Privacy Policy — ExactCog

Effective date: October 23, 2026

ExactCog is a gear designer that runs entirely on your device. This policy explains, plainly, what that means for your data.

Short version

The app itself has no account system, no cookies, no analytics, and no crash telemetry, and it never sends your designs anywhere. Everything you make stays on your device, in your browser's storage or in files you save. The hosted version is served by Cloudflare (see Hosting below).

Designing and printing are free. File exports need ExactCog Pro, a one-time purchase. If you buy it, the payment is handled by Microsoft (in the Microsoft Store copy) or by Lemon Squeezy (on the website), not by the app. Each is covered below.

What the app stores, and where

• Your current design. About a second after each edit, the app saves the design you are working on in your browser's IndexedDB storage (a database named cog4), so it is still there when you come back. There is one slot per browser profile.
• One setting. When you click Got it on the first-run hint, the app remembers that in your browser's localStorage, so the hint does not come back.
• Your Pro licence key, if you entered one. If you bought Pro on the website and activated your key, the app keeps the key and the device ID Lemon Squeezy gave it in localStorage (under cog4.licence), so Pro stays unlocked on this device. The app shows only the key's last four characters.
• The app itself. The hosted and installed app keeps a copy of its own files in your browser's cache so it works offline. That cache holds the app, not your designs.

None of this leaves your device. If your browser blocks site storage, the app still works; it just cannot restore your design or remember the hint.

Files. Save writes a .cog4 project file, and the exports (SVG, DXF, PNG, STL) are written to your device where you choose, or to your downloads folder. Load, and double-clicking a .cog4 file with the installed app, reads only the file you picked.

What the app does not do

• It does not create an account or ask you to sign in.
• It does not set cookies, use advertising identifiers, or report crashes.
• It does not send, upload, or sync your designs or files to the developer or to any third party.
• It does not connect to the internet for anything except loading the app, checking for a new version of it (when it opens, and about once an hour while it is open), and checking Pro: the Microsoft Store copy asks the Store whether you own Pro, and a device with a licence key checks that key with Lemon Squeezy when the app opens (see below). The downloaded single-file version makes no network requests at all.

Hosting

The hosted app at https://cog.itisnotthatsimplified.com (which the installed app also comes from), and the single-file download on this site, are served by Cloudflare. Cloudflare processes, and may log, the standard data that comes with every request (your IP address, your browser's user agent, the address requested, and the time) to serve and secure the site. The app's own code sends nothing else: your designs and files never leave your device.

Cloudflare's handling of this is covered by its own privacy policy:

https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/

The Microsoft Store

If you install ExactCog from the Microsoft Store, Microsoft handles the download and installation, as covered by Microsoft's own privacy statement:

https://privacy.microsoft.com/privacystatement

The app is free to download. ExactCog Pro is an in-app purchase sold through the Store. Microsoft processes the payment; the developer never sees your payment details. To know whether to unlock Pro, the app asks the Store whether your Microsoft account owns it. That question and its answer stay between the app on your device and the Store; the app does not send them anywhere else.

Buying Pro on the website (Lemon Squeezy)

Pro is also sold on this website through Lemon Squeezy, which is the merchant of record: it takes the payment, handles tax and refunds, and emails you a licence key. At checkout Lemon Squeezy collects what it needs for the sale, such as your name, email address, country and payment details. The developer can see the order in Lemon Squeezy (your name, email address, country and what you bought) and uses it only to answer questions about your purchase and to handle refunds. The developer never sees your card details.

When you activate a key, the app sends Lemon Squeezy the key and a device label that names only the kind of system (for example "ExactCog – Windows"). Each time the app opens afterwards, it sends the key and the device ID Lemon Squeezy issued. Lemon Squeezy uses these to confirm the key and count your devices. Like any web request, this also reaches Lemon Squeezy with your IP address. Your designs and files are never sent.

The key arrives in the address the checkout sends you back to, in the part after # that browsers do not send to servers, and the app removes it from the address bar at once.

Lemon Squeezy's handling of your purchase is covered by its own privacy policy:

https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/privacy

Removing your data

Your saved project files and exports are ordinary files: they stay where you saved them until you delete them. To take a licence key off a device, use Remove licence from this device in Help: it frees that device with Lemon Squeezy and deletes the key from the app. Do that before clearing site data, or the device keeps one of your key's device slots. To remove the autosaved design, the hint setting, and the cached app, clear the stored site data for cog.itisnotthatsimplified.com (or, for the single-file version, for the browser that opened it) in your browser's settings.

Children's privacy

ExactCog does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, of any age. Purchases of Pro are made through Microsoft or Lemon Squeezy, under their own terms and age requirements.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the effective date above will be updated and the new version will be published at the same address:

https://itisnotthatsimplified.com/cog/privacy

Contact

Questions about this policy: cog@itisnotthatsimplified.com