zQinta — Privacy Policy
Last updated: July 17, 2026
The short version: your knowledge stays on your Mac, and we don’t see it.
zQinta (“the app,” “we,” “us”) is a local-first macOS application, distributed directly from our website at zqinta.com.
1. What we collect
The app is local-first: your knowledge maps, notes, AI chats, and API keys live on your Mac, and we do not see them. We run no analytics servers inside the app, no trackers, and no advertising SDKs.
The only situations in which information reaches our servers are:
- When you register an account (email + hashed password) — needed for the Market (buy/sell courses) and community features.
- Community content you choose to publish (discussions, comments) — public by design; you control what you post.
- Payment metadata (Stripe customer/subscription IDs, Connect account status) — we store references only. We never see your card number — Stripe handles all card data under their own PCI-DSS compliance.
- Transactional emails (account confirmation, password reset, optional notifications) — delivered via Mailgun.
- When you email us for support — you choose what to share (see §6).
We do not sell or share your personal data.
2. Where your data lives
- Your knowledge maps (concepts, notes, chat history) are stored locally on your Mac. They do not leave your device unless you explicitly export or sync them.
- Personal notes you add to concepts are private and are never sent to any AI model.
- Your AI provider API keys are stored in the macOS Keychain and are never sent to us.
- Account + community data lives on our servers (PostgreSQL) — only what’s needed for login, the Market, and discussions.
3. Sync (Premium, optional)
If you subscribe to Premium and enable sync, your knowledge maps sync across your Macs via Apple iCloud using CloudKit’s Private Database:
- The data is stored in your iCloud account, hosted and encrypted by Apple.
- It is encrypted in transit and at rest by Apple. With iCloud Advanced Data Protection enabled on your account, it is end-to-end encrypted.
- We (the developer) cannot read your synced data.
4. Artificial intelligence
zQinta uses AI to build your concept trees and generate video, audio, and text. How your content is processed depends on the AI source:
- Apple on-device models run locally on your Mac — no network traffic, no data leaves your device.
- Apple Private Cloud Compute (PCC) — for heavier reasoning, requests may be sent to Apple’s PCC. Apple designs PCC so that request data is not stored and is not accessible to Apple or to us. See Apple’s privacy overview.
- Bring Your Own Key (OpenAI / Anthropic / Seedance) — if you add your own API key, the app sends your prompts directly to that provider over HTTPS, governed by that provider’s privacy policy. Your API key is stored in the macOS Keychain and is never sent to us.
When you ask the AI to expand a concept or generate a lesson, the relevant concept text is included in the request so the model has context.
5. The Market (buy & sell courses)
Registered users can browse, buy, and (for Premium) sell AI-generated courses on the zQinta Market:
- Buying a course processes payment through Stripe. We store only the Stripe transaction reference, never your card.
- Selling (Premium) uses Stripe Connect to route payouts to your bank. We store your Connect account status, not banking credentials.
- Imported courses become local knowledge trees on your Mac.
6. Exports & support
- Exports (PDF, Markdown, JSON) are generated locally and saved wherever you choose. If you share an export with us for support, treat it as personal data — share only what you’re comfortable with.
- Support emails contain only what you choose to send us. We use them solely to respond to you and delete them when no longer needed.
7. Subscriptions & payments
Subscription billing is processed by Stripe (direct distribution — not the Mac App Store). We collect only the Stripe customer/subscription ID; we never see or store your card number. You can manage or cancel your subscription at any time from the app’s Subscription tab or via the Stripe customer portal.
Product identifiers: com.cascadeai.zqinta.premium.monthly and com.cascadeai.zqinta.premium.annual.
8. Local analytics (no PII)
If analytics are collected, they are stored only on your device, contain no personal information, and can be reset or exported from the app’s settings at any time. They are never transmitted to us.
9. Children
zQinta is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from children.
10. Your choices & rights
- Delete your data: delete individual concepts or maps in the app, or remove the app’s container (Finder → Go → ⌥ Library → Containers →
com.cascadeai.zqinta).
- Delete your account: Settings → Privacy & Data → Delete my account. This cancels your subscription and wipes your server-side profile, posts, and notifications. An anonymous financial record is retained for tax/legal compliance.
- Stop sync: disable iCloud sync in the app, or turn off iCloud Drive for the app in System Settings.
- Remove an API key: delete it from Settings → AI Provider.
- Manage or cancel your subscription: in-app Subscription tab, or System Settings if billed by Apple.
- Access & portability (GDPR/CCPA): download all the server-side data we hold about you from Settings → Privacy & Data → Download my data.
11. How long we keep data
- Community posts & comments — until you delete them.
- Notifications — 90 days, then automatically purged.
- Session tokens — 30 days, then expire.
- Payment records — ~7 years (tax/legal retention), anonymized on account deletion.
- Diagnostics logs (on your Mac) — 7 days, then auto-cleaned.
- Your local boards — forever, until you delete or reset them on your Mac.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy; the “Last updated” date above reflects the latest version.
Questions about your privacy? Email privacy@zqinta.com.