Last updated: May 15, 2026
The Homie is a chatbot you can talk with at thehomie.biz. This page explains what information the site collects, where it goes, and what control you have over it.
The site is a personal project, run by Steven Rice. It's not a company. There's no marketing department, no advertising, and nothing is being sold.
The Homie uses Google sign-in for accounts. When you sign in, Google shares the following with the site:
Your Google password is never shared with the site. Sign-in is handled entirely by Google.
The first time you sign in, you'll see an optional onboarding screen with three fields: age, gender, and where you're from. All three are optional. You can fill in some, all, or none of them, or skip the screen entirely. Whatever you provide is stored with your account.
The age field starts at 18 — see the "Who this is for" section below.
When you talk to The Homie, the site stores:
Conversations time out after 12 hours of inactivity, after which the bot's working memory of that session is no longer used to generate replies. The message history itself remains stored on the server until the account is removed.
All of it is stored in Google's Firebase service, in a Firestore database controlled by Steven. Firebase is a Google product. Google's own data handling practices apply to anything stored there.
The Homie is powered by Google's Gemini API. When you send a message, that message and the recent conversation context are sent to Google's Gemini API so the bot can generate a reply. Google handles those API requests according to their terms.
The site uses the paid tier of the Gemini API. Under Google's current terms, paid-tier prompts and responses are not used by Google to improve their products. Google does retain prompts and responses for a limited period (currently 55 days) solely for detecting abuse and violations of their use policy. See Google's documentation if the details matter to you.
Steven pays for the Gemini API usage. You are not charged anything.
Steven has technical access to the Firestore database and can read what's stored there. He is not actively reading individual conversations and doesn't want to. He may look at specific data only to:
Other users of the site cannot see your data. Each user's conversations and profile information are kept separately, and access is enforced at the database level.
The site uses Firebase Authentication, which sets a session cookie so you stay signed in between visits. The site does not use third-party advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or analytics on user activity within the chat.
You can sign out at any time using the Sign out button in the chat header. Signing out does not delete any of your stored data; it ends your session on this device.
If you want your account and all stored data permanently deleted, email Steven at the address below and request deletion. Your account, conversation history, profile fields, and message-count records will be removed from the database. Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone.
Built-in controls for resetting memory or self-service account deletion may be added to the site in the future. This policy will be updated when they are.
The Homie is intended for people aged 18 and older. This is to align with the terms of the Google Gemini API that powers the bot, which require that services built on it not be directed toward or likely to be accessed by individuals under 18. The optional onboarding age field starts at 18 for this reason.
The site does not perform formal age verification, but by using it you confirm you are 18 or older. If you become aware that someone under 18 is using the site, please email the address below.
The site takes reasonable steps to keep stored data secure. Firebase enforces access rules at the database level so users cannot read each other's data. Authentication is handled by Google. No system is perfectly secure, however. Don't share anything with The Homie that you'd be devastated to have leak in a worst-case scenario.
If this policy changes meaningfully, the date at the top of this page will be updated and the change will be noted near the top. Continued use after a change means you accept the new version.
Questions, concerns, or data deletion requests: localfiveguy@gmail.com