Privacy Policy

Last updated: 6 Oct 2026. Version 1.1.

1. Who we are

Interstellar Instructions is operated by Tate Development LLC, a Wyoming limited liability company ("we", "us"). We make 3D guides: step-by-step assembly guides that brands publish for their products, opened from a QR code on the box. Privacy contact: privacy@interstellarinstructions.com. Mailing address: 30 N Gould St, Sheridan, WY 82801.

2. Our role

• When you use a brand's 3D guide, the brand that makes the product decides what the guide collects and what happens to it. The brand is the "controller" and we process data for it (as its "processor" or "service provider"). This policy explains what the guide does; the brand's own privacy policy also applies. Each guide names the brand and links to its contact.
• When you use our website, sign in to a brand account, or we contact you about our services, we are the controller.

3. What we collect

3.1 When you use a 3D guide

You never need an account, and the guide never asks for your name. Here is everything the guide does with data:

Stored on your device only (browser local storage), never sent to us:

• which step you were on, so you can pick up where you left off;
• the checklist items you ticked;
• your language choice;
• whether you allowed usage data (if the guide asks);
• that you read the safety information for this guide version, so it is not shown again;
• the screen size calibration you set for "actual size" hardware (shared by guides on our site);
• if usage data is allowed (or the guide does not ask), a usage summary: visits and time per step, replays, back steps, part taps, and the questions you typed into Ask.

You can clear all of this by clearing site data in your browser.

Sent to us only if the brand has turned on usage data, and (where the guide asks) only after you tap Allow:

• what you do in the guide: steps opened, time on each step, replays, back steps, checklist ticks, part taps, panels opened, language changes, turning and zooming, voice control on or off, safety information acknowledged;
• the text of questions you type into Ask (first 200 characters) and words the voice control heard (first 40 characters);
• feedback you choose to give: "This step is confusing", a 1 to 5 rating, and any note you type (up to 280 characters). Please do not put personal details in notes.
• with each batch: the guide, its version, your language, a time stamp, and a session number.

The session number is random, created when the page loads, and kept only in the page's memory. It is never saved on your device, and a new one is made every time you open the guide, so it cannot link two visits. We do not store your IP address with these events. We do not use cookies, advertising identifiers or fingerprinting in guides.

If the guide asks and you tap "No thanks", nothing is sent and no usage summary is stored. You can change your choice at any time from the guide's menu ("Usage data").

Ask. If the brand has turned on online answers, your question, the step you are on, your language, and the matching parts of the guide are sent to us and on to an AI model, Anthropic's Claude, which writes an answer using only this product's guide. Every answer from the model is labelled "AI answer" in the Ask panel. Anthropic processes this data for us under its commercial terms, which do not allow it to train its models on it. The question text is stored only if you have allowed usage data; otherwise we keep only its length and a keyed hash. Stored questions are kept so the brand can improve its instructions. Otherwise, Ask works entirely on your device.

Missing or damaged part requests. If you report a missing or damaged part, the guide sends the brand: the parts, quantities, whether missing or damaged, the product and guide, the step, your language, the session number, and, only if you type them, a note (up to 500 characters) and your email address (so the brand can reply). Depending on how the brand set up its guide, this goes:

• through our servers to the brand (we erase your email and note 90 days after we pass the request to the brand); or
• directly to the brand's own system; or
• by opening your own email app with the request filled in, in which case it goes from you to the brand and never reaches us; or
• as text you copy into the brand's support page.

Your email and note are never put in a web address or in usage events.

Hands-free voice. Reading steps aloud happens in your browser. Voice commands ("next", "back", "repeat") use your browser's speech recognition, which in some browsers sends your audio to the browser maker (for example Google in Chrome) for processing. We never receive audio. Voice is off until you turn it on.

Embedded guides. When a guide is shown inside a brand's own web page, it passes the same usage events to that page (including Ask questions and feedback notes, but never part-request emails or notes), only if the brand has listed that page's address, and only if usage data is allowed. The brand's page is covered by the brand's privacy policy.

Server logs. Like any website, our hosting provider receives your IP address, browser type and the page requested when you load a guide or scan a QR code. We use these only for security and to count scans, we do not store IP addresses with guide events, and we keep security logs for no more than 30 days. A QR scan records the code, the time and the channel (box, order email, product page).

Archived guides. When a brand's plan has ended, its printed QR codes keep opening a read-only version of the guide for 24 months. Ask answers and part requests are switched off in that version.

No third-party requests. Each guide is a single file with its fonts and 3D library built in. Opening a guide does not contact Google Fonts, content delivery networks, analytics or advertising companies. Links you choose to follow (the brand's support page, our website) take you to those sites.

3.2 When you use a brand account

Name, work email, company, role, sign-in records, the approvals you make (who, when, which version, which terms version), review comments, support messages, and files your company uploads (manuals, CAD, photos, logos). CAD files are kept private and never shown to guide readers. Card payments are handled by Stripe; we see the card brand, last four digits and billing address, not the full number.

Portal usage. The brand portal and our staff portal record how they are used, tied to the signed-in account and its brand: the pages opened, the features used and any errors that occur. We never record what you type into forms or the contents of your files. We use this to run the service, find faults and see which features are used. The records stay with us and are not shared with other brands, and we use them across brands only in aggregated form.

3.3 When you visit our website

• Forms. If you ask for a free sample or write to us, we receive what you type: your work email, company, the link to the manual, and optionally your name, platform, product, topic and a message. We use it to reply, build the sample and run our sales records. We keep it for 24 months after our last contact with you, then delete it.
• Site analytics. Our own site records how it is used with a tool we built and run ourselves. No third-party analytics, advertising or tracking company receives anything. We use no cookies. What we record depends on where you are and what you choose:
• Before any choice, and for everyone who declines: only an aggregate page count. Each page view is counted with the page address (without any query string), the date, your country, your device type (phone, tablet or computer) and your browser family. It carries no visitor number, no referrer, no campaign tags, and nothing that links one page view to another or to you. Nothing is stored on your device for this.
• Where no consent is required (visitors outside the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland), and where you tap "Accept", we also record: a random visitor number, stored in your browser's local storage (not in a cookie), and a session number for each visit; the pages you view, the buttons and links you click, which sections of a page come into view, how far you scroll and how long you stay on a page; the steps you take in a form (which fields you touch and where you stop; we record field names, never what you type); and the site that referred you and the campaign tags in the link (UTM tags) if it has any.
• Consent choice. Visitors in the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland, and visitors whose country we cannot determine, see a banner asking them to accept or decline analytics. Your choice is saved in your browser's local storage (not sent to us) and is asked again if this policy changes. A "Privacy choices" link in the footer reopens the banner so you can change your mind. If you decline, or never choose, only the aggregate page count above applies.
• Country, device and browser. Your country is worked out by our hosting provider at the network edge. We keep only the country, a device class and a browser family, not your IP address or your full browser description.

We do not store your IP address with these records. The visitor number is random and says nothing about who you are. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control: if your browser sends either signal, we honor it everywhere, including on our server, whatever your country and any choice you made: we record only the aggregate page count and never the visitor number, referrer or details above. You can also clear site data in your browser to erase the visitor number and your saved choice.

• Linking visits to an enquiry. If you have accepted analytics (or no consent is required where you are) and you submit our contact form or ask for a free sample, we link the earlier visits made with the same visitor number (same browser) to your enquiry, so we can see what you looked at before you wrote. This happens only when you submit a form. It does not happen if you declined or have not chosen, or if your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control.
• Support questions. If you use our Help Center, we keep your search words with no personal details for 90 days, then keep only counts.

3.4 Sales outreach, free samples and private demos

We email people at brands whose products we think would benefit from a 3D guide, using business contact details from the brand's own website and public business listings. We send these emails only to addresses in the United States, and every email carries a working unsubscribe link and our contact details. We may build a free sample guide of one of the brand's products from its public manual and send the link to that person only. The sample link records when it is opened, which steps are viewed, and whether the pricing page is viewed, so we know whether to follow up. A sample link expires (30 days unless we say otherwise, never more than 90). You can ask us to stop contacting you at any time using the link in any email or by writing to privacy@interstellarinstructions.com, and we will delete your sample tracking data on request. If you tell us no, we delete the sample and the downloaded manual within 60 days.

4. How we use it

• To show guides and remember your place (on your device).
• To give brands usage reports so they can fix confusing steps and see how guides are used.
• To route part requests to the brand.
• To answer Ask questions.
• To run brand accounts, reviews, approvals and billing.
• To keep the service secure and prevent abuse (rate limits, fraud checks).
• To improve our service, using aggregated information that does not identify anyone.
• To contact brand prospects about our services (3.4).
• To understand how our website and portals are used, so we can fix problems and improve them (3.2, 3.3).

We do not sell personal information, share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, or use guide data to target ads.

Legal bases (EU/UK): for guide data, the brand's basis (usually consent for usage data, and taking steps at your request for part requests); for brand accounts, our contract with the brand and our legitimate interests; for outreach, legitimate interests (B2B), subject to local e-marketing rules; for first-party website analytics, our legitimate interests in understanding and improving our site, with the opt-out signals (Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control) honored, consent asked in the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland, and the right to object (section 9); for portal usage records, our contract with the brand and our legitimate interests in running and improving the service; for security logs, legitimate interests; for billing records, legal obligation.

5. When we share it

• With the brand whose guide you use: usage reports, part requests, Ask logs and feedback.
• With our subprocessors (section 6), only to run the service.
• If the law requires it, or to protect people's safety or our rights.
• In a business transfer, under the same protections.

6. Subprocessors

We add or replace a subprocessor only after updating this list. Brand account owners get 30 days' notice by email before a new subprocessor handles their data.

7. How we protect it

Encryption in transit; private storage for uploaded manuals and CAD; access controls enforced in the database for every table; no direct database access from browsers; staff access limited to people who need it and logged; CAD access logged; staff accounts require two-step sign-in. Our providers encrypt stored data at rest. If we learn of a breach that affects your data, we tell the brand without undue delay and within 48 hours, and we tell you where the law requires it.

8. How long we keep it

A legal hold or a legal duty can pause a deletion. We tell the brand when that happens.

9. Your choices and rights

• In a guide: tap "No thanks" or switch off "Usage data" in the menu (where offered); clear site data to erase what is on your device; do not turn on voice if you do not want browser speech recognition.
• On our website: decline analytics in the banner, or use the "Privacy choices" link in the footer to change a choice (shown where a choice applies). Or turn on Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control in your browser (or a browser or extension that sends it) and we record only an aggregate page count. Clearing site data erases your visitor number. You can also email us to object to analytics or to ask us to delete the records linked to your enquiry.
• EU, EEA and UK: you can ask for access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, and object to processing based on legitimate interests; withdraw consent at any time; and complain to your data protection authority. For guide data we will pass your request to the brand and help it respond. Because guides do not identify you, we may need details (for example the email you used in a part request) to find your data.
• California and other US states: you can ask to know, delete and correct personal information, and you will not be treated differently for asking. We do not sell or share personal information as those laws define it. If you live in a state with a privacy law, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Utah and Virginia, you have the rights that law gives you, and you may appeal our answer by replying to it.
• How: email privacy@interstellarinstructions.com. A named person at Interstellar Instructions replies within two working days (Monday to Friday) and completes your request within 30 days, or tells you why it needs longer where the law allows more time.

International transfers. We are based in the United States and our providers mainly process data there. For data from the EU, EEA, UK or Switzerland we rely on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (Commission Decision (EU) 2021/914, EUR-Lex), the UK Addendum, and our providers' certifications under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where available.

10. Children

Guides are for the adults who assemble products and are not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under 16 in the EU/UK). The only place a guide asks for contact details is the optional email in a part request. If you think a child has sent us information, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Changes

We will post changes here with a new date and version, and tell brand account owners of material changes by email.

12. Contact

Tate Development LLC, doing business as Interstellar Instructions. Email privacy@interstellarinstructions.com. Mailing address: 30 N Gould St, Sheridan, WY 82801. For a guide, you can also contact the brand using the contact link in the guide's menu.