AliYOU — Privacy Policy

Version 1.0 · Effective October 25, 2026

The short version

AliYOU turns a few choices into username suggestions. To do that, we send your choices to OpenAI, which generates the names. If you turn on the name feature, we also send the name you type, and your gender if you choose to give it. You don't need an account. If you want one, you can sign in with Google to save names.

We don't run ads. We don't sell or share your information for advertising. We don't track you across other websites, and we don't set tracking cookies. We never use what you type, or anything in your account, to train AI models; the only tuning we do uses anonymous counts and taste-test and tester answers (see "How AliYOU learns"). We count how people move through the site using cookieless analytics that don't identify you.

The rest of this page is the detail.

Who we are

AliYOU is an independent project operated from North Carolina, United States.

Contact: discover.aliyou@gmail.com

That address is monitored. Use it for any privacy question, or to ask us to see or delete your information.

What we collect

When you generate usernames:

When you give feedback: a rating out of 10, any notes you type, and the card choices, interests and usernames from that session. We remove the name and gender you typed, but the usernames themselves may contain your name.

When you sign in with Google: your Google account identifier, email address, display name, profile photo address (if Google provides one), and an AliYOU session token. We link your account using the Google identifier, not your email address. We ask Google only for basic sign-in information (your name, email address and profile photo). We can't see your Google password, contacts, files or anything else in your Google account. We use your email address only to identify your account, to reply if you contact us, and for the dormant-account warning.

Automatically: your IP address, browser type and the pages you request. Our hosting provider handles this standard web-server information. We use your IP address to limit how many requests one visitor can make, so the service isn't abused. To do that, we keep short-lived counters labelled with your IP address. Each one deletes itself within an hour. Our analytics provider also uses your request to estimate your approximate location and to recognize a repeat visit for up to 24 hours, as described below.

Usage analytics: we use Vercel Web Analytics to count visits and how far people get through the steps. For each page view or step, it records the page address, the referring site, your approximate location (country, region and city), and your browser, operating system and device type. It sets no cookies. It recognizes a returning visit only through a temporary code made from your request, which is discarded after 24 hours. It never receives your name, gender, interests or the usernames you're shown. For one step it records only whether you typed interests, never what you typed.

Google's sign-in button: once you've passed the age check, the page shows a "Continue with Google" button. Your browser loads that button from Google's servers, so Google receives your IP address and browser information even if you don't sign in. The main site doesn't load Google's sign-in button until you pass the age check.

The age check: before you start, we ask for your date of birth to make a good-faith check that you're 13 or older. Your browser does the check. We never send or store the date, your exact age or your birth year. Your browser keeps only the result. If you have an account, we store only that you passed and when. This is not identity or age verification.

Account data: if you sign in, your account can hold your email address, Google account identifier, display name and profile photo address. It can also hold:

• the names you choose to save, with any type, note and rating you add, and the style preferences they came from;
• collections you create;
• your account type and aesthetic preference;
• your generation history.

Generation history is the usernames we showed you, which may include your name if you used that feature, plus your style preferences. It also records which of those names you copied, saved or marked "Not for me", whether you asked for new names instead, and when. Each history record deletes itself after 90 days. Anything you did before signing in is never attached to your account.

Taste tests: if you take part in a taste test from a link we send you, we store your card picks, the names you were shown, which ones you preferred, whether you'd use one, your rating, any short note you choose to write (up to 200 characters), and a random session number. We don't add your name, email, account or IP address to it, and we delete it after 30 days. Before then, we may copy answers into the data AliYOU uses to tune how it ranks names (see "How AliYOU learns"). The taste-test page loads its fonts from Google (see the table below).

Rating surveys: if we send you a personal link to a short rating survey, we store your answers with that link's code and the time you sent them. We delete them after 90 days.

What we do with it

• Generate your usernames. We send your choices, your interests, and your name and gender (if given) to OpenAI, which produces the suggestions you see.
• Avoid repeating names. We use the names you were recently shown so we don't suggest them again. We also keep a short-lived shared list of recently generated names, not linked to anyone, so different people don't all get the same suggestions.
• Prevent abuse. We use your IP address for rate limiting.
• Keep you signed in. A first-party session cookie keeps your browser signed in for up to 30 days. We never use it for advertising or cross-site tracking.
• Run your account. We show you your saved names, collections and history, and use your style preferences in later generations.
• Improve the product. We read feedback and survey answers to judge whether the usernames are any good. We look at analytics and at counts kept in our own database, such as completed generations, saved names, and how often names are copied, saved, skipped or replaced. These counts never include a user identifier or a generated name. See "How AliYOU learns" below.

To make suggestions, we turn your card picks into style signals for each request, and if you're signed in we remember your account type and aesthetic. That's all. We don't build an advertising or tracking profile of you, we don't track you across sites, and we don't try to work out who you are.

How AliYOU learns

To get better at picking names people like, AliYOU tunes how it chooses and orders the names it shows. That tuning uses a simple statistical model, and it learns from two things only:

• anonymous counts of which kinds of names get copied, saved or skipped;
• answers from taste tests, and from testers we invited, kept under a random code rather than a name.

None of this is linked to your account or includes your name.

Apart from that, we never use your information to train AI or machine-learning models. That includes your name, gender, interests, feedback notes, saved names and generation history. OpenAI states that it doesn't train its models on data sent through its API unless the sender opts in, and we haven't opted in.

What we don't do

• We don't sell your personal information, and we never have.
• We don't share it with advertisers or data brokers.
• We don't run advertising, and we don't use anyone's information for targeted advertising.
• We don't use Google Analytics or any cross-site tracking.
• We don't set tracking or advertising cookies.
• We don't require an account to generate usernames.
• Apart from the anonymous counts and taste-test and tester answers described in "How AliYOU learns", we never use your information to train AI or machine-learning models.
• We don't check whether a username is available anywhere, so we never contact any social platform about you.

Who we share it with

We use a small number of service providers. Each only gets what it needs to do its job.

We don't share your information with anyone else, with two exceptions. We'll disclose it if the law requires it, for example under a valid court order. And if AliYOU is ever sold or transferred, your information would move to the new owner, who would have to keep this policy's promises for it.

What we don't keep

We don't store the name or gender you type. We use them to build your usernames, then discard them. We remove them before saving anything (your history, saved names or feedback), and we keep them out of our logs. They do reach OpenAI, which keeps API data as described above.

Your generated usernames may contain your name. That's the point of the feature, and it's your choice. If you're signed in, the usernames we show you stay in your history for 90 days, and any you save stay until you delete them. If you submit feedback, the usernames are stored with it.

How long we keep things

Your choices and rights

• Leave your name out. The name feature is off by default. AliYOU works fully without it, and without your gender.
• Leave interests blank. Also optional.
• Use AliYOU without an account. Signing in is only for saving names.
• Delete saved names, or your whole account. Use the account controls, or email us from the address on the account.
• Ask us to delete your feedback. Email us roughly when you sent it and what the usernames were, so we can find the right record. We'll delete it and confirm.
• Ask what we hold about you, or ask us to correct it or send you a copy.

Wherever you live, you can ask to see, correct, delete or get a copy of your personal information, and we won't treat you differently for asking. Email discover.aliyou@gmail.com. To protect your account, we may ask you to email us from the address on the account. We'll reply within 45 days. If we can't do what you asked, we'll explain why. You can reply to ask us to look at it again, and we'll give you our final answer in writing within 60 days. If you still disagree, you can contact your state attorney general.

One honest limitation: we can delete records from our own systems. We can't reach into our hosting provider's server logs, which delete themselves on Vercel's schedule. We also can't delete data OpenAI holds under its own retention policy. Deleted account data can stay in our database provider's backups for a short time before it is overwritten.

Dormant accounts: after 24 months without a sign-in, we delete the account and everything in it. We'll try to email a warning about 30 days before. Using AliYOU without signing in doesn't reset this clock.

Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

We don't track you across other websites, and we don't sell or share your information for advertising. So there's no tracking for a "Do Not Track" or Global Privacy Control signal to switch off. We treat every visitor the same whether or not their browser sends one.

Google receives some information when its sign-in button loads, and on the taste-test page when its fonts load, under Google's own privacy policy. No other third party collects information about your activity on AliYOU across other websites over time.

Children

AliYOU is for people aged 13 and over, and isn't directed to children under 13. We ask for your date of birth before you start, and anyone who enters an age under 13 can't continue. This is a good-faith check, not identity verification. It relies on you answering honestly. If you're under 18, a parent or guardian must agree to our Terms for you, and you may use AliYOU only with their permission.

We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we find out we have, we delete it promptly. If you're a parent or guardian and think your child under 13 has used AliYOU and given us information, email discover.aliyou@gmail.com. We'll delete it and confirm.

We don't show advertising to anyone, and we don't use anyone's information for targeted advertising, including people under 18.

Security

Traffic to and from AliYOU is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Session tokens are stored only in scrambled form, and the session cookie can't be read by scripts on the page. We limit how much any one visitor can request, to prevent abuse. Above all, we keep very little personal information in the first place, which is the strongest protection we can offer.

No service can promise perfect security, and we won't pretend otherwise. If a breach affects your personal information, we'll tell you as the law requires.

Cookies and browser storage

We don't use tracking, advertising or analytics cookies. If you sign in, we set one first-party, HTTP-only session cookie. It holds a random session token, is used only to keep you signed in, and expires after up to 30 days.

Google's sign-in button runs on Google's servers and may set Google's own cookies there. Google's privacy policy covers those cookies, not this one.

We also keep three small items in your browser's local storage. They stay on your device, with two exceptions: the recently shown names are sent with each request, and if you sign in, your age-check result is recorded on your account:

• whether you passed the age check (never your date of birth);
• the names you were recently shown, so we don't repeat them;
• whether you turned sound effects on or off.

Clearing this site's data in your browser removes all three.

Where this service is offered

AliYOU is operated from the United States and intended for users in the United States. We don't target users in the European Union, the United Kingdom or elsewhere. If you use AliYOU from outside the US, your information will be processed in the US.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the version and date at the top and post the new version here. If a change is significant, we'll also post a notice on aliyou.me before it takes effect and keep it there for at least 30 days. We won't quietly edit the text. We won't use information we already hold in a materially different way without asking you first.

Contact

discover.aliyou@gmail.com