Symthink Privacy Policy

Last updated: January 29th, 2026

At Symthink, accessible from https://symthink.io, we are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information when you use our app and website.

1. Information We Collect

Account & Profile Information: When you sign in with Google or Apple through Supabase Auth, we receive basic profile information such as your name, email address, and profile photo URL (if provided by your provider). We do not collect phone numbers.

User-Generated Content: Symthink lets you create and maintain a tree-structured document (e.g., questions, ideas, claims, and sources). This content is stored in our database (Supabase/PostgreSQL) to support syncing across devices, and may also be cached locally on your device/browser for faster loading. A branch of your document called "Vision" may be shared by you with others if you choose to enable sharing.

Location / Civic Area Information (Optional): If you use the Civic Ladder features, you may choose to generate civic levels using device GPS or by entering an address. We use Mapbox geocoding and the US Census API to determine your civic areas (for example, your district/state/county/municipality) and store civic area identifiers in our database. We do not continuously track your location in the background.

Usage & Interaction Analytics (Limited): We collect limited interaction analytics for certain features (for example, interactions with shared/public Vision branch content). This may include:

• Event details (for example: view and vote interactions)
• An anonymous browser/device identifier and a session identifier (used to detect duplicates and reduce abuse)
• Technical data such as IP address and user-agent (primarily for security, rate limiting, and abuse prevention)

2. Why We Collect Information

The information collected is essential for providing Symthink’s core features:

• To authenticate you and sync your data across devices
• To provide personalized experiences (including AI-assisted features)
• To compute rankings and statistics for shared/public Vision branches (when you choose to share)
• To improve reliability, prevent abuse, and understand feature usage

3. Sharing of Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share data only:

• With service providers that help us run Symthink (for example Supabase for database/auth, OpenAI for AI features, and Mapbox for geocoding), under appropriate contractual and security safeguards.
• When you choose to share your Vision branch: if you enable sharing, your Vision branch content and related metrics may become visible to others (and may be accessible via a public URL).

4. Data Storage and Protection

App data is stored in a PostgreSQL database hosted by Supabase. Some data may also be stored locally on your device/browser to improve performance (for example via mobile storage or browser IndexedDB/local storage). We use standard security measures, including encryption in transit (HTTPS).

We retain your information for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, your account and associated data are deleted from our database (subject to limited retention for security logs and legal compliance where required).

5. Your Data Rights

You have control over your data:

• You can delete your account through an option in the Settings page.
• You can reset civic levels (your civic ladder data) through Settings.
• You may contact us to request help with data access/export questions.

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We do not currently use cookies for advertising or cross-site tracking. We may use local storage (such as IndexedDB/session storage) for essential functionality and limited analytics identifiers as described above.

7. Special Rules for Specific Regions

At this time, our site targets users in the U.S. only. We do not collect information from minors. If required in the future, we will implement procedures to obtain parental consent to comply with regulations such as the CCPA or other applicable laws.

8. Changes to This Policy

If we make any material changes to this privacy policy, we will notify you by updating the policy on this page. Depending on the nature of the change, we may also notify you via email or display a notification banner on the website.

9. Contact Information

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or your data, please contact us at symthink@googlegroups.com.