Legal
Privacy Policy
Written from an audit of the actual code, not from a template. Where the code and the old documentation disagreed, the code won.
Last updated
Who we are
Fueling Futures Foundation ("we", "us"), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating as Sympify, is the operator of this website (sympify.org) and of the Sympify application (sympify.ai). EIN 99-1955121.
Privacy questions, and requests to delete a saved report, go to info@sympify.ai.
The short version
- This website has no analytics, no advertising trackers and no cookies.
- The Sympify application has no user accounts and does not ask who you are.
- What you enter about your symptoms is stored in your own browser, and is discarded one hour after you stop using it.
- Your symptom answers are sent to our server to rank conditions, without any identifier attached.
- There is one optional step — entering a Member ID — that saves your report to our records. It is optional, and you can skip it.
- We do not sell information, and we do not run targeted advertising.
This website (sympify.org)
This site is a set of static pages. It sets no cookies, loads no third-party scripts, fonts or embeds, and includes no analytics, session-replay, advertising or social tracking pixels of any kind. There is nothing here that identifies you.
Our hosting provider records ordinary technical server logs — typically IP address, timestamp, requested URL, referrer and user-agent — as part of delivering the site and protecting it from abuse. We do not use those logs to build a profile of you.
Some pages link to Google Forms (applications, contact). Those open on Google's systems, and anything you submit there is handled by Google under its own terms and by us as the form owner. This policy does not cover Google's own processing.
The Sympify application (sympify.ai)
Symptom and condition information
When you use Sympify, you enter a condition and answer Yes, No or Unsure about symptoms commonly reported for it. Sympify keeps a working record of that session, which includes the condition you entered, your answers, the broader symptom categories it inferred from them, the conditions you viewed, and the conditions it surfaced.
This record is stored in your browser's local storage on your own device. It is not an account, it is not tied to a name or an email address, and it is not shared between devices.
How long it is kept — and the two different periods
The active session record and the recent-session list carry a one-hour expiry that slides forward each time you do something. One hour after your last activity, the record is treated as expired: it is ignored and removed the next time the application reads it. Up to eight recent sessions are retained under the same one-hour rule.
Separately, when you generate a report, the application also writes a plain copy of the report contents to your browser's local storage so the report page can display it. That copy does not carry the one-hour expiry. It remains on your device until it is overwritten by a later report, or until you use the "Clear session data" control, or until you clear your browser's storage for the site.
What is sent to our servers
To look up a condition and to rank related conditions for your report, the application sends your symptom selections — the symptom names and identifiers, and whether you answered Yes, No or Unsure — to the Sympify condition service. No name, email address or account identifier is attached to those requests. As with any web service, the hosting provider records ordinary technical logs of the requests themselves.
Member ID — the optional saved report
When you generate a report, the application offers a Member ID field, which you may skip. This exists so Sympify volunteers can be credited with service hours when someone they introduced uses the tool.
If you enter a Member ID, the application saves a copy of that report to Sympify's records, including the Member ID, the condition you entered at the start, your symptom answers, the inferred symptom categories, and the conditions surfaced. Reports saved this way have also been used, in aggregated and privacy-reviewed form, in Sympify's research on how the system behaves.
If you leave the Member ID field empty, no report is saved to our records and everything stays on your device.
We keep a saved report for as long as it is needed for the organization's records and research. If you entered a Member ID and want the report removed, email info@sympify.ai with the Member ID and the approximate date, and we will delete it.
Photographs and test results (imaging uploads)
The application includes an area where you can attach a photograph of a symptom or a lab or test result to your case, along with details you type in yourself, such as body region, duration and notes.
Sympify does not read, interpret or analyse these files. No image analysis and no text extraction is performed, and nothing you upload changes how conditions are ranked.
By default, only the details you typed are stored — in your browser, on your own device, capped at ten records — and the file itself does not leave your device. Cloud storage of uploaded files is a separate feature that is switched off by default, and the application's own configuration states that it should not be enabled in production until authenticated storage and server-side validation have been deployed and reviewed. Where it is switched off, the interface says so.
Your choices
- Clear everything. The application has a "Clear session data" control that removes the session record, the recent-session list and the stored report copy from your browser.
- Skip the Member ID. Leaving it blank means no report is saved to our records.
- Clear your browser storage. Clearing site data for sympify.ai removes everything Sympify has stored locally.
- Ask us. If you entered a Member ID and want the saved report removed, contact us and we will delete it.
Service providers
We use a small number of third parties to deliver this site and the application. They process information on our behalf, or on their own account where you deal with them directly:
- Vercel hosts this website and keeps ordinary technical server logs.
- Google hosts the forms linked from the Get Involved and Contact pages. Anything you submit to a form is handled by Google under its own terms, and by us as the form owner.
- PayPal handles donations. Donating takes you to PayPal — this site never receives or stores your card details.
- A separately hosted service answers the Sympify application's condition and ranking requests, and keeps ordinary technical logs of those requests.
Security
The website and application are served over HTTPS. Because Sympify has no accounts, there are no passwords to protect. Saved reports are held in access-controlled infrastructure. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Children
Sympify is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you are under 13, please do not use Sympify or submit anything through our forms.
If you are between 13 and 18, we ask that you use Sympify with a parent or guardian involved. Sympify organizes health information; it is not a substitute for talking to an adult who can help you get care.
If you believe a child under 13 has given us information, email info@sympify.ai and we will delete it.
Sympify members and chapter volunteers are often high school students. Their participation is handled through the membership and chapter processes, not through this policy, and those processes are where any parental consent belongs.
A note about HIPAA
Do not assume that HIPAA applies here. HIPAA governs covered entities such as health plans and healthcare providers, and their business associates. Sympify is a nonprofit information tool, not a healthcare provider, and it does not have a treatment relationship with you. We therefore do not claim to be HIPAA compliant, and you should not treat information you enter into Sympify as though it carries HIPAA protections.
Information you enter about your health is still personal and sensitive, and we handle it with that in mind — which is why the tool asks for as little as possible and keeps most of it on your own device.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top of this page. Material changes will be announced on the website.
Contact
Email info@sympify.ai about anything in this policy, including a request to delete a saved report. You can also use the contact page, though a privacy request is better sent by email so there is a record of it.