Privacy Policy
What this covers
This policy covers Novis on the web, the Novis desktop app, Novis on iPhone and iPad, and Novis Penmode, the iPad handwriting companion. The two apps share one account, one AI credit balance, and one cloud backup, so the same policy applies to both.
Information you provide
When you create an account or sign in, we process your email address and the basic account information supplied by your sign-in method. You can sign in with an email and password, a one-time code sent to your email, Google, or Apple. If you use Sign in with Apple and choose to hide your address, we receive only the relay address Apple gives us. Novis also processes the study content you create or import, including decks, cards, notes, source documents, images, and review history, along with anything you submit to an AI feature.
Handwriting, documents, and images
Novis Penmode stores your handwriting as editable ink on your iPad. When you send a page, a notebook, or a card to your Novis account, that content is flattened into an image or text and uploaded. Photos you paste, pictures you take with the camera, and PDFs you import become part of the page they sit on and travel with it. Typed text boxes and image-occlusion masks are stored with your account so they are backed up rather than living only on one device.
Local and cloud study data
Novis is local-first. Study content stays on your device unless you sign in and enable cloud sync, request an AI feature, or export or otherwise share it. Content selected for cloud sync is stored through Supabase so it can be backed up and used across your devices. Local-only content is not included in that backup.
Product events and technical data
Novis records limited product events, such as whether a visit is a return visit or whether a feature was used, together with limited event properties, app version, and client type. The web app may send error messages, stack traces, browser and device information, app version, and the requested page path to our server logs. In-app performance diagnostics record screen names, task durations, query labels, sync or generation stages, and failure reasons on your device; they are not sent unless you choose to share them. We design these diagnostics not to include deck names, card text, or document contents, but an error message may contain information produced by the failing operation.
Product analytics
We use PostHog to understand how Novis is used. It records page views and named product events, such as a deck being created, along with your platform (web, desktop, iPhone or iPad) and app version. When you are signed in, these events are linked to your Novis account ID, never to your email address. We configure it not to record what you type or the text on screen, not to record sessions or screens, not to capture error messages, and not to store your IP address. Events are sent through our own server before they reach PostHog. The same counting, with the same settings, runs on our public website pages, such as the home page, free tools, comparison pages and offer pages. When you arrive from a link, we also note where you came from: the campaign tags in that link, if it has any, and the name of the website that sent you (never the full address of the page). If you then create an account, that note is saved with your account so we can tell which posts and pages bring students to Novis. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, the website pages count nothing and note nothing.
Learning how you study
To teach you better over time, the Novis tutor and Novis Penmode keep a record of how they taught each topic and how your next answer went (right on your own, right with help, or not yet). On iPad this also includes what you did with the tutor's marks on your page, such as keeping or removing them. This record stays on the device where it was made. Only per-topic counts of which ways of teaching helped are stored with your Novis account, so your devices can teach you the same way. The record never includes your notes, handwriting, answers, audio, or the words the tutor wrote. This setting is called Learn how I study and is on by default. You can turn it off in Settings on the web or in Penmode, which turns it off for your whole account, and you can delete the learning history there, which also removes the counts stored with your account. It is separate from saved memories, which have their own settings.
IP addresses and local storage
Our hosting and API infrastructure may process IP addresses and request metadata to deliver the service, prevent abuse, apply rate limits, and maintain security. The novis.study website uses one advertising cookie, from Meta, as described under Advertising measurement; the iPhone, iPad and desktop apps use none. The apps use local storage and similar device storage for sessions, settings, study data, a once-per-day return-visit marker, and an analytics identifier that is reset when you sign out.
Advertising measurement
When Novis runs ads on Facebook or Instagram, we use the Meta Pixel to learn whether an ad led to a visit and a new account. It runs only on the novis.study website, never in the iPhone, iPad or desktop apps. On our public pages (the home page, sign-up and offer pages) it tells Meta which page was viewed, and when you create an account it sends Meta one sign-up event. It does not send your name, your email address, your study material, notes, uploads, or what you do inside the app, and its automatic event collection is turned off. Meta receives your browser's technical details, such as your IP address and browser type, sets a cookie, and uses this information under its own data policy, including to measure and improve ads. Under some US state privacy laws this counts as sharing personal information for advertising. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, the pixel does not load at all. You can also control how Meta uses this information in your Facebook or Instagram ad settings.
How we use information
We use this information to operate Novis and Novis Penmode, provide sign-in, optional cloud sync and backup, process subscriptions, deliver AI-assisted features, maintain security, diagnose failures, understand whether core product workflows are useful, provide support, and comply with legal obligations. We do not sell personal information. The only advertising use is measuring our own ads with the Meta Pixel on the website, as described above; nothing from inside the apps, and none of your study material, is used for advertising.
AI processing
Several features send material to third-party AI providers to produce a response. These include generating decks and cards, writing briefs, the tutor and assistant, fact-checking a deck, suggesting image occlusions, explanations and feedback on explanations you give, web search, reading documents and images, restructuring a handwritten page, and generating study questions and feedback in Novis Penmode. Read aloud sends the text to be spoken, and voice input sends the audio you record so it can be transcribed. The material needed for each request is sent to the provider handling it: Google (Gemini), OpenAI, Anthropic, or ElevenLabs. Which provider handles a given request depends on the feature and can change as we improve quality and cost. AI output can be incomplete or incorrect. Do not submit material you do not want processed by a third-party AI service. Novis is a study tool and is not intended for protected health information or other highly sensitive personal data.
AI assistants you connect
You can choose to connect your Novis account to an AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Meta AI. You approve the connection on a consent screen, and the assistant can only use the permissions you grant. Depending on those permissions, it can read your Novis library as it was last synced (decks, cards, sources, calendar, checklists, study plan, and review progress), record the results of reviews you do with it into your review schedule, and propose changes such as new cards, decks, or deadlines. Proposed changes wait for your approval in Novis unless you turn on automatic approval for simple additions. What you share in a conversation, and what the assistant reads from Novis to answer you, is handled by that assistant's provider under its own privacy policy, which Novis does not control. Novis receives only what the assistant sends in each request, not your whole conversation. You can disconnect at any time from Connected assistants in Novis (novis.study/connect/authorize). Removing the connection inside the assistant only removes it there and may not notify Novis, so disconnect in Novis to stop its access. Proposals and review results sent by a connected assistant are stored with your account and deleted when you delete it.
Payments
On the web, Stripe processes your payment details and provides us with customer, subscription, and billing-status information. On iPhone and iPad, purchases are made through Apple In-App Purchase; Apple processes the payment and we receive purchase and subscription status through RevenueCat, linked to your Novis account so your plan applies on every device. Novis never receives or stores your full payment card number.
Service providers
We use Supabase for authentication and optional cloud storage, Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and ElevenLabs for AI requests, Stripe for web billing, Apple and RevenueCat for purchases made on iPhone and iPad, Vercel for website and API hosting and operational logs, PostHog for product analytics, Meta for measuring our ads on the novis.study website (see Advertising measurement), and GitHub for desktop app downloads and updates. If you connect an AI assistant, information you ask it to access is shared with that assistant's provider. These providers process information on our behalf or under their own applicable terms and privacy notices.
Retention and deletion
Local data remains on your device until you remove it or clear the app data. Cloud-synced study data and account information are kept while your account is active. Deleting your account from the Account screen cancels your Stripe subscription, removes your Stripe customer record, and deletes your account along with the profile, subscription record, cloud study snapshot, and AI usage records attached to it, subject to limited backups, security records, billing records, and legal retention requirements. Deleting your Novis account does not cancel a subscription you bought through Apple. Apple subscriptions must be canceled in the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad. Server and error logs are kept for no more than 30 days and then deleted. We may disclose information to service providers, when required by law, or when necessary to protect Novis, our users, or the public.
Your choices
You can keep categories local-only, choose whether to sign in and sync, export your study data, sign out, manage or cancel web billing through Stripe, manage an Apple subscription in the Settings app, or delete your account from the Account screen. Deleting your account removes cloud-synced data. Local copies and any backups you exported remain under your control and must be deleted separately.
Children
Novis is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.
Contact
Questions or deletion requests can be sent to support@novis.study.