Privacy Policy — HOW TO // AI — CERT

Last updated: July 11, 2026

HOW TO // AI — CERT (“the app”) is an exam-preparation platform from HOW TO // AI, available as an iOS app and as a web app at howtoai.com/cert. We built it to be privacy-first. This policy explains what little we collect, why, and what we never do.

The short version

  • The iOS app requires no account and works fully offline. Your study data stays on your device.
  • The web app uses your email address only to sign you in and (optionally) send you a daily practice question.
  • The AI Tutor sends the question you’re viewing (and anything you type to it) to our server, which forwards it to Anthropic’s Claude API to generate an explanation. It is not linked to your identity and is not used to train AI models.
  • No ads, no tracking, no analytics SDKs, no selling or sharing of personal data. Ever.

iOS app

The iOS app collects no personal data by default. Your progress — quiz attempts, readiness scores, spaced-repetition schedules, bookmarks, streaks, and settings — is stored only on your device and is never uploaded. Deleting the app deletes this data.

  • AI Tutor (optional): when you tap the tutor, the current question’s text and your typed follow-up messages are sent to our backend proxy, which forwards them to Anthropic (the maker of Claude) solely to generate the explanation. Requests carry a random per-install identifier used only for rate limiting — not your name, email, or device identity. Tutor content is not used to train models and is not stored beyond what is needed to answer and to cache common explanations.
  • Subscriptions: purchases are processed entirely by Apple. We never see your payment details. Apple’s privacy policy governs the transaction.
  • Notifications: the daily Question-of-the-Day reminder is a local notification scheduled on your device. No push-notification tokens, no server involvement.
  • No tracking: no advertising, no third-party analytics SDKs, no IDFA, no fingerprinting.

Web app (howtoai.com/cert)

The web app offers optional accounts so your progress can follow you across devices:

  • Email address — used for one-time sign-in links (we never store a password), optional daily Question-of-the-Day emails (opt-in, one-click unsubscribe), and subscription receipts.
  • Study data — your attempts, scores, bookmarks, and streaks are stored with your account so they sync across browsers.
  • Payments — Pro subscriptions are processed by Stripe. Card details go directly to Stripe and never touch our servers; we store only your subscription status and Stripe customer reference. Stripe’s privacy policy governs payment data.
  • Approximate location — when you create an account we derive a rough, country/city-level location from your IP address for our own operational statistics (e.g., where our students are). We do not track your location afterward, and this is never shared or sold.
  • Server logs — like nearly every website, our servers keep standard access logs (IP address, browser user-agent, pages requested) for security and operations, retained briefly.
  • Cookies — a single session cookie keeps you signed in. No advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
  • AI Tutor — same flow as the iOS app above.

What we never do

We do not sell personal data. We do not share it with advertisers or data brokers. We do not run third-party ad or analytics trackers. We do not use your study data or tutor conversations to train AI models.

Children

The app is rated 4+ on the App Store but is designed for professional exam preparation and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Your rights

Email us to access or delete your account and associated data — we’ll act on verified requests within 30 days. iOS-app-only users can simply delete the app (all data is local). Depending on where you live (e.g., EU/EEA, UK, California), you may have additional statutory rights; we honor them.

Changes

We’ll post any changes here and update the date above. Material changes to what we collect will be called out in the app or by email where appropriate.

Contact

Privacy questions or requests: support@howtoai.com

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