Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 24, 2026

PipeHound is a mobile application developed and operated by Change Optics AI, LLC ("Change Optics AI," "we," "us," "our") that helps licensed plumbing professionals answer plumbing-code questions using an AI language model we operate.

This policy explains exactly what data PipeHound collects, how it is used, and who receives it. If anything here changes, we will bump the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, notify users in-app on next launch.

1. What we collect

When you ask PipeHound a question, the app sends the following to our PipeHound API server:

• The text of your question.
• The state you selected in the app (e.g., CO, CA).
• The code edition you selected (e.g., ipc2021, upc2024_cpc).

Our server additionally logs, for each request:

• The three items above.
• A timestamp.
• The IP address of the device the request came from.
• The answer we returned to the app, along with citations and the retrieval-set identifiers used to produce it.
• Diagnostic metadata: request identifier, response latency, HTTP status code, and whether a deterministic calculator produced the numeric portion of the answer.

What we do NOT collect

• No name, email address, phone number, or account credentials.
• No contacts, photos, camera, microphone, calendar, health, or financial data.
• No precise or coarse device location.
• No advertising identifiers (IDFA), third-party analytics IDs, or cross-app tracking data.

2. How we collect it

The app sends requests to our API server over HTTPS at https://slm-host.tail71fbc0.ts.net/pipehound. Authentication uses a bearer access key issued to you by us; the key identifies you as an authorized alpha tester but is not linked to a name, email, or personal identifier in our systems.

3. How we use it

We use the collected data only to:

• Generate an answer to your question and return it to the app.
• Monitor answer quality and diagnose bugs (for example, identifying questions where the model fell back to a default code edition).
• Improve the underlying corpus, retrieval, and calculator components of PipeHound.
• Investigate abuse, if we suspect misuse of an issued access key.

We do not use the data to advertise to you, sell it, share it with data brokers, or train a general-purpose model that is exposed to other users or the public.

4. Who receives it

The receiving service is Change Optics AI's own PipeHound API, hosted on infrastructure we operate (currently a Hetzner Cloud instance). No third-party AI service, no third-party analytics vendor, no advertising network, and no data broker receives your data.

The AI language model that produces the answer runs on the same server as the API; your question text is not sent to any external model provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or others).

Change Optics AI operates the receiving infrastructure under the same privacy practices described in this policy. We do not share your data with any other party except where legally required (see Section 7).

5. How long we keep it

Transaction logs (question, answer, state, edition, timestamp, IP, diagnostic metadata) are retained for 90 days and then automatically deleted by log rotation. Aggregate quality metrics derived from those logs (for example, "% of CO questions that hit a calculator") may be retained longer in anonymized form.

6. Your rights and controls

• Withdraw consent: The app's Settings → Privacy screen has a "Withdraw consent" button that immediately disables all network calls until you re-consent. Once withdrawn, the app will no longer send questions to our server.
• Deletion: To request deletion of the log rows associated with your device's IP within the 90-day retention window, email support@changeoptics.ai. Please include the approximate date range and, if possible, the IP address you used, so we can locate the rows.
• Access: To request a copy of the log rows associated with your device, use the same email address.
• Revocation of access key: You may request that your alpha access key be revoked at any time by contacting the same address; once revoked, no further requests can be authorized against your key.

7. Legal disclosures

We may disclose collected data if compelled by valid legal process (subpoena, court order) or if we in good faith believe disclosure is necessary to protect against fraud, security incidents, or violations of our terms.

8. Children

PipeHound is intended for licensed adult plumbing professionals. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 13. If we learn we have collected data from a child under 13, we will delete it promptly.

9. International transfers

Our infrastructure is hosted in Germany (Hetzner Nuremberg). If you use PipeHound from outside the European Economic Area, your data will be transferred to and processed in Germany, which the European Commission has recognized as providing an adequate level of data protection.

10. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to what we collect, how we use it, or who receives it, we will update the "Last updated" date above and prompt you to re-consent on the next app launch. Non-material changes (typo fixes, clarifications) will not trigger a re-consent prompt.

11. Contact

Questions or requests about this policy: support@changeoptics.ai

Change Optics AI, LLC · Alameda, California, USA