Privacy Policy

SmartVisuals ("we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard information across everything we offer: our family of Power BI custom visuals (distributed through Microsoft AppSource or this website) and the smartvisuals.io website and the accounts and services connected to it.

1. Scope of This Policy

This single policy applies to:

• All SmartVisuals Power BI visuals — every visual we publish (for example SmartVisuals Gantt Chart, SmartVisuals News Ticker, SmartVisuals AI Chatbot, and any future visuals). Section 2 describes how they handle data in general; where a specific product works differently, it has its own product-specific section below.
• Our website and accounts — smartvisuals.io, including registration, licensing, and purchases made on this website.

2. Our Power BI Visuals — General Principle

Your report data stays inside Power BI. Unless a product-specific section below explicitly says otherwise, every SmartVisuals visual:

• Processes and renders your data entirely locally, inside the Power BI environment (Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, or embedded reports)
• Does not transmit your report data, data model, or query results to SmartVisuals servers or to any third party
• Does not use cookies or tracking inside the visual
• Does not require an account with us to use

Licensing through Microsoft: for visuals sold through Microsoft AppSource, purchases and license checks are handled by Microsoft. The visual queries the Power BI licensing API to determine whether the current user has an active license; we receive aggregated transaction and licensing reports from Microsoft Partner Center, not your report data. Microsoft's handling of your account information is governed by the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

This general principle fully describes visuals such as SmartVisuals Gantt Chart and SmartVisuals News Ticker, which perform all computation (for example schedules, dependencies, critical path, or the scrolling feed itself) locally inside Power BI with no external services. The News Ticker additionally renders images only from data stored in your own model, never from a web address, so it makes no network request of any kind.

3. Product-Specific: SmartVisuals AI Chatbot

The AI Chatbot visual connects to AI language models to answer questions about your data, so — unlike our other visuals — some data leaves Power BI when you ask a question. This section explains exactly what happens. It applies only to the AI Chatbot.

3.1 Bring Your Own Key (BYOK)

The AI Chatbot uses a Bring Your Own Key model: you provide your own API key for the AI provider you choose. How your request reaches the provider depends on the provider:

• OpenAI, xAI (Grok), Azure OpenAI — your questions are sent directly from your browser to the provider. We do not act as an intermediary and never see your query content.
• Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini) — requests are relayed through a SmartVisuals proxy (required because browsers cannot call these providers directly, and to normalize the response). The proxy forwards your request, including your API key, to the provider and does not store the request or response content.

How the AI provider handles your data is governed by that provider's privacy policy (OpenAI, Microsoft/Azure, Anthropic, Google, or xAI). For billing we record only that a query occurred and count it toward your monthly limit; we do not log what the query contained.

3.2 What We Never Store on Our Servers

• ❌ Your Power BI raw data or report content
• ❌ Your AI provider API keys (kept in your browser and in the visual's settings inside your Power BI report, never on our servers)
• ❌ Sensitive business information beyond what a conversation you choose to save may contain

The content of your questions and the AI's responses is only stored if you keep the optional Conversation History feature enabled (section 3.3), or when you actively use PDF Export (section 3.4).

3.3 Conversation History (Optional Feature)

When Enabled (Default):

• Your questions and AI-generated responses are stored for later review
• Conversation metadata (timestamps, session IDs) is stored
• Data is stored securely in Supabase (encrypted at rest and in transit)

Your Control:

• You can disable conversation history in the visual settings — when disabled, conversations are NOT stored
• You can delete individual conversations or your entire history anytime from your dashboard
• Stored conversations are tied to your license key and accessible only through it

Retention: conversations are retained while your subscription is active and deleted automatically 30 days after cancellation. Stored conversations are not shared with third parties and not used for training AI models.

3.4 PDF Export (Optional Feature)

The AI Chatbot offers an optional PDF Export that turns a conversation into a PDF and emails it to recipients you specify. This feature does nothing until you trigger an export. When you do:

• The conversation content you choose to export is sent to a SmartVisuals server to render the PDF and deliver it by email
• If you request an AI-generated summary, that content (and your AI API key) is used on the server to call your chosen AI provider for the summary
• The content is processed transiently; the PDF and its source content are not retained on our servers after the email is sent

4. Website and Account Information

This section applies when you use smartvisuals.io — for example to create an account, get a free license, or purchase a product sold on this website. If you only use visuals purchased through Microsoft AppSource, you do not need an account with us and we collect none of the account data below.

4.1 Account Information

We collect the following when you register or purchase on this website:

• Email address
• Name
• Company name (for business accounts)
• Billing address and VAT ID (EU business customers)
• Payment information (processed by Polar.sh, not stored by us)

4.2 Usage Data

For products licensed through this website we automatically collect usage statistics:

• Query counts and frequency (not query content)
• Feature usage patterns
• Session duration and timestamps
• License validation events
• AI model selection (which provider you use)
• Error logs and performance metrics

4.3 Technical Data

When you visit this website we collect technical information:

• IP address
• Browser type and version
• Device information and operating system
• Cookies and similar tracking technologies (see section 9)

5. How We Use Your Information

We use the information described above to:

• Deliver and maintain our products and services
• Generate and validate license keys
• Process payments and manage subscriptions
• Enforce usage limits based on your plan
• Provide customer support
• Send service notifications and updates

We use aggregated, anonymized usage data to:

• Improve performance and reliability
• Understand feature adoption and plan new features
• Plan infrastructure and capacity

We may also use information to comply with legal obligations, protect against fraud, abuse, and security threats, enforce our Terms of Service, and respond to legal requests.

6. Information Sharing and Disclosure

6.1 Third-Party Service Providers

We share information with trusted service providers:

All service providers are contractually obligated to protect your data and use it only for specified purposes.

6.2 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law or to:

• Comply with court orders, subpoenas, or legal process
• Protect our rights, property, or safety, or those of users or the public
• Prevent fraud or security threats
• Enforce our Terms of Service

We do NOT sell your personal information to third parties.

7. Data Security

We implement security measures including:

• Encryption: TLS/SSL encryption for data transmission
• Secure hosting: Data stored with reputable cloud providers (Supabase, Vercel)
• Access controls: Limited employee access to personal data
• Monitoring: Regular security monitoring and logging
• Updates: Regular security updates and patches

You are responsible for:

• Keeping your password secure and not sharing your license key
• Securing your API keys (AI Chatbot)
• Reporting security concerns to hello@smartvisuals.io

While we implement strong security measures, no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. Use of our services is at your own risk.

8. Data Retention

You can request data deletion by contacting hello@smartvisuals.io. Some data may be retained as required by law.

9. Cookies and Tracking (Website Only)

Our Power BI visuals do not use cookies. On smartvisuals.io we use:

You can control cookies through your browser settings; disabling essential cookies may affect website functionality. We currently do not respond to "Do Not Track" browser signals, as there is no industry standard for compliance.

10. Your Rights

10.1 GDPR Rights (EU/EEA Users)

If you are in the European Union or European Economic Area, you have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of your personal data
• Rectification: Correct inaccurate information
• Erasure: Request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten")
• Portability: Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Restriction: Limit how we process your data
• Objection: Object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Withdraw Consent: Opt out of marketing communications

10.2 CCPA Rights (California Users)

California residents have the right to:

• Know what personal information is collected
• Know if personal information is sold or shared (we don't sell data)
• Request deletion of personal information
• Non-discrimination for exercising privacy rights

10.3 How to Exercise Your Rights

Contact us at hello@smartvisuals.io with the subject "Privacy Rights Request". We will respond within 30 days for GDPR requests and 45 days for CCPA requests.

For visuals purchased through Microsoft AppSource, your purchase and account data is held by Microsoft; requests regarding that data should be directed to Microsoft.

11. International Data Transfers

Data we hold may be transferred to and stored in:

• European Union (primary servers - Supabase)
• United States (hosting - Vercel, payment processing - Polar.sh)

We ensure adequate protection through Standard Contractual Clauses (EU Commission approved), encryption in transit and at rest, and GDPR-compliant data processing agreements.

12. Children's Privacy

SmartVisuals products are not intended for users under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child under 18 has provided us with personal information, please contact hello@smartvisuals.io and we will delete such information promptly.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically — for example when we release a new visual whose behavior needs its own product-specific section. Changes are effective immediately upon posting; the "Last Updated" date at the top reflects the latest revision. Material changes will be notified via email to registered users and a prominent notice on our website.

Continued use of our products after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

14. Contact Information

For privacy-related questions, concerns, or to exercise your rights:

Email: hello@smartvisuals.io

Response Time: We respond to all privacy inquiries within 2 business days.

Mailing Address:
SmartVisuals
Czech Republic