Your notes stay yours.

Who we are

Pen Buddy is a study notebook with an AI study partner for Mac and iPad. It is a product of Laxatunga ehf. (Companies Register of Iceland no. 590207-1280), Sporðagrunni 13, 104 Reykjavík, Iceland, which is the controller of your personal data under the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”) and the Icelandic Act on Data Protection no. 90/2018. In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Laxatunga ehf.; “you” means anyone who visits this website or uses the Pen Buddy apps.

This policy covers this website, the Pen Buddy apps for Mac and iPad, and Pen Buddy’s account service. You can reach us about anything in it at atulranjan975@gmail.com.

1. What we collect

When you visit this website

• Google Analytics. This website uses Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are read. It sets cookies in your browser and sends Google your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you view and how you reached them. We use this only to understand how the site is used, never for advertising. You can block it with your browser’s privacy settings or Google’s opt-out add-on. No other analytics, advertising or tracking scripts run here, and fonts are served from our own site.
• Server logs. Our host, Vercel, processes the technical data every website request carries (your IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time) to deliver the site and keep it secure. We don’t use it to identify you.
• Blog editors only. If you sign in to the blog editor, a session token is kept in your browser’s session storage until you close the tab.

When you use the Pen Buddy apps

• Your account: your name, email address and user id from the Google account you sign in with.
• A device id: a one-way hash of an identifier for your device, used only to stop free credits being claimed again on the same device. It can’t be turned back into the original identifier.
• Your plan and credits: your plan, the credits you have left and records of your purchases. Payments are handled by Stripe (or Apple, for purchases made through the App Store); we never see your full card details.
• Usage counts: how many questions and AI requests your account has used, so plans and limits work.

2. Your notebook stays on your device

Your notes, PDFs, handwriting and its transcripts, conversation transcripts and review cards are stored on your Mac or iPad. Our servers don’t store them. When iCloud sync is available and turned on, they are also kept in your own iCloud account (Apple’s private database for the app), so they appear on your other devices; we can’t read them there, and Apple’s privacy policy applies to iCloud.

3. Talking to Buddy: AI processing

To answer you, Pen Buddy sends what you say, your open note and handwriting, and the page you’re studying (on the Mac, your screen while you choose to share it) to AI providers through Pen Buddy’s server, and only after you allow it in the app:

• Speech to text: on your device where it’s supported; otherwise your voice goes to Amazon Transcribe (Amazon Web Services).
• Thinking and reading: text and images go to Google Gemini, and to Amazon Bedrock (Amazon Web Services) as a backup.
• Buddy’s voice: the text of Buddy’s replies may be sent to ElevenLabs to be spoken aloud.

These are used only to answer you. Pen Buddy’s server passes them through without keeping them, automatic screen reads are never recorded or saved, and we don’t use your content to train AI models. While Pen Buddy can see your screen, a “Screen shared” badge with a stop button is always showing. You can turn AI data sharing off any time in Settings › Privacy; your notebook keeps working.

4. Why we use it (legal bases)

• To provide the service you asked for (performance of a contract): your account, plan, credits, purchases and answering your questions.
• With your consent: sending your voice, notes, handwriting and screen to AI providers. You can withdraw consent at any time in the app.
• Our legitimate interests: keeping the website and service secure, preventing abuse of free credits (the device id) and fixing problems.
• Legal obligations: keeping purchase records as accounting and tax law requires.

5. Who we share it with

We don’t sell, rent or trade your personal information, and we don’t share it for advertising. We share it only with providers that run Pen Buddy for us:

• Vercel (hosting for this website and Pen Buddy’s server)
• Google Firebase (sign-in and account records)
• Stripe and Apple (payments)
• Google, Amazon Web Services and ElevenLabs (AI processing, as described above)
• Google Analytics (website visits)

They act on our instructions and may use your information only to provide their service to us. We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to enforce our Terms of Use, or to protect the safety of our users or the public. If Laxatunga ehf. is involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, your information may be transferred, and this policy will continue to apply to it.

6. International transfers

Some of these providers are based in, or process data in, the United States. Where personal data leaves the European Economic Area, we rely on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, or on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses.

7. How long we keep it

• Your account, plan and credits: until you delete your account.
• Purchase records: as long as accounting and tax law requires.
• What you send to AI providers: not kept by Pen Buddy’s server after it answers you.
• Website server logs: for the short period our host keeps them.

8. Your rights

You can ask us to access, correct, delete or export your personal data, to restrict or object to how we use it, and to withdraw any consent you’ve given. To delete your account in the app, choose Settings › Account › Delete Account: this deletes your account, plan and credits. Notes on your device and in your iCloud stay until you delete them. For anything else, email atulranjan975@gmail.com; we reply within one month.

You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority: in Iceland, Persónuvernd (personuvernd.is), or the authority where you live.

9. Children

Pen Buddy isn’t directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from them. Where the law requires a parent’s consent for older children, they should use Pen Buddy with that consent. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, contact atulranjan975@gmail.com and we’ll delete it.

10. How we protect it

Data travels encrypted (HTTPS). Sign-in tokens stay in your device’s keychain, and the app never holds our providers’ keys. No system is perfectly secure, but we keep what we collect small so there’s less to protect.

11. Links to other sites

Pen Buddy and this website link to other sites and services, such as the study browser in the app. Their own privacy policies apply when you use them.

12. Changes to this policy

If we make significant changes, we’ll tell you in the app or by email before they take effect. The latest version is always on this page, with its date.

Contact

Laxatunga ehf., Sporðagrunni 13, 104 Reykjavík, Iceland. Email: atulranjan975@gmail.com. See also our Legal Notice.