LEGAL

Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 10, 2026

Draft. A lawyer should review this page before Snipwise launches or takes payment.

1. Who we are

Snipwise is a Windows app and website that lets you select part of your screen and get an AI-generated explanation. It is run by Snipwise, a sole proprietorship in the United States ("we", "us"). This policy explains what personal information we collect when you use the app and the website, and what we do with it. You can reach us at support@snipwise.co.

2. The short version

When you take a snip, the picture you selected, your questions and any pictures you attach to the conversation are sent to an AI service so it can write the answer. Anything inside your selection is sent, so do not snip anything private.
Snipwise briefly takes a picture of your whole screen, in your computer's memory only, so that you can draw your selection. Only the part you select is saved or sent. See section 5.
We do not keep your snips on our servers and we do not write their contents to our logs.
Your snip history stays on your own computer.
We do not sell your personal information and we do not show advertising.
Payments are handled by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.
One of our AI models (Deep, available on the Plus plan) runs on a host that may keep prompts for a time. See section 4.

3. What we collect

Account and billing

Your email address and a password (stored by our sign-in provider, Supabase, in a protected, one-way form). If you sign in with Google, we receive your email address and basic profile details, such as your name and picture, from Google.
Your plan, your subscription status and billing interval, your Stripe customer ID, and a record of any extra-credit packs you buy (which pack, the amount paid, and when), and of any refund or payment dispute.
The details Stripe shares with us about your purchases, such as the contact and billing details you give at checkout and the kind of payment method you used (see section 7). We see them in our Stripe account and do not store them in the Snipwise database.
The time you accepted our Terms of Service (which includes confirming that you are at least 18), and which version of them you accepted.
If you delete your account: the day you asked, the day it will be permanently erased (30 days later, see section 8) and your Stripe customer ID, so that the erasing can finish.

Your snips

When you take a snip, the selected image, the questions you type, any pictures you attach to the conversation and the conversation so far are sent to our server and on to an AI provider to produce the answer. The answer comes back to the app. See section 4 for how this is handled.

Messages you send us

If you email support, we keep your message, your email address and anything you choose to include in it (see section 8).

Usage and technical data

How many credits you use, which model you choose (Standard, Flash or Deep), request times, the number of tokens each request used, and the estimated cost of each request. We use this to apply your plan limits, keep costs under control and fix problems. It does not include what your snips said.
Your IP address, the kind of browser or app you use (its user agent) and basic request details. These appear in the logs of our hosting and sign-in providers, and our sign-in provider also records your IP address and device details with your sign-in sessions. They are used for security, abuse prevention and rate limiting. Our host also works out which country your internet address is in, and we use that only to refuse purchases, new accounts and replies from places where Snipwise is not offered (section 10).
The version number of the Snipwise app, which the app sends with each request so that we can tell you when an update is available, or when your version is too old to keep working. It is not linked to anything else about your device.
Short-lived security records. When you sign in to the app from the website, we create a one-time sign-in code (kept only as a scrambled value, valid for 5 minutes). When you enter your password to change it or to delete your account, we count the attempts for a short time so that we can limit repeated guesses.

Our website

The website keeps your sign-in session, and your light or dark appearance choice if you make one, in your browser's local storage so they are remembered. While you reset a password, it also keeps a temporary marker in your browser's session storage, which goes away when you close the tab. We do not use advertising or analytics cookies or trackers. The website serves its own fonts, so no font service is contacted when a page loads. The pages that Stripe hosts (checkout and the billing portal) belong to Stripe and may use their own cookies, under Stripe's privacy policy.

4. How your snips are handled

Your request goes from the app to our server, which checks your account and plan and forwards it to OpenRouter, a service that routes requests to AI models. OpenRouter passes it to the host that runs the model you chose:

Standard model: a third-party host. We currently use CoreWeave, with Crusoe as a backup. We ask OpenRouter to use only hosts that do not train on prompts and do not retain prompt data.
Flash model (Plus plan): Google Vertex, with the same privacy request to OpenRouter.
Deep model (Plus plan): Google AI Studio. OpenRouter lists this host as one that may retain prompts for a limited time, but does not use them for training. Snips you send to the Deep model may therefore be kept by Google for a time.

Our server does not save your snip image or your questions, and does not write them to our logs. OpenRouter keeps basic details of each request, such as the time, the model used, the number of tokens and the cost, so that it can run its service and bill us. For the Deep model, Google keeps prompts and responses for a limited period only to detect and prevent abuse, and does not use them to improve its products. The hosts' own policies are here: OpenRouter, CoreWeave, Crusoe and Google. We may change hosts, and we will update this page if the way your snips are handled changes.

5. What stays on your device

Your snip history (the images, the pictures you attached, and the answers) is saved on your computer in the Snipwise data folder, not on our servers. It is stored as ordinary files protected by your Windows account. Snipwise does not add its own encryption to them, so anyone who can use your Windows account, or your unlocked computer, can see them. You can delete a single snip at any time, or choose Clear all to delete every snip that is not saved. The app keeps up to 100 snips in total; when it is full, the oldest snip that is not saved is deleted to make room. You can save (bookmark) up to 50 snips, and saved snips are kept on your computer until you remove them.

Your sign-in session is stored on your device using Windows encryption. Your settings (including the plan your account was last seen on, which lets the app apply your plan's features when it cannot reach our server), a small log of sign-in events that holds no passwords, tokens or codes, and a small log of technical error messages (never your snips, replies or sign-in details) are saved on your device too. These logs are not sent to us. Signing out in Snipwise's Settings removes your saved sign-in from your computer.

Uninstalling Snipwise does not delete the Snipwise data folder (your snips, settings and logs): to remove them, delete the folder named Snipwise inside your Windows AppData Roaming folder (type %APPDATA% into the address bar of File Explorer to find it).

What the app captures from your screen

To let you draw a selection, Snipwise takes a picture of everything on your screen (all your monitors) at the moment you press the snip shortcut. That picture exists only in your computer's memory while you choose, and is discarded when you finish or cancel. Only the part you select is saved in your history and sent to the AI service. If you use the Glass theme and switch on its background blur, Snipwise also takes a picture of the area behind its own window each time you switch the blur on, to draw the blurred background. That picture stays in memory on your computer and is never saved or sent.

Snipwise takes these pictures only when you ask for them. It does not record your screen continuously, log your keystrokes, read your files or clipboard in the background, or use your camera or microphone.

6. How we use your information

To produce answers to your snips and follow-up questions.
To create and manage your account, take payments and apply your plan and extra-credit balance.
To keep the service secure and prevent abuse, fraud and misuse of free plans.
To keep our costs under control, including by pausing AI answers temporarily if daily or monthly cost limits are reached.
To fix problems and improve Snipwise, using aggregate usage data.
To tell you when a newer version of the app is available, or when the version you have can no longer be used.
To handle refunds and payment disputes, and to meet legal, tax and accounting obligations.
To contact you about your account, billing, security or important changes. We do not send marketing emails.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use your snips to advertise to you or to train AI models.

7. Who we share it with

We use these service providers to run Snipwise. Each receives only what it needs:

OpenRouter and the model hosts in section 4 receive your snip image and questions in order to write the answer.
Supabase provides sign-in and stores account, subscription, pack and usage records. Our database is hosted in the United States (East US, North Virginia). Supabase passes the sign-up and password-reset emails to Resend, below, to send.
Resend sends the sign-up, password-reset and similar account emails from our domain. It receives your email address and the text of the email, and keeps a log of what it sent (the recipient, the time and whether it was delivered) for a limited time.
Cloudflare (bot check) runs Turnstile, the check that tells people from automated bots when you sign in, create an account or ask for a password reset. Your browser loads a small script from Cloudflare, which looks at information about your browser and connection (such as your IP address, your browser's user agent and TLS fingerprint) to decide whether you are a person. Cloudflare uses this information to run the check and to improve Turnstile, as its Turnstile Privacy Addendum explains, and its script may store small items in your browser to do so. We do not link it to your Snipwise account.
Google (sign-in) provides "Continue with Google" sign-in, if you use it.
Stripe processes payments and manages subscriptions. We use Stripe Managed Payments, so Stripe is the merchant of record for your purchases (it shows them as "Sold through Link"): it takes the payment, handles sales tax and VAT, and sends your receipts. For that, Stripe collects what it needs at checkout, such as your name, email, billing address, phone number and payment details, and uses it under its own privacy notices (Stripe and Link). We do not receive your full card number. Stripe shares your order details with us: what you bought, the amount paid, your Stripe customer ID and the contact and billing details you gave at checkout. We use them to run your subscription, handle refunds and meet tax and accounting obligations. You can also ask Stripe to delete the information it holds about your purchases (Link's privacy notice explains how); doing so also cancels any plan bought through it.
Vercel hosts our website and the server that relays your requests.
Cloudflare (domain, email and downloads) provides our domain name and DNS, forwards the emails you send to our support address, and hosts our download server (downloads.snipwise.co). When you download the installer, and when the app checks for or downloads an update (you can turn that off in Settings), your request reaches that server with your IP address, as with any web request. When the app downloads an update, the file names in its requests can show which version you have installed.
Google (Gmail) receives the emails you send to our support address, so that we can answer them.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect our rights, our users or the security of the service. If we are ever sold or merge with another company, your information may be transferred as part of that, and we will tell you.

8. How long we keep it

Snip images and answers: not stored on our servers. They stay on your device until you delete them. Deep-model snips may be kept by the host for a limited time (section 4).
Account data: until 30 days after you delete your account, or until we delete a Free account that has been inactive for 12 months after warning you (see the Terms). When you delete your account (from your account page), it is closed straight away and your subscription is cancelled. We permanently delete your account, sign-in details, usage records and extra-credit balance 30 days later, and until then you can sign in and restore it. If you ever had a subscription, we also ask Stripe to delete the customer record we created for you at that time. Copies in our providers' backups may remain for up to 7 days after that. We keep records of payments for as long as tax and accounting law require, without your account attached. Stripe also keeps its own payment records, as the law requires, and handles requests about them as described in section 7.
Usage records: kept while your account exists, to apply your limits and keep costs under control, and deleted with your account when it is permanently erased.
Free-credit count: to stop people getting the free monthly credits again by deleting an account and signing up again, we keep, for the current calendar month only, a one-way scrambled (hashed) version of your email address together with how many free credits that address has used. It cannot be turned back into your email address, it is not linked to your account, and it is removed automatically soon after the month ends. It is kept even if you delete your account, because that is its purpose.
Billing and purchase records (including refunds and disputes): as long as tax and accounting law require.
Sign-in codes and password-attempt counts: kept only briefly. A sign-in code expires after 5 minutes and password attempts are counted for 15 minutes; both are deleted automatically once they are more than an hour old (the clean-up runs whenever someone uses these features), and when your account is permanently erased.
Emails you send us: kept in our support mailbox for as long as needed to help you and to keep a record.
Provider logs (hosting and sign-in): kept by those providers under their own schedules, typically for a short period.

9. Be careful what you snip

Anything inside your selection, and any picture you attach, is sent to the AI provider. Avoid selecting passwords, payment details, private messages, health or financial records, or other sensitive information, and do not snip content you are not allowed to share. The first time you use Snipwise, the app reminds you of this.

10. Your choices and rights

You can delete your account yourself at any time from your account page (Delete account); it is closed straight away and permanently erased 30 days later (see section 8). You can also ask us to access, correct or export the personal information we hold about you, or to delete it, by emailing support@snipwise.co from the address on your account (we can erase it sooner than 30 days if you ask). Snipwise is offered to people in the United States and other places where we choose to offer it. It is not offered in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, and we may refuse purchases, new accounts and replies from there. If you already have an account, you can still sign in, cancel a plan or delete your account from there.

California residents

If you live in California, you have the right to know what personal information we collect, use and disclose, to ask us to delete it or correct it, and not to be treated differently for using these rights. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising across other companies' sites. In the past 12 months we collected these kinds of information: identifiers (your email address, and your IP address through our providers' logs), commercial information (your plan and purchases), internet activity (your usage counts), approximate location (the country of your internet address, which we use on the spot and do not keep), and the content you choose to snip, which can include images and text (sent to AI providers to produce your answer). We disclosed them only to the service providers listed in section 7, for the purposes in section 6. To make a request, email support@snipwise.co from the address on your account. We may need to confirm it is you, and we will reply within 45 days. You can use an authorized agent. We do not track you across other websites, and we do not respond to "Do Not Track" signals. Because we do not sell or share personal information, there is nothing to opt out of, and a Global Privacy Control signal changes nothing.

We get personal information from you (your account details, snips, questions and support emails), from Google if you use Google sign-in, and from Stripe (your plan and payment status). Some of it counts as "sensitive personal information" under California law: the password for your account, and anything sensitive inside a snip. We use it only to provide the service you asked for, and not to work out other things about you. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 18. California's "Shine the Light" law lets you ask which companies we gave personal information to for their own direct marketing: we give it to none.

Residents of other US states

Some other states, such as Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Utah and Virginia, give residents the right to access, correct and delete their personal data, to get a copy of it, and to opt out of its sale, of targeted advertising and of profiling. We do not sell personal data, show targeted advertising or profile people in ways that have legal or similarly significant effects, so there is nothing to opt out of. You can make a request in the same way as described above. If we turn a request down, you can appeal by replying to our answer with the word "appeal", and we will reply within 45 days.

11. International transfers

Snipwise is run from the United States, and your information is processed in the United States, including by our database provider. Some of our providers may also process data in other countries.

12. Security

We use encrypted connections, restrict access to account data, limit repeated password guesses, keep provider keys on the server and not in the app, and keep your sign-in session encrypted on your device. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a breach of security affects your personal information, we will tell you, and the authorities, as the law requires.

13. Children

Snipwise is not intended for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. If the changes are significant we will tell you through the app or by email at least 14 days before they take effect (sooner only if the law or a security problem requires it), and the date at the top will change.

15. Contact

Questions about privacy: support@snipwise.co. Please also read our Terms of Service.