Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and what this Policy covers

This Policy applies to the Anovel website, applications, account service, and related trip-planning features that link to it (the “Service”). The data controller is [TODO: insert the Operator's legal name, entity type, registration number, registered address, and country]. In this Policy, “Anovel,” “we,” “us,” and “our” mean that Operator.

This Policy does not govern a travel supplier, booking site, social network, map or media provider, AI provider acting for its own purposes, or another website you choose to visit. Their policies apply to their services. If you provide information about a travel companion or another person, you must be authorized to do so and should show them this Policy where required.

2. Information we handle

What Anovel handles depends on the features you choose and whether you use browser-only or account storage. We do not require every item below from every user.

Some travel information can reveal sensitive facts by inference—for example, a precise itinerary can reveal where someone will be and when. Please avoid adding information that is not needed for planning.

3. Why we use information

Where European or UK data-protection law applies, the table also identifies the legal bases we expect to rely on. The final legal-basis assessment must be completed before public launch and may vary by feature and jurisdiction.

You can browse public discovery content without an account. If required information is not provided, the related feature may not work—for example, an email is required for an account and a destination is required for a destination-specific forecast. Optional features remain optional.

4. Where information is stored

Browser-only mode

Trip plans and preferences can be stored in your browser using local storage and IndexedDB. Short-lived navigation state can use session storage. This information stays on that browser profile unless you explicitly import it into an account, share a snapshot, request a server feature such as weather or geocoding, or choose document extraction. Browser storage is not encrypted by Anovel, is available to anyone with sufficient access to that browser profile, does not automatically sync, and may be removed by browser or device cleanup.

Account mode

When account services are enabled and you sign in with a verified account, PostgreSQL is authoritative for account trips, permissions, private collections, and file metadata. Original private files are kept in private object storage or, in local development, a private local volume. An explicit import copies selected browser data to the displayed account and verifies records and file hashes; it does not silently delete the browser originals.

Local processing

My Finds analysis currently runs on the operator's configured local computer using a loopback service, local Ollama models, and local Whisper speech recognition. Completed, partial, failed, cancelled, or needs-input worker copies expire after seven days; saved browser or account records remain until removed separately. A public Instagram URL is contacted only when that acquisition provider is explicitly enabled and you submit the URL; it is disabled by default.

5. Uploaded documents and AI-assisted processing

Flight confirmations, insurance policies, and general travel documents can be sent to the configured extraction service after you choose the feature and acknowledge its disclosure. Depending on deployment configuration, the service uses either OpenAI or Google Gemini—not both for the same request—to receive the document or extracted text, a bounded prompt, a scoped trip reference, and technical request information. The provider returns structured fields that Anovel validates. You must review those fields; they do not change approved flight facts until you save them.

The extraction service keeps a separate working copy of the original, derived text, validated result, model name, status, timestamps, and limited error details. Deleting the related extraction for a trip removes those active extraction records and working files. Automatic expiry for this extraction workspace and production provider retention are not yet finalized and are launch blockers. [TODO: approve exact active, failure, provider, and backup retention periods and confirm contractual no-training controls for the selected provider.]

Anovel does not use an AI result to make a solely automated decision that produces a legal or similarly significant effect. Anovel will not permit a third-party provider to train a general-purpose model on User Content unless that use is specifically disclosed and any consent required by law is obtained.

6. Sharing and collaboration

Nothing is made public merely because it is saved. Information leaves your private space only through a sharing action or the limited disclosures in this Policy.

• Account collaborators. Invited trip members can receive read or edit access to Schedule, My Finds, and Saved. Uploaded documents, insurance records, notes, packing lists, child ages, account details, and original files remain private to each account.
• Account public links. Anyone holding an active public link can view its read-only itinerary projection without an account. It can include destination, dates, traveler count, flights, activities, and addresses, but not activity notes, private files, booking references, passenger names, child ages, or My Finds. Revocation blocks later requests; it cannot recall copies already viewed or saved.
• Legacy browser snapshot links. In browser-only mode, a share link can contain a validated snapshot in the URL fragment. It can include route, dates, traveler count, flights, activities, addresses, and itinerary notes. The fragment is not normally sent to Anovel in an HTTP request, but the full link is visible to the email, messaging, browser, recipient, and any person to whom it is forwarded. It does not update or support revocation.
• Invitations and device sharing. Invitation emails disclose the recipient address, trip context needed for the invite, role, and link to the selected email provider. If you use WhatsApp, the device share sheet, or another app, that provider receives the message or link under its own privacy terms.

Review a trip before sharing it. Remove sensitive notes and addresses, choose the narrowest suitable method, set an expiry where available, and revoke access when it is no longer needed.

7. Providers and external services

This register distinguishes current code paths from configurable or future production providers. A provider receives data only when its feature is configured and used.

8. Cookies, browser storage, and SDKs

Account mode uses strictly necessary cookies for authentication and security. A short-lived, HttpOnly signup cookie records an expiring consent intent for up to one hour. Authentication session cookies support signed-in use; current sessions are configured to expire after seven days and can end earlier through sign-out, revocation, password reset, or account action. Secure cookies are required outside local preview.

Local storage and IndexedDB hold browser-only trips, drafts, preferences, originals, saved recommendations, travel documents, insurance documents, saved guides, and up to 12 recently viewed content pages. Session storage holds temporary navigation state, invitation or local-service tokens, and the active account trip for the browser session. These technologies are functional storage, not advertising trackers.

The current Service uses MapLibre in the browser and self-hosted Better Auth on the server. It does not include an advertising SDK, tracking pixel, product analytics SDK, payment SDK, or crash-reporting vendor. Because Anovel does not currently sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising or use it for targeted advertising, Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track signals do not change current behavior. Anovel will implement any legally required signal handling before activating a practice to which such an opt-out applies.

9. When information is disclosed

Anovel may disclose information only as reasonably necessary:

• to processors and service providers in the register above, under appropriate restrictions;
• to collaborators, public-link viewers, invitees, or external apps when you direct the disclosure;
• to a travel or content provider whose website or feature you choose to open or use;
• to professional advisers, auditors, insurers, and financing parties subject to confidentiality duties;
• to authorities or other parties when reasonably necessary to comply with law, protect rights and safety, investigate abuse, or establish, exercise, or defend legal claims; or
• to a successor in a merger, financing, reorganization, insolvency, or sale, subject to applicable law and continued notice of materially different practices.

Anovel does not sell personal information. Anovel does not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, use sensitive travel information to target ads, or disclose personal information to data brokers.

10. Retention and deletion

We aim to keep identifiable information only as long as needed for the purpose described, security, legal obligations, and claims. The current implementation has the concrete periods and controls below. Missing production periods are stated rather than guessed.

Deletion cannot erase information that another person already copied, content retained independently by an external service, or records we must keep under applicable law. Where deletion is not possible, we will restrict use when required. Aggregated or irreversibly de-identified information may be retained where lawful.

11. How we protect information

Current safeguards include hashed passwords; secure, HttpOnly session cookies outside local preview; email verification; origin and authorization checks; request and file limits; private database access; hashed invitation and public-link tokens; short-lived signed private-file URLs; checksums; input and model-output validation; role-based trip permissions; private no-store responses; restricted logs; and separation of public trip fields from private collections and files.

No system is perfectly secure. Keep independent copies of critical travel information, use a unique password, protect your device, review trip members and links, and contact us promptly if you suspect unauthorized access. [TODO: publish the production security contact and incident-notification process, complete backup restoration testing, and confirm provider controls before launch.]

12. Your choices and privacy rights

Available product controls let you correct account and trip details, delete trips and files, revoke invitations or public links, remove members if you are the owner, sign out, clear browser data, and request account deletion. Account deletion does not silently transfer ownership of your trips. Browser originals preserved after an account import must be removed separately on the original device.

Depending on where you live and subject to legal exceptions, you may have rights to be informed; access and obtain a portable copy; correct; delete; restrict or object to processing; withdraw consent without affecting earlier lawful processing; opt out of sale, targeted advertising, certain sharing or profiling; appeal a denied request; and receive equal service without unlawful discrimination for exercising a right. You may also complain to your local data-protection or consumer-protection authority.

EEA and UK users may have the GDPR or UK GDPR rights listed above and the right to lodge a complaint with the authority where they live, work, or believe an infringement occurred. California and other eligible U.S. residents may request the applicable categories, sources, purposes, recipients, specific pieces, correction, deletion, and portability, and use an authorized agent where law permits. Anovel has not sold or shared personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising in the preceding 12 months. [TODO: counsel must confirm which jurisdiction-specific statutes and appeal processes apply to the Operator at launch.]

Send a request to [TODO: insert the privacy-request email or web form]. Describe the right you wish to exercise and the account email or browser-only context involved. We may request proportionate information to verify identity and authority, but will not ask for more than reasonably necessary. We will respond within the period required by applicable law and explain any refusal and available appeal. For data held only in your browser, we may not possess or be able to identify it; the browser controls described above remain the direct way to manage it.

13. Children

The Service is not directed to anyone under 21, and a person under 21 must not create an account or use the Service. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from a person under 21. If we learn that we have done so, we will disable the account and take appropriate deletion steps. Contact [TODO: insert the privacy email] if you believe this has occurred.

An adult may include a child's age or other details while planning a family trip. The adult is responsible for having authority to provide that information, minimizing it, avoiding unnecessary sensitive details, and selecting safe sharing settings. Anovel does not use a child's information for advertising or profiling.

14. International transfers

Anovel and its providers may process information in countries other than the one where you live. Those countries can have different privacy laws. [TODO: identify the Operator's establishment, production database, object storage, email, AI, hosting, support, and backup locations before launch.]

Where law requires a transfer mechanism, the Operator will use an adequacy decision, approved standard contractual clauses and any required supplement, or another lawful safeguard, and will assess supplementary measures where required. You may request information about applicable safeguards through the privacy contact.

15. Changes, complaints, and contact

We will review this Policy whenever a feature, SDK, provider, data category, purpose, sharing path, or retention practice changes. The date at the top will change when the Policy changes. If a change materially affects how we use personal information, we will give reasonable advance notice through the Service or account email unless urgent legal or security circumstances require faster action. We will request consent again where required; continued use will not be treated as consent when law requires an affirmative choice.

Questions, complaints, and rights requests may be sent to [TODO: insert the Operator's legal name, privacy email, support email, and postal address]. [TODO: determine whether an EEA or UK representative or Data Protection Officer is required and publish their contact details if appointed.] You may contact an applicable supervisory authority at any time, although we welcome the opportunity to address a concern directly.

The Terms of Service govern use of Anovel. If this Policy and the Terms describe personal-information practices differently, this Policy controls for those practices unless applicable law requires otherwise.