Why We Don’t Use Ads

Why this page exists

Most apps don’t feel stressful because they’re badly designed. They feel stressful because they’re designed for someone else. The moment ads enter a product, the product gains a second customer: the advertiser. And that second customer quietly changes everything.

This project is built to support a shared practice — a relay that helps people feel less alone, across time zones, in real time. That kind of space only works if it stays calm, honest, and human. So we made a clear choice: we don’t use ads.

Ads change incentives

Advertising isn’t “bad” by default. But it comes with an incentive structure that tends to push products toward:

• more time-on-screen
• more clicks
• more emotional spikes (urgency, fear, outrage)
• more tracking so targeting can improve

Those incentives are misaligned with what this project exists to protect: steady continuity, calm attention, and a sense of safety. We want the app to feel like a quiet lantern — not a loud coach or a billboard.

Even “lightweight” ads tend to introduce pressure for more measurement: more segmentation, more retargeting, more experiments that nudge people into staying longer than they intended. Over time, that drift can turn a supportive tool into a machine for extracting attention.

What we protect

Going ad-free protects something more valuable than revenue: the quality of the space. In a practice-support environment, small design decisions have emotional consequences. We’re protecting:

• A quiet mindspace — chanting is often a return to centre; ads pull attention outward.
• Dignity — nobody should feel like a data source, a target, or “inventory.”
• Consent — participation shouldn’t require hidden tracking or profiling.
• Continuity — the relay should remain steady, not driven by hype cycles.

If you’re here to practice, you should be able to trust that the environment isn’t trying to sell you something, score you, or manipulate your emotions.

Privacy boundaries

Many ad models depend on third-party scripts, cross-site trackers, and behavioural profiling. Even when a team tries to “do ads ethically,” the system often still needs identifiers and measurement to prove performance.

We prefer a simpler and safer boundary: minimise data, avoid third-party surveillance, and be explicit about what we keep. That’s why the project publishes plain-English pages like Privacy & GDPR and Data Retention & Memory Ethics.

Less tracking also means less risk — technical and ethical. Fewer scripts, fewer hidden calls, fewer “unknown unknowns.”

Integrity of community signals

This project includes community-level signals (for example, a sense of “presence” and handover continuity). Those signals only mean something if they remain human moments — not conversion events.

With ads, the temptation grows to turn everything into a funnel: “If someone completes a session, show them an offer.” “If someone pauses, trigger a campaign.” “If a location spikes, promote a partner.”

That’s not the contract here. The relay is a shared practice, not a market. Ads blur that line — and once the line blurs, trust becomes harder to sustain.

What we do instead

Removing ads doesn’t magically remove costs, but it gives us something better: a clean, honest relationship with the people using the service.

Our sustainability approach is deliberately non-manipulative:

• Free core experience — the app remains meaningful without payment.
• Optional support — a quiet supporter option for people who want to help keep continuity strong.
• Community-requested tools — built when users ask for them and when they can be done safely.

Support, if offered, should feel like putting a hand under the table so it doesn’t wobble — not buying status, not unlocking belonging, and never paying to be “more spiritual.”

How we pay for hosting

The honest answer is: the usual unglamorous things. Hosting, bandwidth, database operations, monitoring, maintenance, and security updates. A steady relay needs steady infrastructure.

That’s why we publish Paying the rent. It’s a transparency page — not a guilt page — explaining the basics of sustainability without turning attention into inventory.

If costs rise, we’d rather explain it plainly than hide it behind tracking. Trust grows when economics are readable.

Are ads ever okay?

Yes. Many genuinely useful services are ad-funded, and ads are not a moral failing by default. This choice isn’t about judging other products.

It’s about alignment. In this particular project, ads would bend the product toward: more measurement, more prompts, more nudges, and more “growth mechanics” that don’t serve calm practice.

So we choose a different contract: if you’re here to practice, you’re not the product.

What you can expect

Choosing no ads isn’t only a technical choice — it’s a behaviour promise. Here’s what you can reasonably expect from an ad-free space:

• fewer scripts and fewer third-party calls
• less pressure to “engage” when you came to practice
• clearer privacy boundaries
• calmer design decisions over time
• support requests (if any) that are rare, optional, and respectful

If you ever notice something that feels like an attention trap, treat it as a bug. Stewardship First means the lane stays open and the experience stays human.

FAQ

Will the app ever add ads later?

The intention is to remain ad-free because the incentive drift is real. If anything changed, it would require clear, explicit public explanation — and we would expect the community to challenge it.

Does “no ads” mean no tracking at all?

It means no advertising trackers and no third-party surveillance. Like any service, we still need minimal operational signals to keep things working and safe. Those signals are described plainly in Privacy and Retention.

How can I help?

If you want to support, visit Support. If you can’t support financially, that’s okay — encouragement, feedback, and respectful sharing also help keep the relay steady.