Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

SmoothFPS ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws worldwide. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your information when you use our website at smoothfps.com (the "Service").

This policy applies to all users regardless of their location. We are committed to meeting the highest standards of data protection and privacy.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Account Information

When you create an account, we collect:

• Email address – For authentication and communication
• Display name – For community features
• Password – Stored securely using industry-standard hashing

2.2 Diagnostic Session Data

When you use our triage/diagnostic system, we collect:

• Your answers to diagnostic questions (e.g., stutter type, game mode, connection type)
• Detected issue profiles and recommended solutions
• Flow progress tracking (which steps you've completed)

Note: This data helps us improve our diagnostic accuracy and is stored anonymously if you're not logged in.

2.3 HWiNFO Log Files

When you upload HWiNFO log files for analysis, we collect:

• The uploaded CSV file containing hardware sensor data
• Hardware identifiers (CPU, GPU, motherboard names, etc.)
• Temperature, clock speed, and utilization readings
• Any hardware serial numbers or system identifiers present in the log

2.4 Community Activity

When you participate in our community features:

• Your votes on solutions (upvote/downvote)
• Comments you post on solution pages
• Timestamps of your activities

2.5 Contact Form Submissions

When you contact us, we collect:

• Your name, email address, and message content
• Subject category of your inquiry

2.6 Technical Data

We automatically collect:

• IP address (for security and rate limiting)
• Browser type and version
• Device type and operating system
• Pages visited and time spent

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

3.1 Consent & Contractual Necessity

When you create an account, you provide explicit consent to our Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy, which together form the basis for how we process your data. By agreeing, you consent to:

• Service Delivery – Authentication, storing your diagnostic results, delivering analysis reports, and enabling community features
• Service Improvement through Anonymized Data – Using anonymized, aggregated data derived from your uploads and diagnostic sessions to improve diagnostic accuracy, build hardware performance benchmarks, and measure solution effectiveness. This is an integral part of how our Service operates and improves for all users.

If you do not agree to these terms, you may choose not to create an account or use the Service. You may withdraw consent and close your account at any time through your account settings or by contacting us. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing performed before withdrawal, nor does it affect anonymized data that has already been aggregated (as it can no longer be linked to you).

3.2 Anonymized & Aggregated Data

As part of the Service, we derive anonymized, aggregated statistics from your uploaded data. This includes:

• Hardware Performance Benchmarks – Average temperatures, clock speeds, and health scores grouped by hardware component (e.g., "RTX 4070 average GPU temp: 72°C"). No individual user can be identified from these statistics.
• Diagnostic Pattern Analysis – Aggregated issue frequencies and correlations (e.g., "45% of thermal throttling cases also show high VRAM usage") used to improve our diagnostic engine's accuracy.
• Solution Effectiveness Metrics – Success rates of recommended solutions grouped by issue type and hardware configuration, helping us recommend the most effective fixes.

3.3 Contractual Necessity

Some processing is necessary to fulfill our contract with you (providing the Service), including authentication, storing your diagnostic results, and delivering analysis reports.

3.4 Legitimate Interest

We process certain data based on our legitimate interest in maintaining service security, preventing fraud and abuse, and ensuring platform stability. This includes IP logging for rate limiting and security monitoring.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use your information for the following specific purposes:

4.1 Service Delivery (Required)

• Authenticate users – Verify your identity and manage sessions
• Analyze HWiNFO Logs – Generate personalized diagnostic reports using AI analysis
• Save progress – Store your diagnostic history and results
• Community Features – Show votes, display comments, enable interactions
• Communicate – Respond to your inquiries, send important service updates
• Security – Prevent abuse, spam, and unauthorized access

4.2 Service Improvement

Your anonymized data helps us:

• Improve Diagnostic Accuracy – Identify recurring issue patterns to make our AI diagnostic engine more precise
• Build Hardware Benchmarks – Create reference performance data for hardware components so users can compare their system's health
• Measure Solution Effectiveness – Track which solutions work best for specific hardware configurations and issue types

No Commercial Use: We do not use your personal information for advertising, marketing to third parties, or any commercial purposes beyond providing and improving our Service.

5. Automated Decision-Making & AI Processing

Our Service uses AI-powered analysis to process your HWiNFO log files. You should be aware of the following:

• AI Analysis: When you upload a log file, it is processed by AI services (including third-party AI providers) to generate diagnostic reports. The AI evaluates hardware sensor data against known thresholds and patterns.
• No Solely Automated Decisions: AI-generated reports are informational recommendations only. No decisions with legal or significant effects are made solely by automated means — you decide whether to act on any recommendation.
• Human Oversight: Our diagnostic thresholds and solution recommendations are regularly reviewed and calibrated by our team.

6. Third-Party Services & Data Processors

We use the following third-party services to operate the platform:

6.1 Cloud Infrastructure (Supabase)

We use Supabase for authentication, database storage, and file storage. Your data is stored on industry-standard secure servers with enterprise-grade security and encryption at rest.

6.2 AI Analysis Services (OpenAI)

When you upload HWiNFO logs, we send data to OpenAI's API for analysis. Under normal circumstances, only parsed sensor statistics (computed metrics such as averages, min/max values, and percentiles) are sent — not the raw file.

However, if our parser cannot recognize your file format, a truncated portion of the raw uploaded file (up to approximately 60 KB) may be sent to OpenAI as a fallback to still provide you with an analysis result.

OpenAI processes this data under their API Data Usage Policy, which states that API inputs and outputs are not used to train their models.

6.3 Google reCAPTCHA

We use Google reCAPTCHA v3 to protect forms from spam. See Google Privacy Policy.

7. International Data Transfers

Our Service operates globally. Your data may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence. Specifically:

• Database & File Storage – Hosted on cloud infrastructure that may have servers in multiple regions
• AI Processing – Sensor data is sent to AI service providers whose servers may be located in different jurisdictions
• Spam Protection – Google reCAPTCHA data is processed by Google's global infrastructure

Where your data is transferred internationally, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, including:

• Using service providers that maintain industry-standard security certifications
• Ensuring data processing agreements are in place with all third-party processors
• Applying encryption in transit (TLS/HTTPS) and at rest where applicable

8. Data Storage & Security

• All data is transmitted using HTTPS/TLS encryption
• Passwords are hashed using secure algorithms (never stored in plaintext)
• We use database-level security policies (Row Level Security) to ensure users can only access their own data
• Admin access is restricted and logged
• Data at rest is encrypted on our cloud infrastructure

While we implement industry-standard security measures, no system is 100% secure. Please use a strong, unique password for your account.

9. Data Retention

We retain your data for the following periods:

• Account Information – Retained for the lifetime of your account. Deleted within 30 days of account deletion request.
• HWiNFO Raw Log Files – Retained for the lifetime of your account to enable re-analysis and comparison features. Deleted upon account deletion or upon request.
• HWiNFO Analysis Results – Retained for the lifetime of your account.
• Anonymized Aggregate Statistics – Retained indefinitely (cannot be linked to any individual).
• Diagnostic Session Data – Retained for the lifetime of your account.
• Community Activity – Retained for the lifetime of your account. Comments may be anonymized rather than deleted to preserve community context.
• Contact Submissions – Retained for up to 12 months after resolution.
• Technical/Security Logs – Retained for up to 90 days.

Upon account deletion, we will delete or anonymize your personal data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law.

10. Data Minimization

We are committed to collecting only the minimum data necessary for each purpose:

• We parse and extract only relevant sensor metrics from HWiNFO logs — we do not store or process data fields that are not related to performance diagnosis
• Hardware serial numbers and unique system identifiers are stripped during the anonymization process before data enters aggregate statistics
• We do not collect or store financial information (payments are handled entirely by third-party payment processors)
• AI analysis receives parsed sensor statistics where possible; in cases where the parser cannot process a file, a truncated portion of the raw file (up to ~60 KB) is sent as a fallback — see Section 6.2 for full disclosure

11. Data Sharing

We do NOT:

• Sell your personal information to third parties
• Share your email address with advertisers
• Use your data for targeted advertising
• Share identifiable user data with any party for marketing purposes

We MAY share data:

• With service providers necessary to operate our platform (cloud infrastructure, AI services) — these providers act as data processors under our instructions
• If required by law, regulation, or legal process in any applicable jurisdiction
• To protect our rights, safety, or property, or to prevent fraud/abuse
• In anonymized, aggregated form that cannot identify any individual user (e.g., public hardware benchmark statistics)

12. Your Rights

Regardless of where you are located, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of Access – Request a copy of all personal data we hold about you
• Right to Correction – Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to Deletion – Request deletion of your account and all associated personal data
• Right to Data Portability – Receive your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format (JSON)
• Right to Withdraw Consent – Withdraw your consent for data analytics at any time by contacting us through our Contact Page, without affecting the core Service
• Right to Restrict Processing – Request that we limit how we process your data in certain circumstances
• Right to Object – Object to processing based on legitimate interests

To exercise any of these rights, you can:

• Use the data management options in your Account Settings
• Contact us through our Contact Page

We will respond to all data rights requests within 30 days. If we need more time due to complexity, we will notify you within the initial 30-day period.

13. Cookies & Local Storage

We use the following types of cookies and storage mechanisms:

13.1 Strictly Necessary (Always Active)

• Authentication cookies – To keep you logged in securely (session tokens)
• Security cookies – reCAPTCHA cookies for spam protection (set by Google)

13.2 Functional

• Local storage – To save your preferences, diagnostic progress, and theme settings

We do not use advertising or tracking cookies for marketing purposes.

14. Children's Privacy

Our Service is not intended for children under 13 years of age (or the minimum digital consent age in your jurisdiction, if higher). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately and we will promptly delete such data.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes:

• We will post a prominent notice on our website
• We will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page
• For significant changes affecting how we use your data, we may notify you by email or request renewed consent

Your continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy. If you do not agree with the changes, you may delete your account.

16. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or have concerns about how your data is being processed, please contact us through our Contact Page.

We aim to resolve all privacy-related inquiries within 30 days of receipt.