Do you believe that this app has been designed to leak users private data and exploit its users?

I didn't even see a privacy policy (not that those are in any way binding), but even it isn't doing that today who knows what will happen to the data they're collecting/have collected in the future, and like I said, smart phones aren't secure or private and they are designed to exploit users.

If you need help with your mental health, please talk to a medical professional where you have at least some measure of protection under the law instead of handing real-time records of your struggles and vulnerabilities over to under-regulated companies looking to prey on you by using that very same information.

Hm, they do collect user and usage data and they say they might share it with others.

https://www.roadmaptogrow.com/privacy.html

It's unfortunate. We’ve made a similar app (to combat sugar addiction), but we made a conscious decision to avoid collecting any information we don't have to.

Our privacy policy is just that we get the data App Store shares with us and that when a user sends us an email we are going to keep that email.

Hey. This is a good callout. Honestly, I should have done more due diligence with generating privacy policies before this. I do not have any plans to sell user's data. I wrote my full thoughts on that in my reply to the top comment.

But we do store data in the cloud and use analytics to understand usage data. So technically, I am disclosing certain data with those companies.

* first name

* the type of step you took (ex. Commenting on a social media post)

* email address

The data that is collected is to understand how people are using the app, if it's helping them overcome Social Anxiety, and to contact them for stuff.

This thread has made me realize that I need to re-work the privacy policy. Most policies are made to be pretty unclear and actually obfuscate what will actually be done with data. I hate reading those and just want to know:

* What data is collected & why

* Where it's being sent

If anyone has other concerns, you can drop me a line at teeoh@roadmaptogrow.com. I am quite committed to being upfront with this -- even if people don't like the all of the policy.

> We’ve made a similar app (to combat sugar addiction), but we made a conscious decision to avoid collecting any information we don't have to.

That was intriguing to me (especially the respectful data collection). Found the app through your profile, but it’s not available in my country.

Yes, currently I need to sign some new agreement because Apple changed the terms and put it back on App Store. I will try to remember and let you know, thanks for the interest.

It's a shame that it is this way. These apps can provide immense value, but due to under-regulation we cannot consume these apps with comfort.

New user-protection laws in areas like mental health are strongly needed.

TLDR; creator should get a psychologist behind this project to avoid negative views.

Disclaimer: I do not mean to belittle the author of the comment above in any way. I'm sharing my views on why I find it absurd to call a mental health tool like this irresponsible without a greenlight from a psychologist.

I don't understand how people find these things so irresponsible. It's the same with using an LLM for therapy. Many therapists are furious with that, regardless of how effective it has been for many people.

In the same way, the author of the comment above seem to find it irresponsible for the creator of this app to share this tool without having it greenlighted by a psychologist (the establishment). This is despite the fact that the creator has had amazing outcomes with his newfound method of dealing with social anxiety and is now sharing it with the world. In my view, his experience speaks for itself and it is up to users whether they want to trust his words and try it out.

There's a clear tendency to demonize anything that contradicts or hasn't been greenlighted by the establishment.

If you follow this logic to the extreme, we cannot as human beings share recommendations to others based on our own experiences when it comes to mental health.

As absurd as that it, it's probably best for the creator of this app to get a psychologist behind it to avoid this negative discourse.

> It's the same with using an LLM for therapy. Many therapists are furious with that, regardless of how effective it has been for many people.

I doubt therapists would get furious at people getting better, regardless of the mechanism, in the same way that doctors wouldn't be furious about a weird trick to cure rheumatism, the common cold, or any other malady.

I understand this point of view - why shouldn't people share things that have helped them? - but that's why we regulate things like cures for diseases. Taken to an extreme, "here's what helped me" leads to cancer "cures" being hawked all over the internet. To me this app falls somewhere in between "here's how I quit procrastinating" and "here's how I cured my skin cancer." I can say from experience that social anxiety is not always easily treatable, even by your average therapist, and specialists in it have valuable knowledge that I think it would be wise to take advantage of if you're publicizing a treatment.

Thanks!

And yes, I know I'll have to strike a balance between "here's what helped me" and disclaimers. But this essentially expresses my views.

I do understand that there are things I'll need to do to put people's minds at ease and like the author of the comment said, avoid negative discourse.