Privacy

Effective November 12, 2026

Your review round stays on your device

The permit or case number, project address, Update number, review comments, your responses, references and the generated PDF are handled only in this browser. They are never uploaded to PermitReply, and PermitReply never sends them to the City of Austin or anyone else; it has no endpoint that accepts them.

By default, your work lives only in the open tab and is gone when you close it. It is stored only if you choose to:

• Save on this device: the review round is kept in this browser’s IndexedDB until you delete it (“Stop saving & delete saved copy”, “Delete”, or “Erase everything PermitReply stored in this browser”).
• Download a project file: a JSON file on your own computer containing the review round. Keep it private.

We cannot restore work you delete or lose by clearing site data.

What reaches our server

• Checkout: the payment method you chose, the project’s random ID (a UUID that says nothing about you or the property), a SHA-256 review-round fingerprint computed in your browser from the project ID, the permit number and the Update number, and a random checkout attempt ID. The fingerprint is a one-way hash: no permit number, address, comment or response is sent, and none can be read back from it. The server creates the checkout with Square or PayPal and returns a signed ticket that your browser keeps (with no content) so the payment survives the redirect.
• Payment verification: the server keeps the provider order identifier, the project ID, the fingerprint, a random per-attempt value and the payment status in a private order ledger (the item is “PermitReply Response Letter”, $39.00 USD). It checks with Square or PayPal until the provider confirms the payment or the order closes. The return link can restore the unlock in another browser; the server stores only a keyed hash of that return code.
• Unlock check: when you open a purchased review round, its ID, fingerprint and purchase grant are sent so the server can confirm them.
• Rate limits use short-lived in-memory counters per IP address. They are not stored on disk.

Payments are handled on Square’s or PayPal’s own pages under their privacy policies. PermitReply does not see or store card numbers or PayPal credentials, and never sends them your permit details or text.

Counters

The server counts free downloads of the blank template and the fictional sample letter, review rounds whose free preview became complete (“preview completed”, at most once per project per visit), hosted-checkout starts and provider-confirmed live sales, with a coarse campaign label from a fixed list (for example permitreply_launch or permitreply_guide), the language “en”, payment provider, mode and the integer price paid. No IP addresses, cookies, permit numbers, addresses, comments or responses are stored with these counts. Order numbers are stored only as a keyed hash. Sandbox payments and the sample are never counted as sales or completed previews.

Browser storage

Besides the optional saved review rounds above, IndexedDB holds open checkouts and purchase grants (no content). Local storage holds the ID of a project you chose to save and a campaign label from the link you arrived by (kept 30 days). No advertising or third-party tracking scripts are used. “Erase everything PermitReply stored in this browser” removes all of it.

Contact

Questions: contact support.