Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 22, 2026
Last updated: July 22, 2026

This policy explains what Hot Cocoa collects, why, who helps us run the service, and the control you have over your information. It is part of our Terms of Service.

Short version: your work is yours. We collect the minimum data needed to run a writing app and keep your work safe. We do not sell your data, we do not run ad trackers, and we will never use your writing to train AI.

1. Who this is about

Hot Cocoa is operated by Scott Capener, an individual, and is available at hotcocoa.app. When this policy says "we" or "us," that is who you are dealing with.

Questions about your privacy can go to support@hotcocoa.app.

2. What we collect

We collect three kinds of information:

Your account details

When you sign up, we collect your email address and a password. Your password is hashed by our authentication provider and is never stored or visible to us in plain text. We send a six-digit code to your email to confirm the address is really yours.

When you set up your profile, you give us a display name and, if you want one, a pen name. That is it for account details. We do not ask for your legal name, your phone number, your address, or your date of birth.

Your work

This is the manuscripts, scenes, chapters, notes, outlines, and characters you write, along with the images and text files you upload and any music links you add. When you add a music link, we fetch the public title, description, and preview image for that link so we can show it to you neatly.

Your work is content, not data we mine. Refer to Section 4 for our privacy promises.

The technical basics of running a website

Like any site on the internet, our infrastructure providers process the ordinary technical information a browser sends when it connects: things like your IP address and device or browser type, and server logs that record errors and requests. We use this to keep the service secure, working, and debuggable. We do not build advertising or behavioral profiles from it.

3. What we do with it

We use your information only to run Hot Cocoa for you:

• To create and secure your account, and to verify your email.
• To store your work, sync it across your sessions and devices, back it up, and show it back to you.
• To provide the export feature when you ask for it.
• To send you the account and service emails described in Section 7.
• To keep the service running, diagnose problems, and protect it and its users from abuse.

We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not make automated decisions about you that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

4. What we will never do

Hot Cocoa is fully committed to an author-first experience. We do not:

• Use your work to train, fine-tune, or develop AI or machine learning models, ours or anyone else's.
• Sell, rent, license, or trade your personal information or your work to anyone.
• Run advertising trackers or third-party marketing cookies on Hot Cocoa.
• Share your work publicly or hand it to any third party for analysis, enrichment, or scraping.

5. The stack

Running an app means relying on a few trusted companies for infrastructure. They process data only to provide their service to us, under their own security and privacy obligations, and never for their own marketing.

If we ever add or change a provider in a way that matters to your privacy, we will update this list and, for a material change, give a direct update via email.

We will also disclose information when the law genuinely requires it, such as a valid subpoena or court order, or when it is necessary to protect someone from serious harm. Those are the same narrow situations described in the Privacy section of our Terms, and we limit any disclosure to what the situation actually requires.

6. Cookies and analytics

Cookies. Hot Cocoa uses only the essential cookies needed to keep you signed in and to keep your session secure. We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking cookies, so there is no consent banner to click through, because there is nothing to consent to.

Analytics. As of the date at the top of this policy, we run no analytics and no behavioral tracking of any kind.

Analytics, cont. We may add measurement in the future, and we want to be upfront about what that would and would not be. Anything we add will be author-first and platform-health focused: things that help you write; word counts and writing streaks, and things that help us keep the service healthy, like aggregate usage and error rates. We will not add advertising trackers, we will not sell what we measure, and we will not use any of it to profile you for marketing. If we introduce analytics, we'll update this policy first.

7. Emails we send

We send two kinds of email:

• Account and service email. Verification codes, password resets, security notices, and the occasional message we have to send to operate your account. These come with using Hot Cocoa, and you cannot opt out of them while you have an account.
• Occasional product email. Now and then we may send news, tips, or updates about Hot Cocoa. Every one of these has a one-click unsubscribe, and opting out never affects your account or your access.

We do not sell or share your email address, and we do not send you anyone else's marketing.

8. How long we keep your information

We keep your account and your work for as long as your account is open.

When you delete your account, we follow the timeline in our Terms: your account is deactivated right away, your work stays recoverable for 30 days in case you change your mind, and after that it is permanently deleted from our live systems. Copies may remain in encrypted backups for a short period until those backups age out on their normal rotation, and then they are gone for good.

Ordinary server logs are kept only as long as they are useful for security and debugging, and then they roll off.

9. Your rights over your information

Your information is yours to see and control, and we extend the following rights to every Hot Cocoa user, wherever you live, not only where the law happens to require it:

• Access. Ask us what information we hold about you.
• Portability. Take your work with you at any time. The export feature is built for exactly this and is always available, no request needed.
• Correction. Fix your display name, pen name, or email from your Account page.
• Deletion. Delete your account and your work from your Account page, on the timeline in Section 8.
• Object or complain. Tell us if you are unhappy with how we handle your information.

To exercise any right that you cannot already handle yourself in the app, write to support@hotcocoa.app and a person will help you. We will not charge you for it, and we will not make your experience worse for having asked.

If you are in a place with specific privacy laws, such as the EU, the UK, or California, those laws give you these rights and more, and nothing in this policy takes them away. We honor them for everyone regardless.

10. How we protect your information

Your connection to Hot Cocoa is encrypted in transit, your files and backups are stored encrypted, and access to your account is protected by your password and email verification. Our database enforces per-user access rules so that one account cannot reach another account's work.

No system is perfectly secure, and we will not pretend otherwise. But we treat the security of your writing as seriously as we treat its privacy, and if a breach ever affected your information, we would tell you promptly and honestly.

You have a part in this too: use a strong, unique password, keep it private, and tell us at support@hotcocoa.app if you think your account has been accessed by someone else.

11. Where your information is stored

Hot Cocoa is operated from the United States, and our providers store and process your information on servers located in the United States. If you use Hot Cocoa from another country, you are sending your information to the United States to be handled as described in this policy.

12. Children

You must be at least 13 years old to use Hot Cocoa, as our Terms require. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, write to support@hotcocoa.app and we will take appropriate action.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Hot Cocoa grows. When we do, we will change the "Last updated" date at the top.

If a change is material, meaning it meaningfully affects your privacy or your rights, we will tell you by email and in the app at least 30 days before it takes effect, so you have time to review it and decide how you feel about it. Continuing to use Hot Cocoa after a change takes effect means you accept the updated policy.

14. Contact

Any question, request, or concern about your privacy:

support@hotcocoa.app