Privacy Policy

Version 1, in effect from October 18, 2026

Draft under legal review. Our lawyers have not finished reviewing this document. It describes how Civara works today, and its final version may change.

This Privacy Policy explains what information Civara ("we", "us") collects, how we use and protect it, and the choices you have. It applies to the Civara app and website.

The short version: we use your information only to help you with your government forms. We never sell it, never use it for advertising, and share it with the EDD only when you give permission for a task.

1. Information we collect

Contact details: your name and email address, used to sign you in and to reach you, and your mobile phone number, used to text you and to fill in your forms.
Your email address, if you join our waitlist on civara.com, used only to tell you when Civara opens.
How you sign in: if you sign in with Google, Google tells us your name, email address and an identifier for your Google account; we never see your Google password. If you save a passkey, we keep only its public key; your fingerprint, face or device PIN never leaves your device.
Your answers: what you tell us to build your plan and fill in your forms, such as your name, date of birth, address, Social Security number, employer and work dates, due date and your baby's date of birth.
Your paystub, if you choose to upload one, to read your pay details for your claim.
Your EDD account: the sign-in for an EDD account Civara created for you, or one you connected, kept encrypted.
What Civara sees on the EDD's website while working for you, such as your claim's status and messages, and, with your permission, recordings of Civara's browser.
Your Civara email address (for example, maria.lopez@mail.civara.com) and the EDD's messages sent to it.
Your consents: what you agreed to, when, and which version.
Questions you ask in the app.
Technical information needed to run and secure the Service, such as sign-in times and errors. We do not use advertising trackers or third-party scripts.

2. How we use it

To build your plan, remind you of deadlines and fill in your government forms.
To work on the EDD's website for you, with your permission for each task, and to show you every step we took.
To sign you in and keep your account secure.
To text and email you about your plan, as you chose.
To answer your questions in the app.
To fix problems and improve the Service, without looking at your records unless you ask us for help.

The EDD, only what a task needs, and only after you give permission for that task.
ID.me, when the EDD sends you there to confirm your identity: what you enter there goes to ID.me under its own privacy policy.
Service providers that run parts of the Service for us, under contracts that limit their use of your information to providing their service:
- Google Cloud: hosting, our database and our encryption keys.
- Amazon Web Services: sending our emails, including sign-in codes, and receiving mail sent to Civara email addresses.
- Twilio: texts, and the code that confirms your phone number.
- AI providers (Google's Gemini models and Anthropic's Claude models): see section 4.
A second parent you invite, only the parts of your plan you choose to share. You can stop sharing at any time.
When the law requires it, such as a valid court order, or to protect someone's safety.

We do not sell or "share" your personal information for advertising, and we do not give your phone number to anyone for marketing.

4. AI models

Civara uses AI models to read the EDD's web pages and decide the next step, and to answer your questions in the app.

When Civara reads a government web page, your values on that page (such as your name or Social Security number) are replaced with placeholders before the page reaches the model, and the model never sees screenshots of those pages.
When you ask a question in the app, the details that identify you directly (your Social Security number, full name, date of birth, address, phone and email) are replaced with labels. Codes, passwords, security answers and account numbers are never sent. Your conversations are kept for 30 days and deleted sooner if you ask.
If you upload a paystub, it is sent to Google's model as it is, so it can read your pay details. It is held in memory for that one request and never stored by us. What the model read is kept as suggestions, encrypted, for at most 180 days, until you confirm or change each one.

We do not allow our AI providers to use your information to train their models.

5. How we protect it

Your sensitive information is encrypted with keys specific to you.
You sign in with Google, an emailed code or a passkey, and seeing or sending sensitive details (such as your Social Security number, your EDD sign-in or your recordings) asks you to confirm it is you again.
Recordings of Civara's browser are encrypted under your keys. You can view, download or delete them; our staff can watch one only while you have asked us for help and given them access.
Our staff never see your records unless you ask us to help with your life event. When you do, you choose what they may see and for how long, and you can end their access at any time. They see only the parts of your record they need to help you, and every time they look is recorded and shown in your activity.
We keep a record of who accessed what, and when.

6. How long we keep it

We keep your information while you have an account. Some things are kept for less: questions you ask in the app for 30 days, paystub suggestions for at most 180 days, and the codes and links we read from your Civara email are never stored. When you delete your account, we delete your information and destroy the keys that protect it, so encrypted copies in backups can no longer be read. [Counsel to confirm any records we must keep by law.]

Your Civara email address is never given to anyone else, even after you delete your account.

7. Your choices and rights

See, download or correct your information in the app, or ask us.
Withdraw a permission for a task, stop texts (reply STOP) or change how we reach you.
Delete your recordings, or your whole account.
If you live in California, you have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, including to know, access, correct and delete your personal information, and to limit the use of sensitive personal information. We do not sell or share personal information, and we will not treat you differently for using your rights. To use them, write to support@civara.com.

8. Children

Civara is for adults. You may give us information about your baby, such as their date of birth, to fill in your forms; we use it only for that.

9. Changes

When we change this policy, we will show you what changed and ask you to agree to the new version before you continue using Civara. Each version has a number and the date it takes effect.

10. Contact

Civara LLC, 2443 Fillmore Street PMB 454, San Francisco, CA 94115. Email: support@civara.com.