Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

Information you give us

• Account information: your email address, an optional display name, and your password. Passwords are stored only as a one-way salted hash; we never store or see your plain-text password.
• Project content: the PLC programs, tags, function blocks, simulation bindings and gateway settings you create, which we store so you can return to your work.
• Messages: the name, email address, subject and message you submit through our contact form or send us by email.

Information collected automatically

• Technical data: like most websites, our servers and hosting provider receive standard request information such as your IP address, browser type, the pages you request and the time of the request. We use this to operate, secure and troubleshoot the Service, and to limit abuse (for example, rate-limiting contact form submissions).
• Cookies: described in the next section.

The Hardware Gateway is software that runs on your own computer. The industrial data it exchanges with your devices (Modbus, OPC UA and similar traffic) flows between your browser and your local machine; we do not receive it.

2. Cookies and similar technologies

A cookie is a small text file stored by your browser. We use the following:

• Strictly necessary cookies: when you sign in we set a secure session cookie (and a related CSRF-protection cookie) so that you stay signed in. The Service cannot work without them.
• Advertising cookies: our public pages (such as the home page and these information pages) may show advertisements served by Google AdSense, which uses cookies as described below. Ads are not shown inside the signed-in programming environment.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you block strictly necessary cookies you will not be able to sign in.

3. Google AdSense and third-party advertising

We use Google AdSense, an advertising service provided by Google LLC, to display ads on our public pages. In connection with this:

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites.
• Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.
• You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. Alternatively, you can opt out of some third-party vendors' use of cookies for personalised advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices (or www.youronlinechoices.eu in Europe).
• Other third-party vendors or ad networks may also use cookies to serve ads on our site. Their use of cookies is governed by their own privacy policies.

You can learn more about how Google uses information from sites that use its services at How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services. Where required by law (for example, for visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland), we ask for your consent before personalised ads or non-essential cookies are used, through a consent message shown on your first visit. You can change your choice at any time from that message.

4. How we use your information

• To create and manage your account and authenticate you.
• To store, load and auto-save your projects.
• To respond to your messages and support requests.
• To keep the Service secure, prevent abuse and fix problems.
• To display advertising on our public pages, as described above.
• To comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use your project content for advertising.

5. Legal bases (EEA/UK visitors)

We process your information to perform our contract with you (providing the Service), for our legitimate interests (securing and improving the Service, responding to enquiries), with your consent (personalised advertising and non-essential cookies), and to comply with the law.

6. Sharing your information

We share information only with:

• Service providers who host and operate the Service on our behalf (such as hosting and database providers), under obligations to protect it.
• Advertising partners such as Google, limited to the cookie and device data described in section 3.
• Authorities, where we are required to by law or to protect the rights, property or safety of our users or others.
• A successor organisation, if the Service is involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets — in which case we will notify you.

7. Data retention

We keep your account and projects for as long as your account is active. If you ask us to delete your account, we delete your account data and projects within 30 days, except where we must retain information to meet legal obligations. Contact form messages are kept for as long as needed to handle your enquiry and then deleted.

8. Security

We use industry-standard measures to protect your information, including encrypted HTTPS connections and hashed passwords. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work to protect your data and will notify you of any breach where the law requires.

9. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export or delete your personal information, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to withdraw consent at any time. California residents have the right to know what personal information we collect and to request its deletion, and we do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising other than through the Google AdSense cookies described above, which you can opt out of. To exercise any of these rights, contact us through our contact form. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

10. Children's privacy

The Service is not directed to children under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA and UK), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has given us personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

11. International transfers

Our service providers may process information in countries other than your own. Where we transfer personal information internationally we rely on appropriate safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will change the “Last updated” date above and, for significant changes, notify signed-in users.

13. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, contact us through our contact form.