Privacy Policy

This policy explains how Next Generation Design Ark (“we”, “us”) collects and uses personal information when you use Next Generation Design Ark at ngdesignark.com (the “Service”), including when you open a design someone has shared with you. For questions or requests, email support@ngdesignark.com.

1. What we collect

When you have an account

• Account details: your email address, and your name and profile picture if you sign in with Google.
• Your content: projects and designs, and anything you upload or record: floor plans, drawings, photos, logos, furniture models, videos, messages to the AI assistant and voice notes.
• Billing information: your plan, subscription status, purchases and credit balance. Paddle collects your payment details, address and tax information; we do not receive or store your card number.
• Linked accounts: if you link Sketchfab, we keep the access token it gives us so we can fetch models for you.

When you open a shared design

• Viewing activity: which shared tours and videos you open and how far you watch, tied to a random ID kept in your browser that does not identify you by name.
• Voice guide conversations: if you talk to the voice guide, ElevenLabs records the conversation and we keep a transcript.
• Enquiries: if you send a viewing request or enquiry, the details you enter, such as your name, email, phone number, preferred time and message.

We share this with the person or business who sent you the link, together with a summary of your viewing and a score of how likely the enquiry is to go ahead, so they can follow up. They decide how to use your enquiry, and their own privacy policy applies to that.

From everyone

• Technical information: IP address, browser and device type, and logs of requests, used for security, rate limits and fixing problems.
• Analytics: we use Umami, which counts page views without cookies and without identifying you.

2. How we use it

• to run the Service: store and render your designs, run AI features, and show shared links;
• to sign you in and keep your account secure;
• to process purchases, apply your plan and keep track of credits;
• to send emails you need, such as sign-in codes, new enquiries on your shared links, reminders and notices about your account;
• to answer support requests;
• to prevent abuse and fraud, and to meet legal obligations;
• to understand, in aggregate, how the Service is used so we can improve it.

We do not sell your personal information, share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, or use your content for advertising. We do not train our own AI models on your content.

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, our legal bases are: performing our contract with you (running the Service), our legitimate interests (security, support and improving the Service), your consent (where we ask for it), and legal obligations (such as tax records).

3. Who processes it

We use these service providers. Each one receives only what it needs for its task and processes it under its agreement with us. When you use an AI feature, the content involved, such as a photo, plan or message, is sent to the provider that powers it.

• Vercel: hosts the website
• Oracle Cloud: runs our servers and stores uploaded files, renders and videos
• Neon: hosts our database
• Paddle: takes payments and handles tax, invoices and refunds as Merchant of Record
• Resend: sends sign-in codes and account email
• Google: sign-in with Google, if you choose it
• OpenAI and Anthropic: the AI assistant, reading plans and photos, and transcribing voice notes
• ElevenLabs: the voice guide on shared links and narrated tours
• fal.ai and Meshy: generating 3D furniture, models and textures
• Sketchfab: the furniture library, and your Sketchfab account if you link it
• Umami: cookie-free, aggregate website analytics

Paddle is the Merchant of Record for our sales and processes payment information under its own privacy policy. We may also disclose information when the law requires it, to protect rights and safety, or to a buyer if the business is sold, in which case this policy continues to apply.

4. Cookies and browser storage

We use essential cookies to keep you signed in. Your browser’s local storage keeps preferences such as the light or dark theme and editor layout, and the random visitor ID for shared links. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

5. How long we keep it

• We keep your account and content while your account is open.
• Projects you delete go to the trash first, and are removed when you empty it or delete them permanently.
• When you ask us to close your account, we delete its data within 30 days. Copies in backups are removed as those backups expire.
• We keep records of purchases for as long as tax and accounting law requires.
• Enquiries and viewing activity on shared links are kept while the account that shared them is open.

6. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, including under the GDPR, the UK GDPR and US state laws such as California’s, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or receive a copy of your personal information, and to object to or restrict some uses of it. Email support@ngdesignark.com from the address on your account and we will respond within 30 days. We will not treat you differently for using these rights. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

If you sent an enquiry through someone’s shared link, you can contact them directly, or email us and we will pass your request on and delete what we hold.

7. Where it is processed

We and our providers process information in the United States and other countries. When we transfer information from the EEA or the UK, we rely on safeguards such as the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses or the provider’s certification under the Data Privacy Framework.

8. Security

We encrypt connections with HTTPS, limit access to personal information to the people and systems that need it, and store passwords for shared links in hashed form. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security; if a breach affects you, we will tell you as the law requires.

9. Children

The Service is not for children. You must be 18 or older to create an account, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you think a child has given us information, email support@ngdesignark.com and we will delete it.

10. Changes to this policy

We will post any changes here with a new date. If a change is significant, we will tell you by email or in the app before it takes effect.

11. Contact

Next Generation Design Ark, support@ngdesignark.com. See also our Terms and Conditions.