Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to the hosted version of Fern. It does not apply to a copy of the project hosted by someone else or to third-party services that have their own privacy policies.

We collect the following general categories of information:

• Account information. When you sign in with GitHub, we receive basic profile information such as your name, email address, profile image, and account identifier.
• Information you add. This includes job applications, companies, roles, dates, compensation details, notes, status history, and lists.
• Gmail information. If you choose to connect Gmail, the service reads recent inbox messages to identify possible updates to jobs you are tracking.
• Technical information. The service receives information normally associated with a web request, such as an IP address, browser information, and session data.
• Usage measurements. The service records aggregate counts of how its features perform. These counts are not linked to you or to the information in your account.

We use information only as reasonably necessary to:

• provide and maintain the service;
• authenticate users and protect accounts;
• save and organize job-application information;
• provide optional job-import and Gmail features;
• measure how features perform;
• prevent abuse, investigate problems, and improve the app;
• respond to support, privacy, or legal requests; and
• comply with applicable law.

We do not sell personal information, use it for advertising, or share private application records with employers.

Gmail access is optional and read-only. When you ask the service to sync your inbox, relevant message content and information about your tracked applications are processed by Google's Gemini service to suggest possible status changes. Suggestions are shown for your review and are not applied automatically. The service does not send, change, or delete your email.

The service stores limited details needed to show and manage a suggestion. It does not keep a permanent copy of the complete email message. Google may process information under its own terms and privacy commitments.

The use and transfer of information received from Google Workspace APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. Google user data is used only to provide the inbox-sync feature. It is not sold, used for advertising, or used by Fern to train artificial intelligence models.

Information may be processed by services needed to operate the app, including GitHub for sign-in, Google for optional Gmail and AI features, hosting and database providers, and public job sites when you ask to import a posting. These providers process information under their own terms or on behalf of the service.

Information may also be disclosed where required by law or reasonably necessary to protect the service, its users, or the rights and safety of others. We do not disclose personal information to data brokers or advertisers.

Account and application information is generally kept while you use the service. You can delete individual applications and lists from the dashboard. Related records are deleted with them.

You can delete your account at any time from the settings page. Doing so permanently removes your account and the information saved in it, including your lists and applications. This cannot be undone. You may also request deletion instead.

After a deletion, some limited information may remain temporarily in backups, security records, or where retention is required by law. Information is not kept longer than reasonably necessary for those purposes.

Aggregate usage measurements contain no personal information and are retained indefinitely.

You may choose not to connect Gmail, and you may revoke access through your Google Account at any time. You may delete your account yourself from the settings page. You may also ask to access, correct, export, or delete personal information associated with your account. We may need to verify that you control the account before completing a request.

We use reasonable technical and organizational safeguards to protect personal information. However, no online service can guarantee absolute security.

This policy may be updated as the service changes. The date at the top of this page will identify the latest version. Material changes will receive additional notice where appropriate.

Questions or privacy requests can be submitted through GitHub Issues.