Privacy Policy

Effective date: 19 October 2026
Last updated: 19 October 2026

1. What we collect, and why

1.1 Page counts, for every visitor (no cookie, no identifier)

Our server counts page views so we can see which pages help people and fix the ones that do not. For each view it notes:

• the page address, without anything after a “?”, and whether the page existed;
• the kind of place you came from — a search engine, an AI assistant, a social site, one of our sister sites, or the other website’s name. Never the full address;
• any campaign tags in the link (“utm” tags), and whether the link came from an advert click (we note that an advert’s click code was present; the code itself is never kept);
• whether you are on a phone, tablet or computer, and the hour of the day;
• whether the visitor is a search-engine or AI crawler rather than a person.

No IP address, no browser fingerprint and no cookie are involved, and nothing links one page view to another or to you. Within minutes the notes are added into daily totals; no single view is kept for more than two days. The totals are numbers about pages, not people, and we keep them.

Clicks through to our sister store are counted the same way, as a total per product. If you have not accepted optional cookies, a calculator run is counted only as categories — sex, age band (five-year bands), BMI category, activity level and planned fast length, never your exact age, weight or height — and a coach message is counted without its words: which coach mode, which AI service answered, how long it took, whether it used our pages and whether the safety check was triggered. These rows carry no code linking them to you, and their time is rounded to the hour.

Legal basis: legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR) — knowing which pages are read and how people find them, so we can improve the site. Nothing is stored on your device for this. It meets the conditions PECR sets for statistics without consent: its only purpose is improving the site, the results are totals, it is explained here, and objecting is simple and free.

Your right to object: use “Don’t count my visits” on Your data and choices. It sets one cookie, al_nc, for a year so we remember not to count you. We also stop counting if your browser sends Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track. Switching counting off stops only these anonymous statistics; to stop the coach and calculator remembering you, decline optional cookies or use Forget me (see 1.2).

1.2 If you accept optional cookies

Pressing Accept lets the calculator and the AI coach remember you. A cookie, al_sid, holds a random code that means nothing outside this website. Against that code we keep:

• Calculator: the figures you entered and the results (sex, age, weight, height, activity, fast length, BMI, BMR and TDEE), so the coach can use them instead of asking again.
• Pages: which pages you opened, in what order, and for how long.
• The coach’s memory, only if you also say yes when the coach asks “Remember what you tell me (medications, figures, how your fast is going) for 180 days, so I don’t have to ask again?” (you can switch it off in the coach at any time): your conversation, with email addresses, phone numbers and postcodes removed before it is stored; a rolling summary of it; and short safety notes the coach pins so it never loses them — for example medicines, conditions, pregnancy, your age, or emergency advice it has already given. This is what lets its next answer follow on from the last.
• Usage records: your questions and the coach’s answers, with email addresses, phone numbers, postcodes and long numbers removed before anything is written, so we can see what people ask and write better pages.
• A short profile: pages read, topics asked about, your latest calculator figures, and whether you signed up for texts, asked to be told when a product is back, posted in the community under a name, or took a product to the store’s basket — so the coach does not repeat itself or try to sell you something you already have.

How long: the profile and the coach’s memory are deleted 180 days after you last used them; usage records 180 days after they were written; the copy of your figures handed to the coach after a calculator run after 24 hours. The al_sid cookie lasts 180 days and is renewed when you visit.

Legal basis: your consent (Article 6(1)(a) UK GDPR). Because figures and questions about fasting can reveal health information, we rely on your explicit consent for that (Article 9(2)(a)): given by pressing Accept, whose wording says so, and for the coach’s memory by pressing “Remember me” in the coach. We record when you agreed, and for the coach’s memory which wording.

Changing your mind: press Decline in the banner or on Your data and choices, or use Forget me there or in the coach. Our server deletes the profile, the calculator figures and the coach’s memory linked to this browser, removes the code from the usage records (figures become bands, question text is deleted), and expires the cookie. If the coach’s memory is shared with an SMS subscription, only its link to this browser is removed; the texts follow the SMS rules in 1.4. If anything cannot be deleted at once, the page says so, the cookie is kept so we can still find it, and your browser asks us again on your next visit until it is done.

1.3 The AI Fasting Coach

• What happens to a message: it is sent to our AI provider (see 4.3) with your recent messages and matching passages from our own pages, so the answer makes sense and points to the page it came from. If you accepted optional cookies, the coach’s memory notes, your calculator figures and a short note of what you have read here go with it. Nothing else about you is added — no name, no email address, no IP address.
• The safety check: a message that mentions dangerous symptoms, self-harm or disordered eating is answered on our own server from fixed text and is never sent to any AI provider. We record only that it happened — never what you wrote.
• For every visitor who uses it: after a quick bot check (Cloudflare Turnstile, see 4.2) your browser holds a 12-hour coach pass, and our server keeps the current session’s messages for up to 12 hours so each reply can follow on. Then they are deleted. Without optional cookies and “Remember me”, that is all the coach remembers. Your browser keeps its own copy of the conversation so it can show it again; that stays on your device until you clear it or use Forget me.
• Please still be careful: this is a chat box on a website, not a medical record. Do not type anything you would not want handled by a third party, and do not rely on it to assess a symptom.

Legal basis: answering the question you asked (legitimate interests, Article 6(1)(f)); for health information you choose to include, your explicit consent in sending it (Article 9(2)(a)).

1.4 The SMS companion

If you sign up for texts during a fast, we keep your mobile number, your fast length and start date, the calculator figures used to time and word your messages, the messages we send, and your replies.

• Double opt-in: nothing is scheduled until you confirm the number is yours by replying YES to our first text. A sign-up that is not confirmed within 48 hours is deleted, and we send at most one confirmation text to a number a day.
• Who writes and sends them: an automated coach, not a person. The wording of your plan and the answers to your replies are written by the same AI provider as the coach (see 4.3); Twilio delivers the texts (see 4.4). Replies that mention dangerous symptoms or a crisis are answered from fixed text and stop your plan; they are not sent to the AI provider, and their words are not stored.
• One memory: if you accepted optional cookies on the website, the coach’s memory (see 1.2) and your texts are joined only once you have confirmed your number by replying YES, so a reply knows what you asked on the website.
• How long: your plan and its messages are kept until 30 days after the plan ends; the coach’s memory of your texts until 180 days after you last used it. We keep a separate record that you agreed — your number, the exact wording you agreed to, its version and the date — as proof of your consent, for 24 months after your plan ends or you reply STOP. No IP address is recorded.
• To stop: reply STOP to any message; reply HELP for help. After STOP, a scrambled form of the number (not the number itself) stays on our “never text again” list permanently, so it is never messaged again.

Legal basis: your consent (Article 6(1)(a), and Article 9(2)(a) for the health information involved), which you can withdraw at any time.

1.5 "Tell me when it is back" lists

When a product is not on sale (Fasting Salts while production restarts), you can ask to be told when it returns. You give an email address, a UK mobile number, or both.

• What we keep: the contact details you gave, which product it is for, the date, the page you signed up on, and the exact wording you agreed to. No IP address.
• What we do with it: send you one message when that product is back on sale, and nothing else. It is never used for marketing, never added to a newsletter and never shared or sold.
• Who sends it: we do, by email or by text through Twilio (see 4.4).
• How long: deleted 30 days after that message has been sent, or after 12 months if the product has not returned by then.
• To be removed sooner: email support@autophagylabs.co.uk and we delete it straight away.

Legal basis: your consent (Article 6(1)(a) UK GDPR), which you can withdraw at any time.

1.6 Community check-ins

• No account: you do not sign up or give a name, email or phone number. Your posts are stored under a made-up name, held in the al_handle cookie as a random code. That cookie is set the first time you post, report a post or join a group fast — not when you only read.
• What we keep: the check-in itself — the hour of your fast and its planned length, any 1–5 scores (energy, mood, hunger) and labels you pick, and an optional note of up to 280 characters — with the time, a made-up name (for example “Quiet Heron”), a code derived from the al_handle cookie so your posts carry the same name, and a record that you ticked the boxes on the form.
• Moderation: a check-in without a note appears straight away. Every note, from everyone, is read by a person before it appears. Our moderator is told by email that something is waiting; the email carries a reference number, the reasons and a link, never what you wrote. Published check-ins are public — anyone can read them — so please leave out your name and contact details.
• The safety check: when our automatic check recognises the signs of a medical emergency in a note, the note is not stored at all and we show you what to do and the 999 and NHS 111 numbers instead. When it recognises signs of a crisis or an eating disorder, we show you Samaritans and Beat, and the note is not stored either; nobody, our moderator included, sees it. Any scores and labels sent with it are posted without it. Emergency and crisis wording our check recognises is never saved. No automatic check catches everything, which is one reason every note is read by a person before it can appear.
• Reports and group fasts: reporting a post records the report, the reason you chose and your made-up name’s code. Every report goes to a moderator; a post is hidden until they have looked only when two people whose made-up names are at least a day old have reported it. Reports are kept until a moderator has looked. Joining a group fast records your made-up name’s code against that group; once the fast is over only the total number is kept.
• How long: a note nobody has read within 7 days expires unpublished. A check-in that is removed or expires is cut down within the hour (one you delete, at once) to a bare record — its reference number, what happened to it and when — with no made-up name, code, hour, planned length, scores, labels or text, and that record is deleted after 30 days. Published check-ins lose your made-up name and its code after 12 months; the hour, scores and labels stay as anonymous history. The moderation record (decisions, never text) is kept for 12 months, and a removal counts against the made-up name’s code for 180 days. Moderator emails hold no text of yours and are kept like our other email (section 3). Your browser keeps its own copy of your check-ins, to show and delete them: 12 months for a published one. One waiting to be read is checked with us once it is 8 days old — kept as published if it was approved, deleted if not — and if your browser cannot reach us to check, it is deleted at 30 days regardless.
• Removal: delete your own check-in from the browser you posted it from, or email support@autophagylabs.co.uk with the name shown on it and roughly when you posted, and we delete it.

Legal basis: your consent, given by posting (Articles 6(1)(a) and 9(2)(a)).

1.7 Emails and testimonials

If you email us or send a testimonial, we keep the message and your contact details to answer you. Testimonials are published only with your consent, and you can ask for yours to be changed or removed. We keep enquiries for up to 2 years after our last contact.

1.8 What we do not collect

• Medical records, diagnoses, or anything from a healthcare provider
• Payment details: purchases happen on our sister store, Cellular Science, or on Amazon, and we never see card details
• Race, religion, political opinions, sex life, trade union membership, genetics or biometrics
• Your IP address, in any of our own records (see 4.5 for our host’s server logs and 3 for the rate limiter)

2. Cookies and browser storage

Cookies are small text files a website stores on your device; “browser storage” works the same way but is not sent with every request. This is everything this site stores.

We use no advertising, social-media or third-party analytics cookies. Clearing your cookies and site data removes all of the above; Forget me on Your data and choices clears the coach and calculator items for you.

3. How long we keep things

• Page-count notes: folded into daily totals within minutes, never kept more than 2 days. The totals contain no personal data and are kept.
• Usage records (anonymous counts, and the linked records of visitors who accepted cookies): 180 days.
• Profile and the coach’s memory: 180 days after your last visit or message.
• Calculator figures handed to the coach: 24 hours.
• The coach’s working copy of a conversation: 12 hours.
• Rate-limit counters: when you use the coach, the calculator or a form, our server keeps a scrambled form of your IP address (mixed with a secret that changes every hour, so it cannot be turned back into your address) in a counter that stops abuse. Deleted within a day.
• SMS plan: 30 days after it ends; a sign-up never confirmed by YES, 48 hours. The record of your consent: 24 months after the plan ends or you reply STOP.
• “Tell me when it is back” lists: 30 days after the message is sent, as in 1.5. A separate record of the wording you agreed to, with the contact details you gave, is kept as proof of consent while you are on a list and for at least 24 months after you signed up, then deleted.
• Community check-ins: as in 1.6.
• Emails: up to 2 years after our last contact. Testimonials: while published, until you ask us to remove them.

These limits are enforced by a scheduled clean-up on our server, not left to chance.

4. Who else receives data

We do not sell your personal data, and we share it only with the services below, with legal authorities if the law requires it, and with professional advisers under a duty of confidentiality.

4.1 Services your browser loads parts of our pages from

Like most websites, ours loads fonts, icons and some code from other companies. Your browser contacts them directly, so they receive your IP address and browser details:

• Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com, fonts.gstatic.com) — every page. Google Privacy Policy
• unpkg (unpkg.com), for the Font Awesome icons — every page.
• jsDelivr (cdn.jsdelivr.net), for the charts — the calculator and keto pages.

4.2 Cloudflare Turnstile (the coach’s bot check)

When you send your first message to the coach, Cloudflare runs a quick check that you are a person. It receives your IP address and browser details from your browser, and from our server when we confirm the result. Cloudflare Privacy Policy

4.3 The AI provider, for the coach and the SMS companion

• Who: Groq, in the United States, which runs the open AI models the coach uses (gpt-oss and Qwen) on its own servers; the companies that published those models receive nothing. Cerebras, also in the United States, is a backup used only if we switch it on.
• What it receives: what 1.3 and 1.4 describe — never your name, email address or IP address.
• What it may do with it: Groq states that it does not train its models on what is sent through its API and does not keep it by default. Cerebras states the same.
• Never sent: messages caught by the safety check (see 1.3).

4.4 Twilio (text messages)

• Purpose: delivering the SMS companion’s texts and your replies, and the single “it is back” text if you asked for one by text.
• Data shared: your mobile number and the text of the messages. We do not ask for your name.
• Privacy Policy: Twilio Privacy Policy

4.5 Our web host

Hostinger hosts this website. Like any web server, it keeps standard logs of requests, including IP address and browser, for security and to keep the service running, for a short period under its own policy. We do not use those logs for statistics.

4.6 Our sister store, and Amazon

• Cellular Science sells our products. Links to it go through a short address on our site (/go/…), which counts the click as a total per product and adds a tag to the store address saying the visit came from us. No information about you is passed. On the store, its own privacy policy applies.
• Amazon: some pages link to products on Amazon. If you follow one, Amazon’s UK Privacy Notice applies. If a link carries our Amazon Associates tag, Amazon reports qualifying purchases to us as totals; it never tells us who you are.

5. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you can ask to see the personal data we hold about you, have it corrected or deleted, restrict how we use it, receive it in a portable format, object to uses based on legitimate interests, and withdraw consent at any time without affecting what happened before.

• The quickest routes: Your data and choices has “Don’t count my visits”, Accept and Decline, and “Forget me”. For texts, reply STOP.
• Anything else: email support@autophagylabs.co.uk with “Data protection request” in the subject. We do not know who our visitors are, so we may ask for something that lets us find your data — for example the mobile number or email address you gave us. We reply within one month.
• Complaints: you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

6. Children

This website is not intended for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children. Extended fasting is contraindicated for anyone under 18 (see Contraindications). If we learn that we hold data from a child, we delete it.

7. Security

• All pages and data travel over HTTPS.
• The folders holding data are closed to the web; only the people who run the site can reach them.
• The codes in the al_sid and al_handle cookies are random and signed with the site’s own secret key, so they cannot be forged or guessed.

No method of sending or storing data is completely secure, but we keep as little as we can, for as short a time as we can.

8. Transfers outside the UK

Groq (and Cerebras, if switched on), Cloudflare and Twilio process data in the United States, and the services in 4.1 serve files from networks around the world. Where data leaves the UK, it is protected by the safeguards in those companies’ own terms; their privacy notices are linked above.

9. Changes to this policy

When we change how data is handled we update this page and the date at the top. If a change affects what optional cookies do, we will ask for your choice again.

10. Who we are and how to contact us

Last updated: 19 October 2026
Effective date: 19 October 2026
Version: 2.0

Contact: support@autophagylabs.co.uk