Privacy Policy

The short version

• We collect what we need to run your account, take payments and make your Zymes.
• We never sell your information or share it for targeted ads.
• We never use your papers to train AI.
• A few providers help run TimeZyme: hosting, reading PDFs, AI writing, email, and Stripe for payments. Each gets only what its job needs.
• Analytics counts page views without analytics cookies, and you can turn it off.
• Accounts are for ages 13 and up. Younger students use TimeZyme through a parent’s, guardian’s or teacher’s account.
• You can delete your account in settings at any time. Most of your information is erased right away.
• Email us to see, fix, delete or get a copy of your information.

This summary is here to help. The full policy below is what counts.

1. Who we are

TimeZyme is run by TimeZyme, Inc., a Delaware company operating in Texas, in the United States.

2. What this policy covers

This policy covers the information we handle when you read sample Zymes, read Featured Zymes with a free account, or make Zymes on a paid plan.

Your personal information is handled differently from the papers we turn into Zymes, which are scholarly content.

3. What we collect

We collect:

• Account details. Your name, email address and avatar if you add one. If you sign in with a password, we store only a scrambled (hashed) version of it. If you sign in with Google, we store your Google account ID. We also keep account and activity times, and a link to your Stripe customer record if you pay.
• Payment details. Stripe runs checkout for plans and credit packs. We never store your card number or security code. Stripe gets your account ID, email, what you’re buying and the billing details you give it.
• Papers you add and your library. The arXiv IDs or links you add, the prices you see, your choices and each paper’s progress, including failures. Also what we pull from each paper, such as its text, passages and figures, the finished Zymes, and which ones are in your library.
• Messages to us. Support questions, feedback, privacy requests and our replies.
• Usage and device details. The pages you visit and what you do there, where you came from, times, your IP address, and your browser and device type. We use these to run, measure and protect TimeZyme. See section 7.

4. How we use it

We use your information to:

• Make and show your Zymes, and keep your account and library working
• Show prices and progress, and manage your credits and plan
• Take payments, stop fraud and abuse, and keep TimeZyme reliable and secure
• Send account and service emails, and answer your questions and requests
• Follow the law, settle disputes and enforce our Terms

We never use the papers you add to train AI models.

5. How your paper becomes a Zyme

To make and show Zymes, we share information with providers in these roles:

• A cloud provider that hosts, stores and processes our data, and sends our requests to AI models
• A document-processing provider that reads the text, images and passages out of each PDF
• AI model providers that run the models we use to study papers and write explanations
• An email provider that receives the address and message needed to send each account or service email

Each provider gets only what its role needs. Using a paper to write your Zyme is not the same as training an AI model on it.

Providers may keep copies under their own terms, to run their service, for security or because the law requires it. Deleting your account doesn’t delete those copies automatically; sections 8 and 9 explain your options.

6. Who we share information with

We share information only as needed to run TimeZyme:

• Service providers, in the roles listed in section 5.
• Legal and safety: when the law or a valid legal request requires it, or to protect rights, safety and security and enforce our agreements.
• A merger or sale: if TimeZyme merges, is bought or sells its assets, your information may move to the new owner under this policy, and we’ll tell you about any important change.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising.

Your account and library are private. Some sample Zymes are public, and Featured Zymes are open to signed-in readers. If another reader gets the same Zyme you did, they don’t see your account or library.

7. Cookies and analytics

We store only what we need in your browser:

• Essential: keeping you signed in and secure. Google sign-in and Stripe use their own technologies.
• Preferences: your theme, display settings and analytics choice in that browser.
• Analytics: page views, where visitors come from and how the site is used, counted without analytics cookies.

Turn analytics off or on from our Cookie preferences page. Turning it off stops new measurement in that browser. It doesn’t erase what was already counted, carry over to other browsers or devices, or control Google or Stripe. Blocking essential storage may stop you from signing in or paying.

8. How long we keep information

We keep personal information as long as reasonably necessary to run TimeZyme, follow the law and settle disputes. You can ask us to delete more; if we need to keep something, we’ll tell you what and why.

While your account is open. We keep your profile and the links between your account, the papers you added and the Zymes in your library. Sign-in links and one-time codes stop working within hours, and once they expire we delete them, along with the address they went to.

When you delete your account. Deleting your account in settings happens right away. We erase your profile, sign-in details, saved notification address, library and queue records, processing history and private copies of your papers, and sign you out. If any step fails, the whole deletion fails, and your account and information stay so you can try again. A failed attempt doesn’t undo what already happened at Stripe: a canceled plan stays canceled, and once billing is closed there, we process no new papers for you until the deletion finishes.

What stays after you delete your account. The billing, agreement and support records described below, and Zymes of papers other readers can also ask for. To ask us to delete anything else, email privacy@timezyme.com.

Papers and Zymes. We keep a paper’s text, images, details and passages, and the Zymes made from it, so they can be read and reused. After you delete your account, a Zyme of a publicly available paper may stay, so another subscriber who asks for that paper can get it, where the paper’s rights and the law allow. Asking for a Zyme doesn’t by itself add it to the public samples or Featured Zymes. Authors and others named in a paper remain part of its scholarly content, and the paper’s rights still apply.

Temporary copies of PDFs. When we fetch a PDF from arXiv for you, we keep a temporary copy until your Zyme is ready. We delete it when the Zyme finishes, fails, or is closed or removed. Deleting your account deletes any copy still there, and we check it’s gone before we call the deletion complete.

Billing records. We keep what you bought, what you paid and which account paid, as long as reasonably necessary for tax and accounting rules. We keep what a payment dispute needs, such as your acceptance of these policies at checkout and what we delivered, as long as reasonably necessary, since a card dispute can come long after a charge. Deleting your account cancels your plan right away; paid time and unspent credits end with it, with no automatic refund. To keep your plan until the paid period ends, cancel renewal in Billing settings instead. See Refunds and cancellations.

Messages and usage records. Support and privacy emails arrive in an ordinary mailbox, not your account, so deleting your account doesn’t remove them. We keep them as long as reasonably necessary for follow-up, disputes and the law. Usage and security records help us keep TimeZyme reliable, measure use, stop fraud and look into problems.

Backups. Our hosting provider keeps backups of our databases and processing runs for up to 30 days, so a deleted record could be restored for a short time after a disaster. These backups aren’t used to run TimeZyme, and they expire on their own.

Open disputes. If a dispute, chargeback or legal claim is open or likely, we keep the records it needs until it ends, even if you asked us to delete them.

Privacy concerns about a paper or a Zyme: privacy@timezyme.com. Copyright concerns: legal@timezyme.com or the Contact page.

9. Your choices and rights

You can:

• See and update your account details in your dashboard
• Turn analytics off or on from our Cookie preferences page
• Cancel renewal in Billing settings
• Delete your account in settings. This erases most of your information and cancels your plan right away, with no automatic refund for paid time or unspent credits. Section 8 lists what stays.
• Email privacy@timezyme.com to see your information, fix it, delete it or get a copy you can take elsewhere

Depending on where you live, the law may give you the right to see, correct or delete your personal information, get a copy to take elsewhere, and opt out of its sale or sharing. We don’t sell it or share it for targeted ads, and we won’t treat you differently for using your privacy rights.

To make a request, email privacy@timezyme.com from your account email and tell us what you want, so we can confirm it’s you. We’ll answer within 30 days, or sooner if the law requires. If the law allows more time, we’ll tell you why and how long within those 30 days. If we can’t do part of a request, we’ll explain why and what we keep. If you disagree with our answer and the law gives you a right to appeal, reply to it. Where you have the right, you can also contact your privacy regulator.

We don’t make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects. AI writes Zymes from papers; that is making content, not deciding anything about you. If you think we’ve mishandled your information, tell us at privacy@timezyme.com and we’ll look into it.

10. Marketing email

We don’t send marketing email. Every email we send is about your account, a purchase or a paper you asked us to process. Accepting our Terms doesn’t sign you up for marketing. If we ever start, we’ll ask you separately, saying no won’t affect your account, and every marketing email will have a one-click way to stop.

11. Children

Accounts are for people 13 and older, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Younger students can use TimeZyme with a parent, guardian or teacher, through that adult’s account. If you think a child under 13 has given us personal information, email privacy@timezyme.com and we’ll delete it.

There is no separate account or version of TimeZyme for children.

12. Security

Your account sits behind your sign-in, and we work to protect information as it travels and while it’s stored. No method is completely secure.

13. Where your information is processed

TimeZyme operates in the United States. If you use it from another country, your information is sent to and processed in the United States under US law. We and our providers may also process information in other countries with different laws.

14. Changes to this policy

When we update this policy, we post the new version here with a new date. If we make an important change to how we treat your personal information, we’ll tell you by email or with a clear notice in TimeZyme. Changes apply from then on, and don’t take away rights or promises that already applied under an earlier version or the law.

15. Contact

Questions about this policy or how we handle data: privacy@timezyme.com. Put TimeZyme in the subject line, and for a rights request, include your account email and what you’re asking for.