House LanternPrivacy Policy
Effective October 7, 2026 · Last updated October 12, 2026
The short version. Your house record is yours. We use it only to run House Lantern for you. We don't sell it, we don't show ads, and we don't use tracking or advertising cookies. You can download all of it or delete all of it, any time, in House settings.
House Lantern is based in Illinois ("House Lantern", "we", "us"). We are forming House Lantern LLC, and this policy will name it once it exists. This policy explains what we collect when you use houselantern.com and the House Lantern app, why, who else handles it, and what you can do about it.
1. What we collect
Your account. Your email address and a password, so you can sign in. We never see your password; it is stored only in scrambled form by our database provider, which also keeps basic sign-in records, such as when you last signed in.
Your house record. What you, the people in your household, or the builder who set up your house add to it:
- the house's name, address and time zone;
- equipment and appliances: brand, model, serial number, age, location, manual, upkeep schedule and warranty;
- contacts (your plumber, your builder), paint and finish colors, and notes;
- photos (for example, of appliance labels), receipts, inspection reports and builder papers;
- your upkeep history, Fix it sessions, service visits, and your house's history, including public-record entries you chose to save.
Codes and Wi-Fi passwords. If you save a door code, alarm code or Wi-Fi password, it is kept in a separate locked area, encrypted with a key that lives only on our servers. House Lantern refuses to save something that looks like a password in an ordinary field, so it isn't stored unencrypted by accident.
Photos and documents we read. When you snap an appliance label or upload a receipt, inspection report or builder's papers, the image is sent to our AI provider to read it. If you save it to your house, it is stored with your house record like any other photo or file.
Service visits. If you send a service pro a visit link, whatever they add (what they did, photos, a receipt) waits for your approval before it joins your record.
The address check on our website. If you type an address into the house check, we send that address to the public sources listed in section 3. We don't save the address alongside anything that identifies you. We keep the public-record results for that address (they are about the house, not you) and delete them after 12 months. To slow down misuse, we keep a scrambled, one-way version of your internet (IP) address for two days.
Forms. If you fill in a contact or "more information" form, we collect your name, email and whatever else you choose to give, plus your browser type and a scrambled IP address to stop spam.
Error reports. When something in the app breaks, the app sends us a short error report (what failed and on which screen) so we can fix it. These go to our own database, not to an outside service.
What we don't collect. No advertising trackers, no analytics services, no tracking cookies. The app stores your sign-in on your own device so you stay signed in.
No biometric information. House Lantern does not collect fingerprints, face scans, voiceprints or any other biometric identifiers, and does not use photos to identify people. Please don't upload photos of people.
2. How we use it
- To run House Lantern for you: show your house, work out what upkeep is due, read labels and documents, answer Fix it and Ask questions, and look up public records.
- To email you about your house: the weekly "3 things this week" email, an occasional note if your setup stalled, and account emails such as password resets. You can turn off the non-essential emails from the link at the bottom of any of them.
- To keep it safe: limit how fast forms and lookups can be used, and investigate misuse.
- To reply when you write to us, and to fix problems, for example a label the reader got wrong.
We do not sell your information, we do not share it for targeted advertising, and we do not build advertising profiles.
3. Who else handles it
We use a small number of service providers. Each one handles your information only to provide its service to us.
| Provider | What it does | What it handles |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database, file storage, sign-in, and the servers that run the app. Data is stored in the United States. | Your account and house record |
| Cloudflare | Hosts the website and app, runs the forms and address check, blocks bots, and forwards mail to [email protected] | Your requests to the site, including your IP address |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Reads label photos and documents, and answers Fix it and Ask questions | The photo or document; for Fix it and Ask, your question and the item's details (never your codes or passwords) |
| Resend | Sends House Lantern's emails | Your email address and the email's contents |
| Public record sources | Answer address lookups | The address only: the US Census Bureau, FEMA flood maps, and county and township assessor sites |
Anthropic states that it does not train its models on data sent through its business API. We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect someone's safety, or as part of a sale of House Lantern, in which case the buyer must keep the promises in this policy and the Ownership Promise.
4. Who sees your house
- Your household. Everyone you add to your house can see and change its record, including codes and Wi-Fi passwords. Only add people you trust with all of it.
- Your builder or designer, before handoff. If a pro set up your house, they can see and edit it until you claim it. After that their access ends, unless you let them keep seeing it (read only), and you can remove that any time in House settings.
- Service pros. A pro you send a visit link to can add a visit for your approval. They can't browse your record.
- House Lantern. The House Lantern team can reach the database to run and fix the service. We look at a house only to set it up when you ask us to, to fix a problem, or to keep the service safe.
5. How long we keep it
- Your account and house record: as long as you have an account. When you delete your house or account, we delete it right away: the records, the stored photos and files, and your sign-in. If others share the house, deleting your account leaves the house with them.
- Forms: 24 months. Scrambled IP addresses: two days. Public-record lookups: 12 months.
- Our providers: Anthropic deletes API data within 30 days by default.
6. Your choices
- Download your house any time: House settings → Download my house. You get a readable house book, every record, photos, receipts and history.
- Correct anything yourself, or ask us to.
- Delete your house or account in House settings.
- Turn off emails from the link at the bottom of any non-essential email.
Wherever you live, you can ask us what we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it, by emailing [email protected] from your account's email address. We'll answer within 45 days (within one month if you live in the EU or UK). Residents of California and other states with privacy laws, and of the EU and UK under the GDPR, have these rights by law; we give them to everyone.
7. If you live in the EU or UK
Who is responsible. House Lantern, based in Illinois, decides how your information is used (under the GDPR, the "controller"). Reach us at [email protected].
Why we may use it. To run House Lantern for you, because you asked us to (our agreement with you). To keep the service safe, stop spam and fix problems, because we have a legitimate interest in doing so. To send the weekly email and setup notes, also a legitimate interest; you can turn them off any time. If we ever ask for your consent, you can withdraw it any time.
Your rights. You can ask to see, correct, delete or download your information, ask us to limit how we use it, or object to how we use it. You can also complain to your local data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office). Email us first and we'll answer within one month.
Sending it to the United States. House Lantern and the providers in section 3 work in the United States, so your information goes there. We rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK's addendum to them) in our providers' data processing terms to protect it.
How long we keep it. The same as everyone: see section 5.
8. Children
House Lantern is for adults managing a home. You must be 18 or older to use it, and we don't knowingly collect information from children. If you think a child has given us information, email us and we'll delete it.
9. Security
We protect your information with encryption in transit, a database that lets each person see only the houses they belong to, encrypted storage for codes and passwords, and limits on how fast anyone can guess or use the forms. No system is perfectly secure. If we learn of a breach affecting you, we'll tell you promptly, as Illinois law requires.
10. If House Lantern closes or is sold
See the Ownership Promise: at least 90 days' notice and a full download before any shutdown, and any buyer must keep that promise.
11. Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll email account holders at least 30 days before the change takes effect.
12. Contact
[email protected] · House Lantern, Illinois