Privacy policy
This policy explains what information HTML Point and its license service handle, why, and for how long. "We" means Andrew Corbett, the publisher of HTML Point. Questions and requests: andrew.corbett@csquaredstudios.io.
In short
- The free version of HTML Point works without contacting us.
- HTML Point contacts our license service only for trials and license codes. It sends a one-way device identifier, never your name, email address or documents.
- Our license database holds no IP addresses, names, email addresses or document content.
- Store subscriptions are checked through Windows and the Microsoft Store; we do not receive your Microsoft account or payment details.
Information you send to us
HTML Point keeps your presentations, documents and tables on your PC. It contains no advertising, analytics or usage tracking. Apart from the license requests described in "Trials and license codes", HTML Point does not send information to servers we operate. If you connect an AI agent or another app to HTML Point, what that tool can read and send is governed by that tool and its provider.
If you email us, we receive what you write and your email address, and use them to answer you. Email to our studio address is forwarded by Cloudflare to our Google (Gmail) mailbox. Cloudflare and Google process this correspondence to deliver and store it under their privacy policies (Cloudflare, Google).
Trials and license codes
HTML Point contacts our license service (license.csquaredstudios.io) only when you start or check the 14-day trial, enter a license code, renew an active license code, or remove this PC from a license code. A license code is renewed automatically about once a day while you are online. When an automatic code renewal fails, HTML Point retries that renewal later on its own, with growing delays. Starting or checking a trial, entering a code, and removing this PC are actions you choose in the app; failed attempts are not automatically retried.
If your PC's clock looks wrong (for example, set back by more than a day), a trial or code needs an online check before it gives Pro again. For a trial, choose Check again in Help > Subscription > Free trial. This checks the same trial, with the same end date. A code can be checked through its automatic renewal or Check now in the Code section.
Each request contains:
- a device identifier: a one-way SHA-256 hash, specific to HTML Point, of the installation identifier Windows assigns to your PC. We cannot recover the original identifier from it. HTML Point shows its first 8 characters as your device ID;
- for code activation, the license code you enter; for code renewal or removal, the license token our service issued to this PC. Trial start and trial-check requests contain neither a code nor a license token;
- your HTML Point version, plus technical values that let the app check the reply (a random one-time value and the IDs of the signing keys it trusts).
Like any internet request, it also reveals your IP address to our hosting provider, Cloudflare.
We use this information to give each PC one trial, to limit how many PCs a license code can be used on, to renew, expire or revoke codes, to protect the service from abuse, and to answer support requests.
What the license database stores
Our license database is hosted by Cloudflare and stored in North America where Cloudflare's location settings allow. It stores:
- For trials: the device identifier, a trial ID, and the start and end dates. 30 days after a trial ends, the dates and trial ID are deleted. We keep a minimal record (the device identifier and an "ended" flag) indefinitely, so that each PC gets one trial.
- For license codes: a one-way hash of the code (never the code itself) and its settings (how many PCs, the end date, its status, and a short internal label), and, for each PC that activated it, the device identifier and the dates it was activated, last renewed and removed. A PC that has not renewed for 45 days stops counting toward the code's limit. A PC's record is deleted 30 days after it is removed from a code, or 180 days after its last renewal.
- Per-network trial counts: to stop one network from using up the day's trials, each trial start is counted per network for the current day. The database keeps a keyed, scrambled form (an HMAC) of the network part of your IP address (the first three blocks of an IPv4 address, or the first three groups of an IPv6 address) under a key that changes every day, never the address itself, and deletes it within about 48 hours.
- Daily totals of trial starts, without any identifier, for 90 days, and a record of our own administrative actions (for example "code created" or "trial record deleted", with the first 8 characters of the device identifier for a deletion) for 2 years.
The database does not contain IP addresses, names, email addresses or document content, and it does not know who holds a license code.
If we send you a license code
We keep each code we issue, with the recipient's name and email address and our notes, in an encrypted file on our own computer, not in the license database, so that we can answer support questions and re-issue a lost code. We keep it while the code can be used and for up to 2 years after it ends, or until you ask us to delete it. Code correspondence is handled through the email providers described above.
Cloudflare, logs and backups
Cloudflare processes IP addresses to deliver and protect the service, and may show us the IP addresses of requests that trigger security rules such as rate limits; we use them only for security. Requests are handled by Cloudflare's network, usually in a data center near you. Our service logs record only which kind of request was made, its result and how long it took, without device identifiers, codes, tokens or IP addresses, and Cloudflare deletes them after a few days. We do not stream live logs from the production service.
Cloudflare keeps a 7-day restore history of the license database, and we keep weekly backups of it on our own computer for up to about 90 days. Our own administrative records, kept on our computer, note when we deleted a trial record at your request (including its device identifier) so that the deletion is repeated if we ever restore the database from a backup; we delete those records after 2 years.
Cloudflare acts as our service provider under its Data Processing Addendum (Cloudflare Privacy Policy).
Your choices
You can use the free version without a trial or code. You can remove a PC from a code in HTML Point. To ask us to delete your trial or license records, email us the License ID shown in HTML Point (Help > Subscription). If we delete a PC's trial record, that PC can start a trial again.
If the license service is unavailable, for example because it has reached its daily capacity, HTML Point keeps working: Pro from a trial or code stays active until its current license token ends, and you can start a trial or enter a code later.
Microsoft Store and Windows
If you subscribe, HTML Point checks your subscription through Windows and the Microsoft Store on your PC. We do not receive your Microsoft account or payment details. Purchases, billing and refunds are handled by Microsoft under its own terms and privacy statement.
Children and classroom use
HTML Point is a general-purpose document app. A classroom license code does not require us to receive students' names, email addresses or schoolwork. A trial or code used on a child's PC still sends and stores the device identifier described above. A parent, guardian or school representative can email us about these records or request their deletion. Include the License ID shown in Help > Subscription; please do not send a child's name or work.
Storage, retention, and security
HTML Point keeps your license token and license status in its local application data. License tokens are signed, so they cannot be edited or moved to another PC. Our license database, logs and backups are kept for the periods given above. Access to them requires our own Cloudflare login, and our copies of signing keys and the code list are encrypted.
Website
htmlpoint.csquaredstudios.io uses no cookies, scripts or analytics. Cloudflare serves it and processes your IP address to deliver it.
Changes
When we change this policy we update this page and its date.