Privacy policy
Effective 13 September 2026 · Version 1.0
The short version. If you create an account we keep your email address (or the sign-in identifier from Google or Apple) and your preferences: units, text size, colour scheme, language. Nothing else. Your questions stay on your own device and are deleted after five days. We never read or store your location. Popular questions and their answers are kept on our server for a few days with no name attached, so the next person gets an instant answer. We use cookieless analytics that cannot identify you. We do not sell data, and we do not show ads.
1. Who we are
Because (askbecause.com and the Because apps) is operated by Zoro Solutions LLC, Gilroy, California, United States ("we", "us"). We are the data controller for the personal data described here. Contact: [email protected].
2. What we collect, and why
| Data | When | Why | Legal basis (GDPR) | Kept for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Email address, or the user identifier and email provided by Google or Apple sign-in | When you create an account | To sign you in and to send sign-in codes, receipts and important service notices | Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) | Until you delete your account |
| Preferences: units, text size, colour scheme, language | When you change them while signed in | So the app looks the same on all your devices | Contract | Until you delete your account |
| Saved answers (question, answer, sources) you chose to save | When you tap Save while signed in | To keep them for you on every device | Contract | Until you remove them or delete your account |
| Subscription state: plan, renewal date, Stripe customer and subscription ids | When you subscribe | To give you what you paid for | Contract; legal obligation (tax and accounting records) | Account lifetime; invoices as long as tax law requires |
| Daily answer counters keyed by your account id, or by a one-way hash of a random device id for guests | Every answer | To enforce the daily limits fairly | Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)): preventing abuse and controlling cost | 30 days |
| A one-way hash of your IP address (guests only) | Every guest answer | Abuse prevention: a per-network daily cap | Legitimate interest | 30 days |
| Questions and answers, with no user identifier | When an answer is suitable for reuse | So the next person asking the same thing gets an instant answer; to see which topics are popular | Legitimate interest | Usually 3 days, up to 30 for popular or reviewed answers; aggregate counts longer |
| Thumbs up / down and the reason you pick | When you tap them | To find wrong or unclear answers | Legitimate interest | With the answer it belongs to |
| Anonymous usage statistics: page views, browser type, country, screen size | Every visit | To see how the site is used | Legitimate interest | Aggregated; not linked to you |
What we deliberately do not collect: your location (the app never asks for it; regional defaults come from your device's language setting), your name, photo or contacts (even when Google or Apple offer them), your conversation history (it stays on your device), or any card details (Stripe handles payment; we never see your card number).
3. What stays on your device
Your recent questions and answers (the Recent list) are stored only in your browser or phone, and removed automatically after five days. Guests' saved answers, the random device id, and your settings are stored there too. You can clear all of it by clearing the site's data in your browser or uninstalling the app.
4. How answers are produced
Your question, your language and your unit preferences are sent to our server and then to Anthropic (Claude models) to generate the answer, and — only if you tap Show sources — to run a web search over a list of reputable publishers. Anthropic's API terms commit them not to train models on this data. If an answer is suitable for reuse, it is stored for a few days without any identifier. Questions that contain personal details, that depend on current events, or that describe distress or possible fraud are never stored.
5. Who processes data for us
- Supabase (database, sign-in, server functions) — EU region (Ireland).
- Anthropic (answer generation, source search) — United States.
- Stripe (payments on the web) — Stripe is an independent controller for the payment itself; see Stripe's privacy policy.
- Cloudflare (hosting, network security) — global network.
- Umami (cookieless analytics) — EU-hosted; no personal data, no cross-site tracking.
- Google and Apple — only if you choose to sign in with them. They act as independent controllers for the sign-in itself.
- In the phone apps, Apple App Store and Google Play handle subscriptions under their own terms.
Where data leaves the EU/EEA or UK (Anthropic, Cloudflare, Stripe, Google, Apple), transfers rest on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, and otherwise on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.
6. Cookies and similar technologies
We do not use tracking cookies and there is no cookie banner because none is needed. The app uses your browser's local storage for your settings, your recent questions and your sign-in session — this is strictly necessary for the app to work. Our analytics tool (Umami) sets no cookies and honours the "Do Not Track" and "Global Privacy Control" signals. When you pay, Stripe's checkout page sets cookies under Stripe's own policy.
7. Your rights
Under the GDPR (EU/EEA), the UK GDPR, and the California Consumer Privacy Act you can:
- See and download everything we hold about you — on the Account screen, "Download everything we hold about you" gives you a file immediately.
- Correct your preferences at any time in Settings.
- Delete your account and all its data — Account screen, "Delete my account". It is immediate and permanent. Invoices are kept only as long as tax law requires.
- Take your data with you — the download is a standard JSON file; saved answers can also be exported as Markdown.
- Object to processing based on legitimate interest, and complain to your data protection authority (for example the Slovak Úrad na ochranu osobných údajov, the German state authorities, or the UK ICO).
We do not sell or "share" personal information as defined by California law, and we do not use it for targeted advertising. Write to [email protected] for anything you cannot do in the app; we answer within 30 days.
8. Children
Because is a general-knowledge service for adults. It is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect data from them. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.
9. Security
All traffic is encrypted (HTTPS). Sign-in uses one-time codes or Google/Apple — there are no passwords to steal. The keys that reach Anthropic and Stripe live only on our server, never in the app. Your rows in the database are protected by per-user access rules.
10. Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will show a notice in the app and update the date at the top. Older versions are available on request.
This policy is written in plain English on purpose. Where a legal term matters, the GDPR article is given so you can check it.