Last updated: 10 September 2026
Lotus Bloom is a peer-support community for people living with endometriosis, adenomyosis, PMOS (PCOS), interstitial cystitis, pelvic congestion syndrome, and related conditions. We take your privacy seriously and handle your data under UK GDPR. We never sell your data, and we do not run ads.
You must be at least 16 to create a Lotus Bloom account. Members aged 16–17 have full access to community features like the Forum, Toolkit, Symptom Tracker, and Products & reviews. Currently, members aged 16–17 do not have access to Buddies (peer matching, Buddy Lounge, Buddy Groups, and Buddy Meetups), private messaging, Bloom Verified applications, or the Local help board, these are one-to-one peer-connection features that can't be moderated the same way group spaces can. This restriction is enforced both in the app and in our database, not just hidden from view. These features become available automatically once a member turns 18. There's nothing to reapply for.
If you choose to sign in with Google, we use it only for authentication, to verify who you are and create or access your Lotus Bloom account. Our current implementation requests no additional Google permissions beyond the basic name, email address, and profile photo that Google shares by default when you sign in. We do not use any other Google service or API, we never access your Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, or anything else in your Google account. The basic account information Google shares is stored in your Lotus Bloom profile the same way it would be if you'd signed up with email and password instead.
We only share data with the service providers we need to run Lotus Bloom, each acting strictly on our instructions:
We never sell or rent your data to anyone, and we don't share it with advertisers.
We use only essential cookies to keep you signed in and secure. With your consent, we also load Plausible, a cookieless, privacy-first analytics tool. Plausible never collects your user ID, email, name, health data, tracker logs, or forum/message content, only an anonymous page-view count, referrer domain, coarse device type, and country. Analytics are off by default until you actively consent, and you can change your choice any time from Account → Your data. See our Cookie Policy for full detail.
If you share a location, we store it precisely so we can calculate distance, but we never show your exact coordinates to anyone, including our own admins. Other members only ever see a general distance band you control (e.g. "Under 2 miles" or hidden entirely), based on a privacy setting you choose.
We keep your data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, most of your personal data is permanently removed within 14 days; your forum contributions are anonymised rather than deleted, so conversations stay intact for other members without being linked back to you.
Our infrastructure is hosted in the UK/EU. Where a service provider processes data outside the UK/EU, we rely on approved safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses.
Access to your data is restricted by row-level security controls in our database, most information is visible only to you, and sensitive fields like your exact location and date of birth have extra restrictions even our own admins can't bypass without it being logged.
Under UK GDPR, you have the right to access, correct, export, restrict, or delete your data, and to object to or withdraw consent for any processing based on consent. You can do most of this yourself from your Account page at any time, or email us. You also have the right to complain to the UK's data protection regulator, the ICO (ico.org.uk).
Lotus Bloom is peer support, not medical advice. Please consult a qualified professional for medical concerns. In a crisis, call Samaritans on 116 123.
For any data request or privacy question, email hello.lotusbloom@gmail.com.