Privacy Policy

1. Scope and operator

This Privacy Policy applies to the Cove website, application, marketplace, support tools, and related services. Cove is currently an unincorporated business operated in Kentucky by its founder. This policy explains Cove’s current beta practices and will be updated when the operator, vendors, features, or legal obligations change.

Cove is designed for users who are at least 18 years old. Cove is not directed to children and does not knowingly permit users under 18.

2. Information Cove collects

• Account information: display name, university email address, account identifier, campus, graduation year, profile details, and authentication status. Passwords are handled by Cove’s authentication provider; Cove does not receive your plaintext password.
• Provider and listing information: business name, biography, categories, services, products, prices, policies, availability, service areas, portfolio images, and provider status.
• Transaction information: booking requests, status changes, scheduled times, locations, agreed prices, payment-method labels, notes, completion records, cancellations, and reviews. Cove does not currently collect or store card or bank account credentials.
• Support and safety information: support requests, reports, messages sent to Cove, investigation notes, and records needed to respond to disputes or safety concerns.
• Technical information: session cookies, device and browser information, approximate network information, IP address used for security and rate limiting, timestamps, pages viewed, referral information, and performance or error data.
• Content you upload: images, text, and other material submitted to profiles, storefronts, listings, bookings, or support.

3. Sources of information

Cove receives information directly from you, automatically from your browser or device, from other users involved in a booking or report, from campus-domain configuration, and from vendors that provide hosting, authentication, database, analytics, security, and support services.

4. How Cove uses information

• Create and secure accounts; confirm access to an approved campus email; authenticate sessions; and prevent abuse.
• Display profiles, storefronts, listings, availability, reviews, and other marketplace content according to your settings and role.
• Create, organize, update, and document bookings and provider workflows.
• Respond to support, privacy, copyright, safety, fraud, and legal requests.
• Moderate content, enforce agreements, investigate incidents, preserve evidence, and protect users and the platform.
• Measure usage, diagnose errors, improve performance, develop features, and understand whether the beta is working.
• Comply with law, court orders, lawful requests, tax or reporting duties, and business transitions.

5. Public and user-to-user information

Provider storefronts, active listings, business names, biographies, service areas, portfolio content, pricing, policies, and reviews may be visible to other Cove users or publicly visible where Cove enables public storefronts. Do not publish information you do not want associated with your provider activity.

Booking participants may receive the information reasonably needed to complete the booking, including names, service details, scheduled time, location summary, notes, and booking status. Cove does not authorize users to reuse that information for unrelated marketing, harassment, identity verification, or data collection.

6. When Cove discloses information

• To other users as needed for profiles, listings, bookings, reviews, reports, or safety communications.
• To service providers such as Supabase for authentication and database services, Vercel for hosting and analytics, GitBook for public help documentation, and future email or operational vendors used to deliver Cove. Vendors may process information only for the services they provide to Cove, subject to their terms and applicable law.
• To advisors, contractors, insurers, auditors, or prospective business partners when reasonably necessary and subject to appropriate confidentiality expectations.
• To law enforcement, courts, universities, emergency services, regulators, or other parties when Cove reasonably believes disclosure is required by law or necessary to protect rights, safety, users, or the public.
• In connection with formation, financing, restructuring, sale, merger, transfer, or assignment of Cove to a successor operator or legal entity.

7. Cookies, local storage, and analytics

Cove uses essential cookies to maintain authenticated sessions and security settings. Cove may use browser storage for device-specific preferences such as theme or saved items. Clearing browser data may remove those preferences but does not delete server-side account or booking records.

Cove uses Vercel Analytics and may collect aggregated or pseudonymous usage and performance information. Cove does not currently sell personal information or use third-party behavioral advertising on the beta.

8. Retention and deletion

Cove retains information for as long as reasonably necessary to operate the beta, provide requested services, maintain transaction and legal-acceptance records, enforce agreements, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, protect safety, meet legal obligations, and establish or defend claims.

Account deletion or privacy requests may be submitted through support. Cove may retain limited records after account deletion when reasonably necessary for safety, fraud prevention, bookkeeping, legal compliance, dispute resolution, or enforcement. Public content may remain in backups for a limited period and may persist where another user independently retained a lawful copy.

9. Your choices and privacy requests

• Review and correct profile and storefront information through Cove settings and provider tools.
• Request access to, correction of, deletion of, or a portable copy of personal information where applicable.
• Request account closure and removal of public provider content, subject to lawful retention needs.
• Opt out of promotional messages using the method provided in the message. Essential account, booking, safety, and legal notices may still be sent.
• Cove does not currently sell personal data or use personal data for targeted advertising. If those practices change, Cove will update this policy and provide legally required choices before beginning them.

10. Security

Cove uses administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards intended to protect information, including authenticated access controls, row-level database permissions, rate limiting, secure transport, restricted operational interfaces, and vendor security features. No system is completely secure, and Cove cannot guarantee that information will never be accessed, altered, lost, or disclosed.

Use a unique password, protect your university account, review booking details carefully, and report suspected compromise promptly. Do not submit highly sensitive information that Cove does not request.

11. State privacy rights and appeals

Depending on where you live and whether a privacy law applies to Cove, you may have rights to confirm processing, access, correct, delete, or obtain a copy of personal information, and to opt out of certain sales, targeted advertising, or profiling. Cove will not discriminate against you for making a valid request.

Cove may need to verify your identity before completing a request. If Cove denies a request, you may appeal through the same support channel and identify the request you are appealing.

12. Changes and contact

Cove may update this Privacy Policy as the beta changes. Material changes will be posted with a new effective date and, when appropriate, presented for renewed acknowledgment.

Questions, legal notices, privacy requests, and safety reports may be submitted through Cove’s in-app Help & Support form. If you cannot access your account, contact Cove through the Help Center or direct message @joincoveapp. Do not send passwords, one-time codes, payment credentials, government identification numbers, or intimate images through social media.