MVP privacy notice
A small profile, on your device or in your account.
Reading Answerlog requires no account. A random identifier created in your browser remembers interests, followed questions, saved papers, collections, and notes; it is pseudonymous, not an authenticated user. Signing in with Google links that same profile to an account so it follows you between devices, and adds the information Google returns about you.
Information we process
- A random device identifier generated and stored by your browser.
- If you sign in: the account identifier Google issues for you, your email address, and your display name and profile picture where Google supplies them. Answerlog never receives your Google password.
- Your selected categories, followed-question IDs, saved radar topics and fields, radar read position, Answerlog notice preference, timezone, and custom question text.
- Paper metadata you save, collection names and descriptions, reading status, and notes you add to saved papers.
- Questions you submit, your selected interface and result languages, generated answers, short abstract-derived paper summaries, source metadata cached in your browser, and feedback you choose to send.
- Basic operational information needed to secure and diagnose the service, such as request time, error details, and network information handled by the hosting provider.
Answerlog does not ask for a password or a payment card. Signing in is handled by Google, which tells us who you are without ever giving us your password. Answerlog does not currently send email newsletters.
Signing in
Sign-in is optional and is provided by Google Sign-In, using Firebase Authentication, a Google service. When you sign in, Google authenticates you and returns an account identifier and the profile details listed above. Google processes that sign-in under its own privacy policy.
Reading existing answers never requires an account. Creating a new answer, saving a paper, and tracking a question do, so that usage can be counted per person rather than per browser.
If your browser already holds a device profile when you first sign in, Answerlog asks whether to move that saved work into your account. Nothing is moved unless you say so, and declining leaves the device profile exactly where it is.
How we use it
We use this information to retrieve research after you request a check, create and refresh answers, remember your selections, organize your saved-paper library, preserve radar unread state, prevent abuse, investigate errors, and improve source quality. If you enable Answerlog notices, the open app can show an on-device browser notice after your refresh finds a material change to a followed answer.
This beta does not monitor questions in the background and has no scheduler, service-worker push subscription, or email delivery. Your email address is used to identify your account and is not used to contact you.
Research and synthesis providers
Question text or a saved radar topic is sent to the research services selected for its topic: OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, PubMed services operated by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, and/or Crossref. A broad request can be sent to all four. Opening Home can also request a shared, briefly cached latest-paper feed using fixed baking and cooking search terms; those provider requests are not personalized with your interests. If model-assisted synthesis is enabled for the deployment, the question and a limited packet of scholarly titles, abstracts, and metadata may also be sent to OpenAI. Radar and Home latest-paper feeds do not create a model synthesis. The random device identifier and your full preference profile are not included in those provider requests.
External publication links take you to third-party sites with their own privacy practices. Browser speech synthesis is supplied by your browser or operating system; its processing behavior depends on the voice and device you select.
Storage and retention
The browser stores the device identifier, preferences, language choices, followed-question IDs, custom question text, and cached live question, answer, and source metadata. The service database stores the pseudonymous profile and follows, saved radar topic text and fields, radar read position and source associations, saved-paper and collection associations, reading status and notes, exact canonical question text, feedback, shared scholarly source metadata, versioned answers, short derived summaries or translations associated with an answer version, the shared latest-paper snapshot, and a salted hash of your device recorded once per question you research so the service can count how many distinct devices asked it. That count is not displayed to anyone today; it exists so that, in future, a question many people independently asked could be offered as a suggestion. Deleting your profile removes your rows from that count. Retrieved full abstract text is used transiently and is not retained in the application database for new checks. Operational logs may be retained by the hosting provider for security and reliability.
Profile data is kept while the device profile is active or as reasonably needed to operate and protect the service. Before a commercial launch, the operator should publish specific log and feedback retention periods.
Your controls
- Edit categories, followed questions, saved topic radars, saved papers, collections, reading status, and notes, and turn Answerlog notices on or off in the product.
- Separately revoke the browser's notification permission in browser or operating-system settings.
- Use Delete profile in Settings to remove the server-side profile, category and follow associations, rate-limit record, and feedback linked to it. If you are signed in, this deletes the account profile and the details received from Google along with it. After server confirmation, the product clears its Answerlog browser data.
- Sign out at any time. Signing out leaves your account profile on the server so you can return to it; use Delete profile to remove it.
- Clear this site's browser storage to remove the local identifier, preferences, custom questions, and cached answers and source metadata.
Clearing browser storage alone does not identify the corresponding server record for deletion and can make the pseudonymous server-side library inaccessible from that browser. Profile deletion removes device-owned library, collection, note, and radar data through their profile association. It does not remove shared canonical question text, scholarly source records, or answer versions. Those shared records can retain the exact research question you submitted, but no longer retain the deleted device association. Do not include personal or confidential information in a question or note.
Feedback submitted with the device identifier is deleted with the profile. Feedback submitted without that association cannot be located through the deleted device profile.
Sharing and sale
We do not sell your profile. Information is shared only with infrastructure, authentication, research, and optional synthesis providers needed to run the service; when legally required; or to investigate abuse and protect people or the service.
Security
We use reasonable technical measures and keep provider keys on the server, but no internet service can guarantee absolute security. Anyone who obtains the device identifier may be able to act as that profile, so do not share it. A signed-in profile is reached with a short-lived token issued by Google rather than with an identifier you could copy.
Children and international use
Answerlog is intended for a general adult audience and is not designed to collect children's personal information. The service may be operated and processed in countries different from your own. A commercial operator must add its legal identity, contact details, processing locations, and any region-specific rights before marketing the service in a jurisdiction that requires them.
Changes and questions
Material changes will be reflected by the effective date on this page. The in-product feedback control stores a note for operator review but does not guarantee a response and is not a verified privacy-support channel.
For a privacy or deletion request, write to contact@answerlog.net. A request about a device profile has to include the device identifier shown in Settings, because the service holds no other way to find the record.
This MVP notice must still be completed with the operator's legal identity, processing locations, retention periods, and applicable rights before a paid or broad public launch.