This Privacy Policy describes how Solar Planner (“we”, “us”, or “our”) collects, uses, and protects your information when you use our website and solar system design tool. By using Solar Planner, you consent to the practices described in this policy.
1. Information We Collect
Account Information: When you sign up using Google OAuth, we collect your name, email address, and profile picture from your Google account. This is the minimum information required to create and maintain your account.
Design Data: Any solar system designs you save are stored in our database. This includes component layouts, wire configurations, and related metadata. This data is necessary to provide the core service of saving and loading your designs.
Forum Content: Posts and replies you make in the community forum are stored and publicly visible to other users.
Usage Data: We collect anonymized usage data through our hosting provider (Vercel) including page views, browser type, device type, and general geographic region. This data does not identify you personally.
2. How We Use Your Information
- To provide and maintain the solar system design service
- To save and retrieve your designs
- To send notifications you have opted into (forum replies, mentions)
- To communicate important service updates or security notices
- To improve the tool through anonymized usage analysis
- To prevent abuse and maintain the security of the platform
3. Third-Party Services
We use the following third-party services that may process your data:
- Google OAuth — Used for authentication. Google processes your login credentials independently. See Google's Privacy Policy.
- Stripe — Used for Pro plan payments and donations. Stripe processes your payment card data directly — we never see or store your card number. See Stripe's Privacy Policy.
- Vercel — Our hosting provider. Vercel processes web requests and may collect server logs. See Vercel's Privacy Policy.
- Supabase / Railway — Our database hosting provider. Your design data and account information are stored in a managed PostgreSQL database.
4. Cookies and Local Storage
We use the following browser storage mechanisms:
- Session cookies — Required to keep you logged in (managed by Better Auth). These expire when you close your browser or after a set period.
- Theme preference — Stored locally to remember your dark/light mode preference (managed by next-themes).
- Guest designs — If you use the planner without signing in, your unsaved design data is stored in localStorage in your browser. This data never leaves your device unless you create an account and explicitly save.
We do not use advertising trackers, marketing cookies, or third-party analytics cookies.
5. Forum Content
Any posts, replies, or other content you submit to the community forum are publicly visible. Other users and visitors can read forum content without logging in. Do not share personal information, passwords, or sensitive data in forum posts.
6. Data Sharing
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties. We only share data with:
- Service providers listed in Section 3, as necessary to operate the platform
- Law enforcement, if required by law or to protect our legal rights
7. Data Retention
We use soft deletes — when you delete a design or account, the data is marked as deleted but retained for a reasonable period to allow recovery and maintain data integrity. You may request permanent deletion of your account and all associated data by contacting us.
Guest designs stored in localStorage remain on your device until you clear your browser data. We have no access to this data.
8. Your Rights
You have the right to:
- Access — Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- Correction — Request correction of inaccurate personal data
- Deletion — Request deletion of your account and associated personal data
- Opt-out — Unsubscribe from email notifications at any time via your email preferences
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us through our contact page.
9. Data Security
We take reasonable measures to protect your data, including:
- Encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS) for all connections
- Authentication handled by Better Auth with secure session management
- Database access restricted to authorized application processes only
- Regular security updates to dependencies
No system is completely secure. We cannot guarantee the absolute security of your data, but we are committed to protecting it to the best of our ability.
10. Children's Privacy
Solar Planner is not intended for use by children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete that information.
11. International Users
Solar Planner is operated from and hosted in the United States (and/or EU via Vercel/Supabase edge networks). If you access the Service from outside the US, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States. By using the Service, you consent to this transfer.
12. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by posting the new policy with an updated date. Your continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
13. Contact
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your data, please reach out through our contact page.