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Privacy

Draft, not reviewed by a lawyer. Last updated: 27 October 2026, version 1.2

This English version is provided for convenience. In case of doubt, the German version applies.

This policy explains which personal data we process when you use the AdventJoy website and web app, create, buy or receive a digital advent calendar, or enter a prize draw inside a calendar.

1. Controller

Daniel Narum
bydaniwp (ByDaniWP Webdesign Freiburg)
Stühlingerstr. 30
79106 Freiburg im Breisgau
Germany
Email: hello@bydaniwp.dev
Phone: +49 176 88793167

We have not appointed a data protection officer because the legal requirements for doing so are not met. Please send any privacy questions to the address above.

Business calendars (Starter, Business, Custom plans): The company that publishes a business calendar (the organiser) is the controller for its content, visitor statistics and prize draw entries. We process this data only on the organiser's behalf under Art. 28 GDPR. The organiser's privacy notice is linked in the calendar.

2. Summary: what we do and what we do not do

  • AdventJoy is hosted exclusively in Germany.
  • The only strictly necessary cookie is the one for signing in. We use Google Analytics and Google Ads only if you agree in the consent banner (section 7.2). You can change your choice at any time via "Cookie settings" at the bottom of every page.
  • Our visitor statistics work without cookies and without recognising you across days (section 7).
  • We do not embed content from third-party servers: we serve fonts, scripts and images ourselves. There are no social media plugins, no Google Fonts and no content delivery network. The only exception is the Google tag, and only with your consent (section 7.2).
  • The content of your calendars is never published and never used for advertising.
  • We do not sell data.

3. Visiting the website and the web app

When you visit, our server processes technically necessary data: IP address, date and time, requested address, amount of data transferred, referrer, browser and operating system (user agent). We need this data to deliver the pages, fend off attacks and find errors.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR; our legitimate interest is secure and stable operation. We delete server logs after 14 days at the latest unless they are needed longer to investigate a specific security incident.

Hosting: Our server is located in a data centre of Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany. We store uploaded media (photos, voice messages, videos, logos) in a private storage service of the same company that is not publicly accessible (Hetzner Object Storage) in Germany. Hetzner processes data as our processor under Art. 28 GDPR; a data processing agreement is in place. The database and media do not leave Germany.

4. Creating a calendar without an account (draft)

You can start a calendar without an account. We then store the content you enter or upload (texts, photos, voice messages, videos, vouchers, links, names of sender and recipient, optionally a PIN stored as a hash). So that you can find your draft again, the app stores the secret editing key in your browser's local storage (localStorage). This entry is not shared with anyone and serves only the service you requested.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR (steps prior to a contract); the browser entry is strictly necessary under Section 25 (2) no. 2 TDDDG. When photos are uploaded, we remove embedded metadata (EXIF, for example the location).

We delete drafts that were not purchased 30 days after the last change, at the latest on 15 February 2027.

Change history in the editor: So that you can review and undo changes to your calendar, the editor keeps a log of the most recent editing steps (kind of change, the door and field concerned, the previous and the new value, each shortened to 200 characters, time, and the account ID for signed-in users) as well as the events purchase, withdrawal, sharing the link, sending the partner email and setting the secret word. The secret word itself, uploaded files and email addresses are never stored in it. Only you can see the log, in the editor. The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR. We delete the log together with the calendar and at the latest 90 days after 24 December of the respective Advent year.

5. Customer account and sign-in

You need an account to make a purchase. We process your email address, chosen language, optionally your name and a password (stored only as a hash), and the time of registration and last sign-in.

You sign in via a link sent by email (magic link), which is valid for 15 minutes and works only once. After signing in, we set the cookie xmas_session. It contains only a random identifier, cannot be read by scripts and expires after 30 days or when you sign out. For each session we store a shortened hash of your IP address and the user agent so that you and we can detect unauthorised sign-ins.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR, for the cookie Section 25 (2) no. 2 TDDDG (strictly necessary), and for the security data Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. To prevent abuse, we limit sign-in attempts per email address and IP address; these counters are kept only in memory and expire after one hour at the latest.

Your account remains until you ask us to delete it; an informal email is sufficient. Data that we must keep for tax reasons (section 6) is restricted instead of deleted.

6. Purchase and payment

Order data: For every order we store the plan, price, currency, time, the version of the accepted terms and privacy policy, the time of your consent to immediate performance (right of withdrawal), for business customers the company name, VAT ID and the time the data processing agreement was concluded, and the billing country. The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) and (c) GDPR. We keep invoices and accounting records for eight to ten years under Section 147 AO and Section 257 HGB.

Stripe: Payments are processed by Stripe Payments Europe, Limited, 1 Grand Canal Street Lower, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin, D02 H210, Ireland. When you start the payment, we redirect you to Stripe's payment page. There you enter payment details and billing address directly with Stripe; we never see full card or account details. We send Stripe your email address, plan, amount and an order number. Stripe tells us whether the payment succeeded, the billing country and, for businesses, the company name and VAT ID, and creates the invoice.

Stripe processes payment data as an independent controller, including for fraud prevention and to meet legal obligations (anti-money laundering). Stripe's privacy policy applies on the payment page: https://stripe.com/privacy. Stripe may transfer data to Stripe, Inc. in the USA; Stripe, Inc. is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, and standard contractual clauses also apply. The legal basis for the transfer to Stripe is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR.

7. Statistics and ad measurement

7.1 Our own statistics without cookies

We count how often our pages and calendars are opened without recognising you across days. This is how it works:

  1. Every day we generate a random value (daily salt).
  2. From the daily salt, IP address, user agent and, for calendars, the calendar ID we compute a hash (SHA-256) and shorten it to 16 characters. We do not store the IP address or user agent for this purpose.
  3. We delete the daily salt after one day. After that, the hash can neither be traced back to your IP address nor linked to a visit by the same person on another day.

We store the shortened hash, the type of event (for example page viewed, calendar opened, door opened, code copied, link clicked, prize draw entry, entry confirmed, click on a buy button), the day, the page, for calendars the door, the referring site (host name only) and campaign data from the link (UTM parameters, for ads also the click identifier gclid). If you arrive through an ad or a campaign link, your browser keeps this data for the current session (sessionStorage) until you create a calendar; it is gone when you close the browser. These statistics set no cookies and share nothing with third parties.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR; our legitimate interest is to understand the reach and use of our service. For business calendars, the organiser sees these statistics as totals per day, per door and per source; there we process the data on the organiser's behalf. For private calendars, the creator sees no statistics; we only store the time the recipient first opened the calendar, because the voluntary refund depends on it (terms). We delete calendar events together with the calendar and events from our own pages after 14 months.

7.2 Google Analytics and Google Ads (only with your consent)

On our information pages (home page, guides, business pages, legal pages) and on the confirmation page after a purchase, we ask on your first visit whether we may use Google Analytics and Google Ads. Without your consent we load nothing from Google: no script, no cookie, no request to Google.

  • Provider: Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.
  • Statistics (Google Analytics 4): We see which pages are read, where visitors come from and where people drop off on the way to a calendar. After a purchase we report the order number, package, amount and currency. Google sets cookies for this (_ga, ga*) that are kept for up to two years, and processes your IP address, browser and device details and the pages you visit. We keep Analytics data for 14 months.
  • Marketing (Google Ads): We learn whether a click on one of our ads led to a purchase, so we pay less for ads that help nobody. Google stores the ad click identifier in a cookie (gcl*) for up to 90 days. We do not enable personalised advertising.
  • What Google never gets: The calendar view and the editor do not load a Google tag. The content of your doors, names, photos, voice messages and the links to your calendars never go to Google.
  • Legal basis: your consent under § 25 (1) TDDDG and Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR.
  • Transfer to the USA: Google may transfer data to Google LLC in the USA. Google LLC is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework; standard contractual clauses apply in addition.
  • Changing or withdrawing your choice: At the bottom of every page you will find the link "Cookie settings". There you can switch statistics and marketing on or off at any time. If you switch something off, we stop Google immediately and delete the Google cookies in your browser. You can also delete cookies at any time in your browser settings. Withdrawal takes effect for the future.

We store your choice in your browser's local storage (localStorage, entry aj.consent) so we do not ask on every visit. After twelve months we ask again. When you move from adventjoy.com into the app on adventjoy.de, we pass your choice along in the link, because the two domains have separate storage.

8. Calendar recipients

Recipients of a calendar link do not need an account. When the calendar is opened, we process the technically necessary data from section 3 and your browser's time zone so that the right door opens. If the calendar is protected by a PIN, we limit failed attempts per calendar and IP address; this counter is kept only in memory and expires after 15 minutes. Media are delivered via links that expire after six hours. The app may remember your chosen language in your browser's local storage.

The content of a calendar (for example photos, voice messages or names) is added by the person who created it. If you appear in it and do not want to, please contact that person or us (hello@bydaniwp.dev).

For private calendars, the legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR (performance of the contract with the creator) and Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (your interest and the creator's interest in receiving the calendar).

9. Prize draws in business calendars

In the Business plan, an organiser can offer a prize draw behind individual doors. When you enter, we process on the organiser's behalf: email address, optionally your name, your answer to the question, language, the times of entry, acceptance of the official rules and confirmation, an optional consent to the organiser's newsletter together with the wording of that consent, a shortened hash of your IP address and a hash of your email address so that each person can enter only once per door.

Your entry is valid only once you click the link in the confirmation email (double opt-in). The controller is the organiser named in the official rules. Legal bases, purposes and retention periods are set out in the organiser's official rules and privacy notice. We delete entry data on the organiser's instruction, and at the latest on 15 February 2027 together with the calendar.

10. Sending emails

We send transactional emails (sign-in link, order confirmation, payment notices, confirmation emails for prize draws and, at your request, the calendar link to the recipient once) via Brevo: Sendinblue GmbH, Köpenicker Str. 126, 10179 Berlin, Germany. Brevo processes email address, content and delivery logs as our processor under Art. 28 GDPR within the European Union; a data processing agreement is in place. Our emails contain no tracking pixels and load no images from third-party servers.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR, and for prize draws the organiser's instruction. We do not send newsletters ourselves.

11. Contact by email and contact form

If you write to us, we process your details to answer your request (Art. 6 (1) (b) or (f) GDPR). We delete the messages once your request has been dealt with and no retention obligation applies.

Contact form (once the form is live): The form asks for your name, email address and message and, for business enquiries, optionally your company. We use the details only to answer your enquiry (Art. 6 (1) (b) or (f) GDPR). The message is forwarded to the bydaniwp ticket system, which we operate ourselves, and you receive a confirmation email. We keep the enquiry for 90 days after it is closed and then delete it unless a retention obligation applies.

12. Retention at a glance

Data Deletion
Draft without purchase 30 days after the last change, at the latest 15 February 2027
Standard calendars and business calendars (content, media, statistics, entries) available to recipients until 31 January 2027, deleted on 15 February 2027
Plus calendars available to recipients until 30 June 2027, deleted on 15 July 2027
Change history in the editor with the calendar, at the latest 90 days after 24 December of the Advent year
Customer account when you ask for deletion
Sessions and sign-in links session after 30 days or on sign-out, sign-in link after 15 minutes
Daily salt for statistics after one day
Your choice in the consent banner in your browser, we ask again after twelve months
Google Analytics cookies and data (only with consent) cookies up to two years, data at Google 14 months
Google Ads cookies (only with consent) up to 90 days
Contact enquiries (form and email) 90 days after the enquiry is closed
Chatbot conversations (once live, duration to be confirmed) 30 days
Server logs after 14 days at the latest
Backups after 14 days at the latest
Orders and invoices after the statutory retention period (eight to ten years)

Until deletion you can view your calendar content in the editor at any time and keep your own copies of the files you uploaded.

13. Recipients and transfers to third countries

Your data is only shared with the service providers named in this policy (Hetzner, Brevo, Stripe, with your consent Google) and, for business calendars, the organiser. Data is transferred outside the EU by Stripe (section 6), with your consent by Google (section 7.2) and, once the chatbot is live, by Anthropic (section 16).

14. Your rights

You have the right of access (Art. 15 GDPR), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction of processing (Art. 18), data portability (Art. 20) and to object to processing based on Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (Art. 21). You can withdraw consent at any time with effect for the future (Art. 7 (3)), for Google Analytics and Google Ads most easily via "Cookie settings" at the bottom of every page. For anything else, please write to hello@bydaniwp.dev.

You can lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, for example the authority responsible for us: Der Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit Baden-Württemberg, Lautenschlagerstraße 20, 70173 Stuttgart, Germany. If you live in the United Kingdom, you can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

15. Obligation to provide data, no automated decisions

Without an email address we cannot create an account or process a purchase, and you cannot enter a prize draw. All other information is voluntary. We do not make automated decisions within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR. The prize draw in business calendars is a random selection made by the organiser.

16. AI assistant (chatbot)

Placeholder: applies only once the chatbot is live. Review and adjust before launch.

Once live, you can use an AI assistant on our website. The chat window tells you clearly: "You are chatting with an AI assistant. Answers may contain mistakes." You are not talking to a human.

  • Provider: Anthropic PBC, San Francisco, USA, provides the language model.
  • Purpose: answering questions about AdventJoy products and prices.
  • Data processed: your chat messages and technically necessary connection data. The assistant has no access to account, order or calendar data. Please do not enter sensitive data in the chat.
  • Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (interest in answering questions quickly and efficiently). You can object (section 14).
  • Transfer to a third country: the data is transferred to Anthropic in the USA. Basis: standard contractual clauses and/or certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. To be verified: which of the two actually applies to Anthropic and whether a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR is in place.
  • Retention: 30 days (assumption, to be confirmed before launch), after which we delete the conversation. The provider's own retention periods apply on its side. To be verified.

The assistant's answers are not binding; the order, the terms and the prices shown in the shop are.

17. Changes

We update this policy when our service or the law changes. The version published here applies; we store the version you accepted at purchase with your order.

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