Privacy Policy
CiaoNovel is a service hosted on CiaoNovel.com. To use it, you need an account (email and username, plus a declaration that you are at least 18), and this page describes the data that the service stores on its servers to keep it running.
Data Controller: CiaoNovel, Gold Coast Phase 2, Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong. Email: info@ciaonovel.com.
Data collected and purposes. We only collect the data necessary to provide the service:
- Email, Username, and age declaration: creation and management of the account, registration confirmation, Premium plan management, and confirmation that you are at least 18 years old (CiaoNovel is for adults only): we keep only your declaration and when you made it, never your date of birth.
- Texts and Novels: the text of your novels and of your gamebooks and the pages of your diary are saved on CiaoNovel.com servers, associated with your account, to allow you to access them from any device, and you can export your novels at any time using the Export feature. Novels, gamebooks and diaries are stored encrypted on the server. Your diary may contain personal data that you choose to write (events in your life, people you know): we use it only to store it and, if you ask, to have it reworked by the AI or turned into a novel. Novels created from a diary cannot be published on CiaoNovel Read.
- Personal library in CiaoNovel Read: the .txt and .epub files you upload are saved on CiaoNovel.com servers, encrypted and linked only to your account, so you can open them from any connected device; nobody else can open them. To save space, when an .epub is saved on the server we compact it: images are converted to WebP, SVG images are replaced by a placeholder and embedded fonts are removed; only the compacted version stays on the server. When you upload a file, an exact copy of the original also stays in the storage of the browser you used (the “local copy”): it lets you open the file faster without downloading it again, and lets you keep reading it on that device if our server cannot keep it (file too large, or your plan’s storage is full). In that case the file exists only as a local copy, readable only on that device: it is not sent to us, is not backed up, and is lost if you clear the browser data or change browser. You can delete your files at any time and they disappear with your account. If you ask to translate one, the text passes to the AI one piece at a time.
- Chat between users: messages are end-to-end encrypted in your browser before they are sent: not even CiaoNovel can read them. The server keeps an encrypted message only until it has been delivered to every recipient, then deletes it; if a recipient never collects it, it is deleted anyway after 30 days. Your conversation history stays only on your devices: if you switch browser or clear its data, it cannot be recovered. To make the chat work we keep in plain form only your personal code, the public keys of your devices, who takes part in which chat and the name given to the group, the time of the last message in each chat (to sort them and show you the unread ones) and who you have blocked. We also keep your chat contacts: the usernames of the people you have exchanged codes with. The chat in co-writing sessions is end-to-end encrypted in the same way: whoever joins a session receives messages from that moment on, they stay in the browser only while the tab is open, and the chat is deleted when the session ends. Conversations with Novi, the Chat assistant, are the exception: they are not end-to-end encrypted, because the server has to read your message to reply. The message (together with the latest exchanges of the conversation) is processed by AI and uses your credits like any AI feature; the server does not keep it and the history stays only in your browser.
- Technical security data: IP address and time of login attempts, to prevent unauthorized access. When you sign up or request the free month of BYOK Premium, your browser keeps a random code created by CiaoNovel and sends us an encrypted version of it (a non-reversible hash); for the free month we also keep the card fingerprint provided by the payment provider. They are used only to grant the trial credits and the free month just once, and we collect no other characteristics of your device.
- Payment and collection data: if you purchase a Premium subscription or a book, or if you sell your books on CiaoNovel Read, we process transaction data (never your card details, which are handled directly by the payment provider) and, for authors who sell, the data necessary to ensure you receive payment.
- Technical logs: in the event of a service error, we keep technical information useful for diagnosing the issue for a limited period (90 days); never passwords or payment data.
- Country of connection: when you sign up, or on the first login for existing accounts, we send your IP address to an external geolocation service (api.country.is) to find out the country you’re connecting from. We keep only the country, which we need to calculate the VAT due on subscriptions (a legal obligation).
- Shared world: the place where your character is (where you made your last move in the last 24 hours) is shown as a number on the map to your chat contacts, that is the people you have exchanged codes with and have not blocked; they see your username only if you have exchanged codes. If you meet other players in a scene, they see only your character’s public card (name, age, appearance and voice) and what you do in the scene is told in their story too; they never see your secrets, missions or the rest of your story, and neither of you is told whether the other is a person or a character. We keep who is where and the meetings only for as long as the feature needs them.
- Voice dictation (apps only): in the Android and iOS apps, when you tap the microphone, what you say is turned into text by your phone’s speech recognition service (usually Google on Android and Apple on iPhone), under that service’s own privacy rules and, depending on the phone, possibly by sending the audio to its servers. CiaoNovel does not receive, record or keep any audio: it receives only the text that appears in the field, as if you had typed it, and only if you send or save it. The microphone turns on only when you tap it and turns off when you tap it again; permission is requested the first time you use it and you can revoke it at any time in your phone’s settings. Dictation is not available on the website.
Legal basis. Processing is mainly carried out for the performance of the service contract with you; we process certain data (login attempts, error logs) based on our legitimate interest in the security and proper functioning of the service.
Newsletter (optional). If you choose to subscribe to the newsletter, at registration or later in Settings, we use your email address to send you subscription discounts and updates on new features. The legal basis is your consent, which is not required to use the service and which you can withdraw at any time by unticking the box in Settings (withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before). We record the date of your consent. Service emails (account confirmation, password reset, receipts) do not depend on this consent and you will receive them regardless.
Third-party providers and data transfer outside the EU. We use a third-party payment service provider for payment processing. For assisted text generation, we use third-party artificial intelligence services, also located outside the European Economic Area. The texts you submit are transmitted to these providers exclusively to generate the requested response and are never used to train their models. If you choose to use your own OpenRouter key, the key and the model name are used only to forward your requests to OpenRouter, a third-party service (also outside the EU) with which you have a direct relationship and whose terms and privacy policy apply to those requests. We do not keep your personal OpenRouter key on our servers: an encrypted version stays on your device, which only CiaoNovel can open, and on our servers the key is read only for as long as it takes to complete each request, without being saved or logged. We only keep the status of the option and the total of credits used.
Data retention and deletion. If you delete a novel from your list, we keep it on our servers for 7 days (solely to allow recovery in case of error) and then delete it permanently. We also keep a few recent backups as long as the novel exists. When you delete your account, all your personal data, novels, backups, and recently deleted novels are deleted immediately and permanently. Accounting data relating to payments and sales may be kept longer when required by law (for example, for tax obligations). When you delete your account you leave all chats. Your code, your devices, your blocks and any messages still awaiting delivery are deleted immediately. If you do not log in to your account for 12 months we notify you by email; if you do not log in within the following 30 days, we delete your account and all your data, as in a deletion you request yourself.
Cookies. We only use technical cookies necessary for the functioning of the service (for example, to keep you logged in); we do not use profiling or marketing cookies.
Your rights (GDPR). You have the right to: access your data; have it rectified if inaccurate; have it deleted; restrict its processing; object to processing based on legitimate interest; receive it in a structured format and transfer it elsewhere (portability). For the text of your novels, you can already exercise access and portability independently using the Export feature; however, your email and username cannot be modified independently on the site once your account is created. For these cases, or for any other request, write to info@ciaonovel.com. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority of your country of residence.
No warranty on the service. CiaoNovel is an independent project, developed and maintained on a volunteer basis: we offer no guarantee of service continuity, uninterrupted availability, or freedom from errors or malfunctions. We invite you to regularly export a copy of your novel texts (Export feature) and keep it in a safe place. To the extent permitted by applicable law, and except in cases of intentional misconduct or gross negligence on our part, CiaoNovel assumes no liability for any data loss, service interruptions, or damages, direct or indirect, arising from the use of the application.
