Privacy policy

The short version

You can read PaperFren without an account. When you sign up, we store what we need to run your account: your name, email, what you save, follow, and upload, and your plan. We do not sell personal information, we do not show ads, and we do not use your uploads or questions to train AI models.

Who we are

PaperFren is operated by the NoteFren team (“we”, “us”). Questions about this policy or your data go to info@notefren.app.

What we collect

Account details. Your name, email address, and a hashed password, or, if you sign in with Google, the name, email, and profile image Google shares with us. We keep session records, including the IP address and browser user agent recorded at sign-in, so you stay logged in and so we can spot misuse.

What you do in your account. Topics and concepts you follow, papers you save, collections and tags, research projects and their notes, Radar monitors and the alerts they produce, recently opened papers, questions you ask and the answers returned, your onboarding choices, and your email and notification preferences.

Files you upload. The PDF or document itself, its filename, size, and the text we extract from it so Ask and your projects can search it. Uploads are private to your account.

Billing. Payments are handled by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number. We keep your Stripe customer and subscription identifiers, your plan, trial dates, and renewal status.

Usage. We record product events, such as a search with no results, a paper saved, or a checkout started, tied to your account or, if you are signed out, to a random identifier. We also use Vercel Web Analytics, which counts page views without cookies. Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs, including IP addresses, for a short period.

How we use it

To run the service: signing you in, saving your library, running your monitors, answering questions from the sources you choose, and sending the PaperFren Brief and alerts you asked for. To bill paid plans and check eligibility, for example that a student plan uses a school email address. To keep PaperFren secure and to fix what is broken or confusing. To reply when you write to us. We send account and billing email as needed; product email such as the Brief can be turned off in Settings.

Ask answers from PaperFren’s existing explanations and from your readable uploads. Your questions and files are not sent to a third-party AI model to generate those answers, and they are never used to train one.

Who processes it for us

We share personal information only with providers that help us run PaperFren:

• Vercel: hosting, file storage for uploads, and cookieless page analytics.
• Neon: the database that holds your account and library.
• Stripe: payments, subscriptions, and invoices.
• Resend: delivery of account email, the Brief, and alerts.
• Google: only if you choose to sign in with Google.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect the rights and safety of our users or the public, or as part of a merger or sale of PaperFren, in which case this policy continues to apply to your information. Some of these providers process data in the United States and other countries.

Cookies

We use cookies that are needed for PaperFren to work: keeping you signed in and protecting sign-in forms. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

How long we keep it

We keep your account data for as long as your account is open. When you delete your account in Settings, we cancel any subscription, permanently delete your uploaded files, and delete your account along with everything tied to it: saved papers, follows, collections, projects, Radar monitors and alerts, Ask history, preferences, and sessions. Usage events are kept only in anonymous form, with the link to your account removed. Deleted data may remain in encrypted backups for a limited time before it is overwritten. Stripe keeps payment records for as long as tax and accounting law requires.

Your choices and rights

You can view and edit most of your data in the product, change email preferences in Settings, and delete your account at any time. You can also ask us for a copy of your data, to correct it, to delete it, or to stop a particular use of it. Depending on where you live, including the EEA, UK, and California, you may have additional rights under local law, including the right to complain to a data protection authority. We will not treat you differently for exercising them. Write to info@notefren.app and we will respond within 30 days.

Security

Connections are encrypted, passwords are hashed, and uploads are stored privately and served only to their owner. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach that affects you, we will tell you.

Children

PaperFren is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update the date above. If a change materially affects how we use information we already hold, we will tell you by email or in the product before it takes effect.

Terms of service · Evidence and corrections