privacy policy

Cynoa is a free tool that helps high school students figure out what comes after graduation. Most of the people who use it are minors, so being careful and honest with your information is something we take seriously. This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the choices and rights you have. We have tried to write it in plain language instead of legal filler.

In this policy, "cynoa," "we," "us," and "our" refer to the operator of cynoa. "You" means the person using cynoa. "Personal information" means information that identifies or relates to you. "Services" means the cynoa website, app, and anything connected to them.

If anything here is unclear, you can reach us at the contact address in the "How to contact us" section below.

Who can use cynoa

Cynoa is meant for people ages 13 and up. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, please do not use cynoa or send us any information about yourself. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13 without the required parental consent, we will delete it promptly. If you believe a child under 13 has given us information, contact us and we will remove it.

If you are between 13 and 18, we encourage you to review this policy with a parent or guardian.

Our promises about your information

Because cynoa is built for students, many of whom are minors, we hold ourselves to a higher standard than the law's minimum:

• We do not sell your personal information, and we never will.
• We do not show ads, and we do not share your information with advertisers or use it for targeted advertising.
• We do not use your information to profile you for decisions that would have a legal or similarly significant effect on you.
• We collect only what cynoa needs to work and to help you (data minimization).
• We default to the most privacy-protective settings we reasonably can.
• We do not use tricks or confusing designs ("dark patterns") to get you to share more than you want.

What we collect

What we collect depends on how you use cynoa.

Information you give us directly.

• Account information. When you make an account, we collect your name, email address, and grade level. If you sign in with Google, Google shares basic profile information (like your name and email) with us based on your Google settings.
• What you tell cynoa. The messages you send in chat, the paths you explore, the things you mark as tried, your saved plan, and the items cynoa remembers about you. This is the heart of how cynoa learns who you are and helps you.

Information collected automatically.

• Basic usage and device information. Like most websites and apps, we may collect limited technical information such as your device type, browser type, general location (like country or region, not precise location), and activity needed to keep cynoa running, secure, and working. We may use essential cookies or similar technologies for this. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

Information from third parties.

• If you sign in with Google, we receive the basic account information described above from Google.

We do not ask for more than we need. Cynoa does not require your home address, phone number, government ID, or payment information, because cynoa is free and does not process payments.

How we use your information

We use your information to:

• Provide cynoa and its features.
• Personalize your experience, so cynoa can remember your situation and give you guidance that actually fits you.
• Keep cynoa safe, secure, and working, including detecting and preventing abuse or misuse.
• Improve cynoa over time.
• Respond to you when you contact us.
• Comply with the law when we are required to.

How the AI works, and who processes your messages

Cynoa's chat is powered by a third-party AI provider (Anthropic). When you send a message, that message and relevant context are sent to the AI provider so it can generate a response. This is how the chat works at all. We share only what is needed for the AI to respond.

We do not use your conversations to train our own AI models. Our AI provider processes your messages to provide the service and, under its own terms, does not use them to train its models except as described in its policies.

Cookies and similar technologies

We use only the cookies and similar technologies that are necessary to run cynoa, keep you signed in, and keep it secure. We do not use cookies for advertising or to track you across other websites. Where the law requires it, we will ask for your choices about non-essential cookies, but cynoa is designed to avoid non-essential tracking in the first place.

Who we share information with

We share information only with the service providers we rely on to run cynoa, and only as needed. The categories of third parties we may share information with are:

• Our AI provider (Anthropic), to power the chat, as described above.
• Our hosting and database providers (such as Vercel and Supabase), to run the website and securely store your account, memory, and plan.
• Our sign-in provider (Google), if you choose to sign in with Google.

These providers are only allowed to use your information to provide their service to us, not for their own purposes.

We may also share information if we are required to by law, or when it is reasonably necessary to protect the safety, rights, or security of our users, the public, or cynoa. If cynoa is ever transferred to another operator, your information may be transferred as part of that, and we will let you know if the way your information is handled would change.

Again, we do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising.

How long we keep your information

We keep your information only as long as we need it, and no longer. We keep your account information and memory for as long as you have an account, so cynoa can remember you across your years in high school. If you delete your account or ask us to delete your information, we will delete it, except for the limited information we are required to keep by law or reasonably need to keep for security. We do not keep children's or students' information indefinitely.

Your choices and rights

Everyone who uses cynoa can:

• See and manage what cynoa remembers. You can view what cynoa remembers about you in the Memory tab and remove any item at any time. Removing an item deletes it from your memory store.
• Access your information. You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct your information. You can ask us to fix information that is wrong.
• Delete your information. You can ask us to delete your account and the information tied to it.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under state privacy laws (for example in California, Virginia, Colorado, and other states), such as the right to access, correct, delete, or obtain a copy of your personal information, and the right to opt out of the sale of your information, targeted advertising, or profiling. Cynoa does not sell your information, show targeted ads, or profile you for significant decisions, so those particular practices do not apply to you here. To exercise any right, contact us using the information below. We will respond within the time the law requires. If we deny your request, you can appeal by replying to our response, and we will review it again.

We will not treat you differently or deny you cynoa for exercising your privacy rights.

Children's and students' privacy

Cynoa is for ages 13 and up and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If we learn we have collected it without required parental consent, we will delete it.

If you are a parent or guardian, you can contact us to review, correct, or delete your child's information, or to refuse further collection or use of it. Because cynoa is a service likely to be used by minors, we work to follow the spirit of children's and minors' privacy laws by minimizing what we collect, defaulting to protective settings, and never selling data or serving ads.

Security of your information

We use reasonable administrative and technical measures to protect your information, and we keep sensitive keys and credentials on the server side, never exposed to your browser. No method of storage or transmission over the internet is ever completely secure, so we cannot promise perfect security, but we take it seriously and work to keep your information safe. If a data breach ever affects your information, we will notify you as required by law.

Where your information is stored

Cynoa and its service providers are based in the United States, and your information is stored and processed in the United States.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as cynoa grows and changes. When we do, we will update the "last updated" date at the top, and if the changes are significant, we will try to give you a clearer heads-up. Using cynoa after a change means you accept the updated policy.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this policy or your information, or you want to make a request about your data or appeal a decision, contact us at:

Cynoa is a free tool built to help students. We will always try to handle your information the way we would want ours handled.