rules live in the code, not in a binder. A small team owns every line of code and every decision, and answers for both.
What comes next
The strongest privacy rule is the one about what we keep. In installment Nº 06, we explain why Somnus is built for deletion.
We are glad to talk further about how we think and how we build. Reach us at [email protected].