1. Overview
ArcForge (“ArcForge,” “we,” “us”) is a welding-education platform operated by Forge Nova Labs. This policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how it is used and shared, and the choices you have. It applies to the public website and the signed-in application.
The short version: we collect what the product needs to work, your weld photos are analyzed and discarded by default — stored only if you choose to save a photo to your private record, and you can remove it anytime — we don’t sell personal information, and you can delete your data.
2. Information we collect
We collect the following categories of information:
- Account information. Email address, display name, and authentication data when you create an account.
- Profile and training details. Optional information such as your experience level, learning goals, preferred processes, and unit preferences.
- Weld photos and analysis inputs. Photographs you submit for analysis are processed in memory and discarded by default; a photo is stored only when you switch on “Save this photo to my record (private)” at submission (see section 3). The details you attach (process, joint type, position, material, machine settings, practice objective) and your weld log entries are kept as part of your practice record.
- Learning activity. Lesson completions, quiz attempts and answers, practice scores, streaks, achievements, and saved content.
- Class and organization data. If you join a class or school, your membership, assignment submissions, and instructor feedback.
- Billing information. Plan, subscription status, and usage counts. Card details are handled by our payment processor and never touch our servers.
- Usage and device data. Log and diagnostic data such as pages visited, feature usage, approximate region, browser type, and error reports.
- Support communications. Messages you send through the contact form or support channels.
3. Weld photos
Weld photos are analyzed and discarded by default. When you submit a photo for analysis, it is held in memory only long enough to be validated and processed by the AI provider, and it is discarded when the analysis completes. What persists by default is the structured analysis result and the settings you entered — never the image.
Saving a photo is your choice, per photo. If you switch on “Save this photo to my record (private)” when you submit, that photo — and only that photo — is stored in private storage linked to your analysis. Saved photos are visible to you alone, and you can remove a saved photo from its analysis page at any time; removal deletes the stored image. Analyses that fail or need a better image never store the photo, even when you asked to save it.
We do not use your weld photos for marketing, and we do not train our own models on them. Instructors and school administrators see your submitted results and settings through class membership — never your photos, saved or otherwise.
4. How we use information
- To provide the service: lessons, analyses, progress tracking, and class tools.
- To produce AI analysis results from the photos and details you submit.
- To enforce plan limits and prevent abuse of analysis allowances.
- To process subscriptions and payments.
- To respond to support requests.
- To maintain security, debug problems, and improve the product.
- To send service notifications you can manage in your preferences.
We do not sell personal information and we do not use it for third-party advertising.
5. AI processing
When you request an analysis, your photo and the details you attached are sent to the AI vision provider configured for the service, which processes them to produce a structured result. The photo exists only in memory for the duration of that request and is discarded afterward, unless you chose to save it to your private record (see section 3); the validated result and your settings are what we always store. The result is validated before it is shown to you, and every result carries a fixed educational disclaimer. AI output is educational guidance only — see our AI Analysis Disclaimer for the full statement of what analysis results can and cannot mean.
We record technical metadata about each analysis job (provider, model identifier, timing, and failure reasons) to operate the pipeline reliably.
6. How information is shared
We share information only with:
- Service providers that host our infrastructure, database, storage, AI processing, email delivery, and payment processing — bound to use the data only to provide those services.
- Your instructors and school, to the limited extent described in section 7.
- Authorities, if required by law, or to protect the rights, safety, or security of users and the service.
- A successor entity in the event of a merger or acquisition, under this policy’s protections.
7. Classes, instructors, and schools
Instructor access is scoped by class membership: instructors see assignment submissions, attached analyses, and progress information for students in their own classes only. Practice you do not submit to a class remains private to your account. School administrators manage seats and view aggregate usage and engagement reporting for their organization.
8. Retention and deletion
We keep your information while your account is active. Weld photos are not retained by default — they are discarded when each analysis completes. A photo you chose to save is kept until you remove it, delete its analysis, or delete your account. You can delete individual analyses and weld log entries from the app at any time. If you delete your account, we delete or anonymize your personal data within a reasonable period, except where limited records must be retained for legal, billing, or security purposes. Class records your instructor created (such as feedback they wrote) may be retained by their organization.
9. Security
We use industry-standard measures: encrypted connections, row-level access controls in our database, private storage buckets with signed URLs, scoped service credentials, and audit logging of sensitive administrative actions. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affecting your personal data occurs, we will notify you as required by law.
10. Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, export, restrict, or delete your personal information. You can exercise most of these directly in the app (profile, settings, analysis history), and all of them by contacting us at support@arcforgepro.com. We will not discriminate against you for exercising privacy rights.
11. Younger users
The service is intended for welding students, apprentices, and professionals. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data. Where a school enrolls students who are minors, the school is responsible for obtaining any consents required in its jurisdiction before adding them to a class.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the product evolves. Material changes will be announced in the app or by email before they take effect, and the “Last updated” date above will always reflect the current version.
13. Contact
Questions or requests: support@arcforgepro.com or the contact form.