The short version
- The tools need no account. The AI coach needs you to sign in with Google, so one person cannot use up everyone’s free coaching. We get only your email address and Google account id, and we do not store them for free use.
- There are no ads and no tracking pixels. The only cookie keeps you signed in.
- Your stories, answers and activity list are saved only in your own browser.
- Text leaves your browser only when you press a coach button. It goes to Anthropic, the company that makes the Claude AI, in the United States, so the coach can reply. Our server does not save it. A recording leaves only when you grade it, after you agree to a notice; it goes to Vercel and Microsoft.
- Before your coach reads anything, the app asks you to confirm you are 14 or older and that you agree to this. That choice is saved in your browser.
- We never sell or share anything about you.
What stays on your device
Your story bank, answers, follow-up answers, Q5 activities and interview transcript are saved in your browser’s local storage. They do not leave your device unless you send them to the coach or export them. Interview recordings, in the app or on the interview timer page, stay in your browser’s memory and disappear when you reload the page, unless you download them or choose to transcribe one. The word counters, the Q5 hours calculator and the interview timer run fully in your browser. So does “How you sounded” under a practice recording: its pauses, pitch and loudness are worked out on your device and never sent.
What leaves your device, and when
When you press a coach button, your browser sends our server only what that button needs:
- “Grade my answer” and “Grade again”: the question, your program, your answer, the notes you typed about yourself and your stories (with the other questions you picked each one for), so the grade can point to your own experiences.
- “Stuck? Get ideas” (“Ask me follow-up questions” and “Make a plan”): the question, your program, your answer, your notes, the stories you chose and your answers to the coach’s questions.
- “Help me find a story”: the background notes you typed and your whole story bank, so the coach can suggest a story you have not written yet.
- “Review my list” on the Q5 page: your activity rows (titles, dates and hours). Your private notes are not sent.
- Grading an interview answer: the question, your transcript and how long you spoke.
Our server passes it to Anthropic’s Claude API and sends the reply back to you. Our server does not write your text to disk or logs.
Anthropic is in the United States, so your text is processed there. There it may be accessible to US courts, law enforcement and national security authorities. Anthropic does not use it to train its models. Anthropic deletes it within 30 days. If Anthropic’s safety systems flag a request, Anthropic may keep the request and reply for up to 2 years. It may keep its safety ratings of that request for up to 7 years. It may keep data longer if the law requires it. Deleting your workspace in this app does not delete Anthropic’s copy; that copy expires on Anthropic’s schedule.
If you press “Grade my answer” after recording, and agree to the short notice the first time, that recording goes through our server to Vercel (its AI Gateway) and on to Microsoft (its speech model), both in the United States, to be turned into text word for word. Nothing is sent until you agree. This browser remembers your OK until the notice changes or you clear it in Privacy & data; until then, grading a recording sends it. Our server does not save the recording or the text. Vercel and Microsoft handle it under their own terms, and we have not been able to confirm how long they keep it, so only send recordings you are comfortable sharing, and leave out your full name, school and other people’s private details. You must be 14 or older. Each signed-in account can transcribe a few recordings a day.
Do not put information in your stories that you would not want processed this way, such as health details or other people’s private information.
Signing in with Google
The coach asks you to sign in with Google. Google tells us your email address and your Google account id, and that the email is verified. We do not get your name, contacts or anything else from your Google account. We put the email and id in a signed cookie on your device, so the site knows it is you. The cookie lasts 30 days, or until you sign out from the workspace menu. Our server does not store your email or id for free use. Google knows that you signed in to AIF Helper. School Google accounts often block sign-in to other sites; you can use a personal Gmail instead.
Buying a 30-day pass (only if you choose to)
Free coaching is limited each day. A 30-day pass gives you the coach for 30 days, with fair-use limits described in the terms. It is a one-time payment and does not renew. Stripe, our payment company, takes the payment on its own page. We never see or store your card number. If you are under 18, ask a parent before buying one.
For each pass we store: the Stripe payment id, your Google account id, the email on the payment, when you bought it, when it ends, and how many requests and how much AI cost it has used. We use these to run your pass, answer questions about it and handle refunds. To ask for a refund, contact privacy@enhebai.com.
What our server keeps
- A daily total of how much the AI costs and how many coach requests there were, so the free site stays within its budget.
- Daily totals of page visits and a few actions, such as using the Q5 helper or the coach. Totals are split by page and by the link that brought you, for example a Reddit comment. They have no cookies, no visitor ids and no addresses. If your browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal, nothing is counted.
- Daily totals of “Was this grade helpful?” answers: only the number of thumbs up and thumbs down per day and page. Nothing about you or your answer is sent with them.
- A count of free requests per Google account and per internet connection, so one person cannot use up everyone’s free coaching. Each count is linked to a scrambled code made from your account id or your internet address. The codes change every day and are deleted with that day’s counts after midnight Toronto time. Your account id and address themselves are not stored.
- If you buy a pass: the pass record described above.
How long we keep things
| What | Where | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Your stories, answers, Q5 list and saved coach replies | Your browser | Until you clear them |
| Your “I agree” choice, your 14+ answer and the date | Your browser | Until you clear your workspace or this site’s data. If the notice changes, the app asks you again. |
| Tags from the link that brought you | This browser tab | Until you close the tab |
| Your sign-in cookie (email and Google account id) | Your browser | 30 days, or until you sign out |
| Interview recordings | Your browser’s memory | Until you reload the page |
| A recording you chose to transcribe | Our server’s memory, then Vercel and Microsoft, United States | Our server: only while the request runs. Vercel and Microsoft: on their own schedule, which we could not confirm. |
| Text you send to the coach | Our server’s memory (Cloudflare, usually the data centre nearest you) | Only while your request runs. Never saved. |
| The same text at Anthropic | United States | Deleted within 30 days. If flagged: up to 2 years, and Anthropic’s safety ratings of it up to 7 years. Longer if the law requires it. |
| Your pass record | Our database (Cloudflare D1, eastern North America) | 6 years after the year you bought it, because Canadian tax law asks businesses to keep sales records that long |
| Your payment | Stripe, United States | On Stripe’s own schedule |
| Per-visitor request counts (scrambled code) | Our database (Cloudflare D1, eastern North America) | Until the first request after midnight Toronto time |
| Daily AI cost and number of coach requests | Our database (Cloudflare D1, eastern North America) | We have not set a delete date yet. Nothing deletes them automatically yet. |
| Daily visit and action totals | Our database (Cloudflare D1, eastern North America) | We have not set a delete date yet. Nothing deletes them automatically yet. |
| Request logs and metrics at Cloudflare | Cloudflare | On Cloudflare’s own schedule |
Where this site runs
This site runs on Cloudflare (Cloudflare, Inc., in the United States). Our app usually runs in the Cloudflare data centre nearest you, and its small database is in eastern North America. Cloudflare keeps short-term logs and metrics. These may include internet addresses. Cloudflare may process them in the United States. Laws there may let authorities access them. Our app does not write what you type, or your internet address, into its logs.
We count visits ourselves, on our own server. We use no outside analytics company.
Sign-in goes through Google (Google LLC, in the United States). Payments go through Stripe (Stripe, Inc., in the United States). Laws there may let authorities access what they hold.
The coach is an AI
The coach is Claude, an AI made by Anthropic. It can be wrong. It is told to use only facts you give it and to never invent experiences, but you must check everything it says. You write your own answers and you are responsible for them. Waterloo says you must complete the AIF on your own, and that AI answers that are untrue, incorrect or plagiarized can cost you your offer. Read Waterloo’s AIF page for the official rules.
Who this is for
AIF Helper is made for students applying to university. The coach is for people 14 or older. The counters, the Q5 helper and the interview timer never send what you type, so anyone can use them.
Safeguards in place
- The app says the coach is an AI, not a person. It says so on the coach card, at the bottom of every screen in the app and before your first coach request.
- Nothing goes to the coach until you tick two boxes: you are 14 or older, and you agree. Both start unticked. Each coach request carries the version of the notice you agreed to. Our server turns away requests with an old or missing version.
- Each button sends only what it needs. The coach never needs your name, school or student number.
- Our server does not save what you send or what the coach replies. It does not write them to its logs.
- Anthropic does not use your text to train its AI.
- On this site the coach does not write answers. Our server blocks requests for a draft. It also turns away any plan that is not a few short, labelled points.
- McMaster bans AI help with its supplementary applications. The app turns away questions and programs that name McMaster. The coach is also told to refuse them.
- The coach is told to stay on applications. It is told to use only your facts. It is told never to predict admission. It is told to point you to crisis help if you mention danger. These are instructions to an AI. They are not a promise.
- Free coaching is limited per Google account and per internet connection, with daily and monthly cost caps. When the free budget runs out, free coaching pauses and the tools keep working.
- No ads and no tracking ids. The only cookie keeps you signed in. Visit counts skip browsers that send Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control.
- The site uses HTTPS only and loads no code from other sites.
- Only the people who run the site can see the daily totals, with a long secret key.
- You can report a problem to privacy@enhebai.com.
Laws we follow
We follow PIPEDA, Canada’s privacy law for businesses. Ontario has no general privacy law of its own for businesses. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) oversees PIPEDA. We also follow the OPC’s guidance on consent, including its rules for young people. We follow its guidance on sending information outside Canada too. Canada’s privacy regulators say young people’s information is sensitive. That is why we ask for your clear OK first.
Quebec has its own privacy law, often called Law 25. It may apply to students in Quebec. It asks for a parent’s consent for anyone under 14. That is why the coach is for people 14 or older.
If you think we got something wrong, contact privacy@enhebai.com.
Your choices
- Delete everything: in the app, open the menu (the “…” button at the top) and choose “Clear this browser’s workspace”. This also removes your OK for the coach.
- Keep a copy: choose “Export a backup” in the same menu. The file contains your personal information, so store it carefully.
- Do not want your text sent to Anthropic? Do not press the coach buttons. The counters, the Q5 helper and your story bank work without them.
Questions or a problem
Contact privacy@enhebai.com to ask a question or report a problem with the coach. If this notice changes, the date at the top will change too, and the app will ask you to agree again before sending anything.
If you report a safety problem, we may pass your report to Anthropic’s safety team. Leave out your full name, school and student number.