Privacy policy

This policy describes how Five Line Studio, LLC (“Five Line Studio,” “we,” “us”) handles information for Inkbound: the website at inkbound.design (the “Site”) and the Inkbound desktop application (the “App”). We are a Florida limited liability company at 2290 Queens Way, Naples, FL 34112, United States.

The short version

• The App is local-first: your manuscripts, covers and book files live on your Mac, and we don't keep copies of your books on our servers.
• You need an account to use Inkbound, so we collect your email address. Purchases are handled by Stripe, and we never see your full card number.
• Parts of your book leave your Mac only when you choose to use an AI feature, and only for that request.
• The Site uses advertising tools from Meta and Google to measure how our ads perform.
• We don't sell personal information.
• Inkbound is sold in the US only for now, and we process information in the United States.

Information we collect on the Site

Advertising measurement: Meta

The Site uses the Meta Pixel, a small piece of code from Meta Platforms, Inc. It sets cookies and collects device and usage information (such as IP address, browser information, pages visited, and actions like downloading the installer or creating an account) so we can measure ad performance and reach people likely to be interested in Inkbound. When someone downloads the installer or creates an account on the Site, our server also sends Meta a matching signal directly. It includes your IP address, your browser details, Meta's ad cookies if present and, for a new account, a hashed version of your email address and account ID. Hashing turns them into one-way codes that Meta uses to match ad results. Meta processes this data under its own privacy policy. You can adjust how Meta uses data about you in your Meta ad preferences, and limit tracking with browser settings or extensions.

Advertising measurement: Google

The Site also loads the Google tag from Google LLC to measure how our Google ads perform. It sets cookies and collects similar device and usage information. Google processes this data under its own privacy policy, and you can manage the ads Google shows you in My Ad Center.

Purchase measurement

When you return to our thank-you page after checkout, we record the time, the Stripe checkout session ID, any Google or Meta ad click IDs and which kind of purchase it was. We use them to report purchases back to Google (the click ID, the time and what was bought, including its price) so its ad tools can measure which ads lead to purchases.

Download counter

We count installer downloads ourselves. Each count stores the time, a one-way hash of your IP address (not the address itself), your browser details and the page you came from.

Website sign-up

If you create your account on our website, Clerk runs the sign-up form there too, and we email you the download link through Resend. We also keep a sign-up log: the time, short codes made from your email address and account ID (the start of a one-way SHA-256 hash of each), an event code and your browser details, so we can check our ad measurement.

Hosting logs

Like most websites, our hosting provider may automatically log basic technical information about visits (IP address, browser type, pages viewed, timestamps). We use this only to operate, secure and improve the Site.

Information you give us

If you email us, we receive what you send, such as your name, email address and message.

Your Inkbound account

You need an account to use Inkbound. Accounts are provided by Clerk, Inc. When you sign up, Clerk collects your email address and any name you enter. If our sign-in page offers another account to sign in with (for example a Google account) and you choose it, Clerk also receives the basic profile details that account shares, such as your name. Clerk verifies your email. Clerk also records the IP address, browser and device used for each sign-in, to keep your account secure. You sign in through your web browser, and the app receives a sign-in token, not your password. We receive your account ID and email address from Clerk so we can run your account, your plan and our emails. Clerk processes this information under its own privacy policy.

Payments

Payments are handled by Stripe, Inc. Stripe collects your card details directly; we never see or store your full card number. From Stripe we receive and keep: your Stripe customer ID, what you bought, your plan status and renewal dates, payment amounts and whether each payment succeeded, was refunded or was disputed, and a card fingerprint.

A card fingerprint is a code Stripe creates that identifies a card without revealing its number. We also keep a coded summary of the card: a one-way hash of its brand, last 4 digits, issuing country and type (credit, debit or prepaid), because a phone wallet such as Apple Pay can give the same card a different fingerprint. We use both to apply our “one $1 week per person and per card” rule and to stop abuse of the referral program. Stripe also screens payments for fraud using its Radar service.

Stripe also tells us which country issued your card. Inkbound is sold in the US only for now, so if a plan or Lifetime license is paid with a card issued outside the US, we refund it in full and note on your account that we did, and when.

Stripe emails you receipts and notices about failed payments or payments that need your approval. Stripe processes your information under its own privacy policy.

What our servers keep

Inkbound’s online features run on our server, hosted by Railway, with a database hosted by Supabase. For each account we keep:

• your account ID, plan status and Stripe customer ID;
• billing records for each plan: its status, renewal and end dates, and when the first full payment was made;
• your AI credit balance and a record of credits added and spent;
• a record of each consent you give: which version of our Terms you accepted and when, and for each checkout the plan, the price and first-charge date shown, the exact checkout text, the version of the acknowledgment you ticked, the Stripe checkout ID and the time;
• your referral code, which friends used it, and any referral rewards; and
• review flags we set on an account, with the reason (for example a payment dispute, a card already used for a $1 week, a card issued outside the US, or a second purchase of the same plan that we refunded).

We do not keep copies of your books, and the app does not report what you do in it. Our server host also keeps short technical logs of requests (see Information in the App).

Information in the App

Inkbound stores your books, settings and the files you make on your Mac. The app connects to our servers to sign you in, check your plan, handle purchases, run AI features and download updates. When the app connects to our server, our server host receives your IP address and the app’s version and operating system, and keeps short technical logs for up to 30 days to run and secure the service. We do not store your IP address in our database. Update checks go to our website, so our website host receives your IP address and standard version information.

AI features

When you use an AI feature, the text and images you choose to send (for example a chapter you share with your AI staff, or a cover brief) go through our server to our AI providers, Anthropic (text) and OpenAI (images and narration), which return the result. You choose what each request includes.

Our server does not store the text of your requests or the AI’s replies, and does not write them to its logs. The one exception: when the Cover lab paints a full cover, the finished image and the prompt it was painted from stay in our server’s memory for up to 30 minutes so the app can collect them, and are then deleted. Our providers process requests under their API terms: under those terms they do not use what we send them to train their models, and they delete it within 30 days, unless they need to keep it longer to investigate misuse or the law requires it.

We do not use your writing to train AI models, and we do not allow our AI providers to use it for training.

Emails we send

We send emails about your account and purchases, including:

• a confirmation when you start a plan, with its terms and how to cancel, and a receipt for a Lifetime purchase;
• a reminder at least 2 days before your first $14.99 monthly charge;
• while your plan renews, a yearly reminder of your plan, its price, how often it is charged and how to cancel;
• an email explaining any automatic change to your purchase, for example a refund of a second purchase of the same plan, or a refund because the card was issued outside the US;
• replies to support requests; and
• if you sign up on our website, an email with the download link.

We send account and billing emails, and the download link, through Resend. Replies to support requests come from our hello@inkbound.design mailbox, which our email hosting provider runs. Stripe sends payment receipts and payment notices, and Clerk sends sign-in and verification codes. Because these emails are about your account and billing, they are part of the service while you have a plan.

We may also email account holders news about Inkbound, such as new features and releases. Every one of those emails has an unsubscribe link and our postal address (Five Line Studio, LLC, 2290 Queens Way, Naples, FL 34112). Unsubscribing stops product news only; account and billing emails still come.

How we use information

• To create and run your account and your plan;
• To process payments, renewals and refunds, and to send billing reminders;
• To keep a record of what you agreed to when you bought a plan, as the law requires;
• To run the AI features you use;
• To run the referral program;
• To send product news to account holders, which you can unsubscribe from;
• To apply our US-only sales rule;
• To prevent fraud and abuse;
• To measure and improve our advertising and the Site;
• To respond to inquiries and provide support;
• To operate, maintain, secure and improve the Site and App;
• To comply with legal obligations.

Sharing

We share information only with service providers that help us run Inkbound, and only for that purpose:

We may also share information when the law requires it, to protect our rights or users, or as part of a sale or merger of our business (with notice to you). We don't sell personal information.

How long we keep information

Your choices and rights

You can ask to see, correct or delete your personal information by emailing hello@inkbound.design. To delete your account, email us from your account’s email address. We act on it within 30 days of your request, or tell you within that time why we must wait (for example, an open payment dispute), and reply with what we deleted, and what we keep, why and for how long (see How long we keep information). Deleting your account cancels any plan, ends any Lifetime license and removes your unused credits; see our Terms, section 15.

California and other US state privacy laws. We don't sell personal information for money. Our website uses the Meta and Google advertising tools described above, which let those companies measure our ads and may let them show you our ads elsewhere. Some state privacy laws call this “sharing” personal information or “targeted advertising”. You can block third-party cookies in your browser. We do not use personal information from the Inkbound app for advertising.

Do Not Track. Our website does not respond to browser “Do Not Track” signals, because there is no common standard for them.

Children

Inkbound is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. You must be at least 18 to buy a plan, AI credits or a Lifetime license; if you are 13 to 17, a parent or guardian must agree to our Terms for you and make any purchase.

Changes

If we materially change this policy, we will update this page and the date above.

Where information is processed

Inkbound plans and Lifetime licenses are sold in the US only for now, including Puerto Rico and the other US territories (see our Terms, section 2.5). Five Line Studio is based in the United States. Our account provider (Clerk) and our email provider (Resend) store data in the United States, and our other service providers process information in the United States and, for some of them, in other countries where they operate. If you use Inkbound from outside the US, your information is transferred to the United States and processed there.

Contact

Questions? Email hello@inkbound.design or write to Five Line Studio, LLC, 2290 Queens Way, Naples, FL 34112.