Privacy
Ovin works without an account and without tracking cookies. We keep as little as possible, for as short as possible, and everything runs in the EU, with one exception (see below). This is exactly what we do process.
Who we are. Tedo B.V., Mauritsstraat 1, 9724 BH Groningen, the Netherlands, Chamber of Commerce no. 99742411. Privacy questions: hello@zoeken.ai.
What we process, why and for how long
| what | purpose | legal basis | how long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your search | Giving results and an AI answer; testing and improving our own search engine | performance of the service (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR); legitimate interest: building our own European search engine (6(1)(f)) | Without IP address, cookie or account, and never linked to your other searches. Searches containing an email address, phone number, national ID number or street address are not stored; we filter names out. Kept this way for up to 24 months; searches asked at least 10 times, after that without a time limit |
| The AI answer to your search, and the search results it is based on | Building and testing our own search engine | legitimate interest: building our own European search engine (6(1)(f)) | Like your search: without IP address, cookie or account, and without email addresses, phone numbers, ID numbers, street addresses and names; up to 24 months. Your chat messages are not included |
| Which result you click | Improving our results | legitimate interest (6(1)(f)) | Only the position for that search, without a cookie and not linked to you; 24 months |
| Your chat messages | An answer from the AI | performance of the service (6(1)(b)) | We do not store the text: it stays in your browser |
| Chat usage, without content | Running the chat, finding errors, tracking costs, spotting abuse | legitimate interest (6(1)(f)) | Per message the time, a random conversation number, whether it is from you or from the AI, the length, which AI model, which tools the AI used (only the name, such as "search", not what was searched), the duration, the cost and error codes. No text of messages or answers, no IP address, not linked to your account. 90 days, then totals only |
Counter for AI answers: without an account a cookie (q) with a random code and how many answers you got today, with a counter per IP address as a backstop; with an account the same counter on your account |
Sharing free use fairly and preventing abuse | legitimate interest (6(1)(f)) | The counter resets to zero every night; the cookie expires at midnight. We keep only today's count, under that code or your account; the next day it is gone. Your IP address is not stored with your searches and is gone after 48 hours |
| Visitor statistics | Knowing how many people use the site and which pages | legitimate interest (6(1)(f)) | Without a cookie and without storing your IP address: totals only, with a code that changes every day and cannot be traced back to you |
| What you type, before you search (from 3 characters) | Showing suggestions as you type | performance of the service (6(1)(b)) | Not stored. The text goes to Mistral for the suggestions, without IP address or account; we only count how often |
| Your IP address and browser type | Limiting abuse (at most 20 chat messages per 10 minutes); on some information pages choosing which version you see, to improve those pages | legitimate interest: keeping the service available and improving it (6(1)(f)) | Only in the server's working memory, never stored |
| Feedback (thumbs, "not right", optional field) | Improving answers | legitimate interest: quality (6(1)(f)) | The text 7 days. If we use your report to improve an answer, we first remove personal data from it and keep it for up to 6 months. The thumb itself without a time limit, not linked to you |
| Account: email address, your passkeys (only the public key and the name you gave them), sign-up and last sign-in date, a session cookie | Signing in without a password | performance of the service (6(1)(b)) | Until you delete your account, or after 24 months without signing in (we email you a month before). After deletion everything is gone within 30 days, including from logs and backups |
| Sign-in link and sign-in code | Signing in by email: with the link or with the 6-digit code from the same email | performance of the service (6(1)(b)) | Not stored in readable form. The link is valid for 15 minutes, the code for 10 minutes; each works once, and using one voids the other. After 5 wrong tries the code is void. The email address we sent it to is deleted 24 hours after expiry if you create no account |
| Puzzle at sign-in and on forms | Preventing spam | legitimate interest (6(1)(f)) | At sign-in and on forms, your browser solves a small puzzle. We count only how long it took and whether it worked, per day and without data about you. No cookie, no other party |
| Your sessions: a short device name (such as "Chrome · Mac", taken from your browser at sign-in) and when you were last active, rounded to the hour | Seeing where you are signed in and signing out everywhere | performance of the service and security (6(1)(b), (f)) | Until you sign out, 30 days at most |
| Phone number (optional) | Securing and recovering your account, nothing else | performance of the service (6(1)(b)) | Until you delete it or your account. After the check we keep only a masked form (such as +44 •••• 4521) and a code to recognise it. The text message contains only the code |
| Settings (language, region, safe search) | Your preferences | strictly necessary | In your browser; with an account also with us, until you clear them |
| Business listings: trade name, address, type of business and, where known, opening hours, website and phone number of the business (for a sole trader or partnership these can be personal data). Created when the business connects its website, and public only after we checked that the website is theirs. Source: the business's own website, and what the owner fills in. If the address is a home address, the owner can choose to show only the town | Helping people find the right business | performance of the contract with the business (6(1)(b)) and legitimate interest (6(1)(f)) | As long as the website stays verified and someone manages the listing; offline 30 days after either stops. If you have it removed, we keep only the trade name and postcode on a stop list, so it does not come back. What you filled in yourself we keep hidden for 30 days after removal, so you can restore it; then it is gone |
| Business Manager: the businesses you manage and your role | Letting a business manage its listing | performance of the contract (6(1)(b)) | As long as you manage the business; with your account, gone within 30 days after deletion |
| Connected websites: the site address, when it was connected, the sync choice ("Ask first" or not), the changes it sent and when, and the result of our checks | Keeping a listing up to date from the business's website, and letting it undo changes | performance of the contract (6(1)(b)) | As long as the website is connected. After disconnecting, deleted within 30 days, except the terms version and the dates of connecting and disconnecting, which we keep for 2 years |
| Emails and requests to us: name, email, your message | Answering you | your request (6(1)(b)) and legitimate interest (6(1)(f)) | 12 months after our last contact |
| Removal and report requests | Handling your request | legal obligation and legitimate interest (6(1)(c), (f)) | 2 years after handling |
We make no profiles, sell no data and show no ads based on who you are. We use only cookies that are needed:
to sign in (a session cookie), to count without an account how many AI answers you got today (q, until
midnight), and briefly while you manage a business listing. No consent is needed for these, which is why you see
no cookie banner.
Who processes data for us
Only these parties, each under a data processing agreement:
| party | what | where |
|---|---|---|
| Mistral AI | AI answers, chat and search suggestions: your search or message is sent to Mistral, without IP address or account | EU |
| Brave Software, Inc. | search results, for every search: only the text of your search, without IP address | US (transfer based on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses) |
| Plausible Insights OÜ | visitor statistics without cookies | EU |
| Bird (MessageBird) | sending the text-message code when you add a phone number | EU |
| Scaleway SAS | servers, storage and backups; sending sign-in emails, without open or click tracking | the Netherlands (Amsterdam); email from France (Paris) |
Please don't share personal details such as your name, ID number or medical details in the chat or in searches. Because we don't link searches to people, we also can't find them per person. If you want us to delete a particular search, send us its exact text.
Your rights
You may access your data, have it corrected or deleted, object, and take it with you. You delete your account yourself with one click in Settings. There you also download your data yourself as a file: your account, the names of your passkeys, your phone number (as we keep it: masked) and your sessions. Searches, clicks, feedback and chat usage without content are not in it, because we don't link them to you. A business can always have its listing removed: choose "Don't list" in Business Manager, or email us, without an account. For anything else, email hello@zoeken.ai. We answer within one month. If you disagree with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) or to the data protection authority in the EU country where you live or work.
AI
Answers and chat come from an AI model. They can contain mistakes. With answers you always see the sources. We keep searches and AI answers only as described above, to build and test our own search engine. We never keep your chat messages, and our suppliers never use your searches or messages for their own models.
Version 26 October 2026. If anything material changes, you will see it at the top of this page.