Last updated: October 6, 2026
1. Introduction
This Privacy Policy explains how Programate, Inc. (“Programate”, “we”, “us”, “our”), a company based in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. and operator of Programate Lift (the “Service”), collects, uses, discloses, and protects information when you use the Service. By using the Service, you agree to this Policy and to our Terms of Service.
2. Information we collect
- Account information: your name (if provided), email address, a securely hashed password, account settings, and authentication data (including two-factor settings).
- Billing information: your subscription and credit history, our internal credit ledger, and limited payment metadata such as your card brand and last four digits, billing status, and identifiers assigned by our payment processor. We do not collect or store full payment card numbers — see Section 6.
- Usage and run data: the inputs you submit (targets, personas, goals, prompts, and questions), your run configurations, the responses returned by the AI providers, citations and transcripts, and operational metrics such as token counts, costs, durations, timestamps, and run status. We also keep audit logs of significant account and billing actions.
- Technical data: IP address, browser and device information, and the session/authentication cookies needed to operate the Service.
3. How we use information
- To provide, maintain, and secure the Service and your account; to execute your runs against the AI providers you select; to process payments, credits, and subscriptions; to provide support; and to detect, prevent, and investigate fraud, abuse, and security incidents, and to comply with our legal obligations.
- To optimize and improve the Service: we analyze operational and usage data to fine-tune our cost estimates, calibrate and improve our models and methods, monitor quality, and develop new features. Your agreement to this use is part of our Terms of Service.
4. Disclosure of your inputs to AI providers (important)
Programate Lift operates by transmitting the inputs you submit to one or more third-party AI providers that you select (for example Perplexity, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI). Those providers receive and process your inputs under their own terms and privacy policies, which we do not control. Because the Service is designed to simulate public searches, you should treat everything you submit as public, and you must not submit personal, confidential, secret, or regulated data. See Terms of Service, Section 3.
5. How we access your data (our confidentiality posture)
We do not monitor or review how individual customers use the platform, and we do not read your specific run content for marketing or for any purpose other than operating and improving the Service as described above.
However, authorized personnel may access specific accounts or data when reasonably necessary to:
- provide support and fix errors or problems you report;
- investigate, diagnose, or resolve technical or billing issues;
- maintain security and prevent or investigate abuse or fraud; or
- comply with the law or valid legal process.
Access of this kind is limited to what is reasonably necessary for the purpose. This is standard practice for hosted software services.
6. Payment and credit-card privacy
Payments are handled by our third-party payment processor, Stripe, a PCI-DSS-compliant provider. Your full card details are collected and stored by the processor, not by us; we receive only limited, non-sensitive metadata (such as card brand, last four digits, and transaction identifiers) needed to manage billing. Your use of payment features is also subject to the processor’s privacy policy.
7. How we share information
We share information with: the AI providers you select (as described above); service providers who help us operate the Service (such as our payment processor, cloud hosting, and email delivery providers), under appropriate confidentiality obligations; and authorities or other parties where required to comply with law, enforce our Terms, or protect our rights, our users, or the public. We may transfer information as part of a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets. We do not sell your personal information.
8. Data retention
We retain account and usage data for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Service. Financial and ledger records are append-only and retained for the periods required for accounting, tax, audit, and legal purposes, even after account closure. We may retain or de-identify certain operational data for analytics and service-improvement purposes.
9. Security
We use technical and organizational measures designed to protect information, including encryption in transit, hashed credentials, access controls, two-factor authentication for privileged accounts, and bot protection. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. Because the Service simulates public searches, you should treat your inputs as public and use the Service at your own risk, as described in the Terms.
10. Your choices and rights
You may access and update your account information, and you may request deletion of your account. Subject to our legal retention obligations (for example, financial records), we will delete or de-identify personal data on request. Depending on your location, you may have additional rights described in Sections 11 and 12; contact us to exercise them.
11. Your California privacy rights (CCPA/CPRA)
If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), gives you specific rights regarding your personal information.
- Categories we collect: identifiers (such as name, email, and IP address); commercial information (such as subscription, credit, and transaction history); internet or network activity (such as usage and run metadata); and the content you submit through the Service. We collect these for the business purposes described in Section 3, from you directly, automatically through your use of the Service, and from our payment processor.
- No sale or sharing: we do not sell your personal information, and we do not “share” it for cross-context behavioral advertising, as those terms are defined under the CCPA/CPRA. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that would trigger a right to limit.
- Your rights: to know and access the personal information we hold about you; to request its deletion; to request correction of inaccurate information; and to not be discriminated against for exercising these rights.
- How to exercise: email [email protected]. We will verify your request as required by law, and you may use an authorized agent. We may retain information where permitted or required (for example, financial records).
12. EEA / UK privacy rights (GDPR)
If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you may have rights under the GDPR or UK GDPR, including access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and objection, and the right to lodge a complaint with your supervisory authority. Where we process your personal data, our legal bases are the performance of our contract with you (providing the Service), our legitimate interests (operating, securing, and improving the Service), your consent where applicable, and compliance with legal obligations. To exercise these rights, email [email protected].
13. Cookies
We use strictly necessary session and authentication cookies to keep you signed in and to secure the Service. We do not use them to track you across other websites.
14. International data
The Service is operated from, and your information may be processed in, the United States, and the AI providers and service providers we use may process data in other locations. By using the Service, you consent to this processing.
15. Children
The Service is not directed to, and may not be used by, individuals under 18 years of age.
16. Changes and contact
We may update this Policy from time to time; material changes will be indicated by updating the “Last updated” date. Questions or privacy requests may be sent to [email protected].