Questions about Past

Last updated: 6 September 2026

Past is an app for recording a short video, sealing it, and getting it back on a future date — to you, or to friends you sent an invite link to. These are the questions people ask before trusting it with something personal, answered directly. Where the answer is "no", it says no.

Can the developer watch my recordings?

Technically yes, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise. Past is not end-to-end encrypted. Recordings are stored privately and the server refuses to hand one to anyone not entitled to it, but as the operator we are able to access stored content.

What we actually do: we do not watch recordings as a matter of course, and there is no automated scanning of their contents. We open a specific recording when there is a specific reason — somebody reported it, a legal obligation, or a fault we cannot diagnose any other way.

Is Past end-to-end encrypted?

No, and the reasons are worth knowing, because they are the same reasons the app works at all:

• Your capsule has to survive longer than your phone. Unlock dates run years out. End-to-end encryption means a key that must survive that long, and a lost key means the recording is gone permanently — with nothing anyone can do. Trading a durability promise for a privacy claim is the wrong trade for this app.
• Recipients do not exist yet when you seal. You share an invite link and people claim it afterwards, so at the moment of sealing there is nobody to encrypt to. The usual workaround puts the key in the link itself — which means anyone who ever saw the link can decrypt forever, including after you close the invite or block them.
• We would not be able to act on reports. Past can deliver a recording from one person to another, so someone has to be able to look at content that is reported as abusive. An app that cannot do that is not safe; it is only unaccountable.

What protects you instead is described below and, in full, in our Privacy Policy.

Who can see a recording I make?

You, and anyone you deliberately sent the invite link to. Nobody else — and this is a property of how the app is built, not a setting you have to find:

• There is no feed, no explore page, and no recommendations. There is nowhere for a stranger to encounter your recording.
• There is no friend system and no social graph. Sharing happens through a link you send yourself, in whatever app you already use.
• Access is enforced on the server by row-level security, so an account that is not on a capsule's roster cannot read it even if it asks directly.
• A sealed recording cannot be read early by anyone, including the person who made it and including us.

Does the recording leave my phone before I seal it?

No. Recording and reviewing happen entirely on your device. Nothing is uploaded until you seal a capsule. If you discard a take, it never existed anywhere but your phone.

Where is my data stored?

In a Supabase project in Seoul, South Korea — the database and a private storage bucket for recordings. Push notifications go through Expo, which receives a notification token and a capsule identifier so the notification can open the right capsule; it never receives a recording or anything you recorded.

Are there ads, trackers, or analytics?

None. Past contains no advertising network, no analytics SDK, and no crash reporter. We do not track you across apps or websites, and we do not sell personal information. There is nothing to opt out of because there is nothing collecting.

Will my recordings be used to train AI?

No. Not by us, and we do not hand them to anyone who would.

What happens if I delete my account?

You can delete it from inside the app, and this is exactly what happens:

• Your account and sign-in identity are deleted.
• Capsules you made for yourself are deleted, and their recordings with them.
• Capsules you sent that nobody claimed are deleted, and their recordings with them.
• A capsule someone already claimed is not deleted. It was given to them, and taking it back is not ours to do. It is unlinked from you, but the recording and the name frozen on it at seal time remain so it still arrives. If you would rather not leave one behind, delete it before deleting your account.
• Reports are kept, unlinked from any live account. A safety record that vanishes with the account being reported is not a safety record.

What if I lose my phone, or the app is deleted?

Your capsules are on the server, not only on your phone, so reinstalling and signing in brings them back. That is the point of storing them rather than keeping them local.

But be clear-eyed: Past is not a backup service or an archive of record. It is an app made by one person. Do not make it the only copy of something you cannot afford to lose.

What if someone sends me something horrible?

Every capsule someone else sent you can be reported, and its sender blocked, from the capsule itself or by pressing and holding it in your list. You never need to know who sent it.

Blocking does more than stop future messages: it removes every capsule from that sender that is still sealed and waiting for you, including ones you cannot see yet. Reports are reviewed within 24 hours; upheld ones mean the content is removed and the account ejected. The rules themselves are in our Terms of Service.

Who makes Past, and how do I reach them?

Past is made by one independent developer. Email [email protected] — including for a copy of what we hold about you, or to have it deleted. We answer within 24 hours.