Privacy policy

WheelOwl is software for pottery studios, operated by ByteZoo Labs UG (haftungsbeschränkt). This privacy policy explains what personal data we process when you visit our website or use the app — and what rights you have.

Data controller

ByteZoo Labs UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Domenica-Niehoff-Twiete 2, 22765 Hamburg, Germany. Managing director: Kai Granaß. For all privacy requests, reach us at wheelowl@bytezoolabs.com.

Our role for studio data

For data a studio enters about its members and customers in WheelOwl (e.g. names, visits, firing charges), or that customers enter themselves through the studio's booking and order forms (e.g. name, e-mail, phone, order details), that studio is the data controller — we process this data on its behalf as a processor. For your user account and the website waitlist, we are the controller ourselves.

If a studio connects its online shop (Shopify, Wix or WooCommerce) or its own Stripe account to WheelOwl, WheelOwl exchanges data with it on the studio's behalf: at payment WheelOwl passes a booking reference to the checkout and receives the payment with its status (with shops, courses are also created as products); only the order or payment reference and the payment status are stored. With Stripe, the studio can also start a refund through WheelOwl. You enter your name, e-mail and payment details yourself in the shop's checkout or with Stripe when you pay. The shop and the Stripe account are services the studio uses under its own responsibility; the privacy notices of the studio and of the respective provider apply to them.

What we collect

We only process the data needed to run WheelOwl:

• Waitlist: if you sign up on the website, we store your email address, language preference, and which form you used. To prove your consent (GDPR Art. 7(1)), we also log the time and IP address of your signup and — after you confirm via the email link — the time and IP address of that confirmation. We only contact you after confirmation. Unconfirmed entries are deleted after 30 days.
• User account: email address, password (stored encrypted by our auth provider), name, and language preference.
• Studio data: what your studio enters in the app — member profiles (name, email, phone), plans, check-in times, firings with pieces and firing charges, monthly statements, plus guest and order data for the firing service.
• Research on pottery studios: from publicly available sources (the studio's website, its Google Maps listing, its booking page) we collect business information about pottery studios — studio name, business address, opening hours, offerings and published prices — to prepare our offer, to make setup easier when a studio signs up, and for aggregated, anonymous market analyses. These studio profiles contain no names of people and no private contact details. The legal basis is our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR); on request we delete the information about a studio.
• Technical: session cookies for login, a cookie for your language choice, and server logs (e.g. IP address) for security and troubleshooting. We do not use third-party analytics or advertising trackers.

Legal bases

We process data only on the following GDPR legal bases:

• Performance of contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR): user-account and studio data needed to provide WheelOwl, including the AI features while the studio uses them.
• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR): the waitlist. You can withdraw consent at any time with effect for the future.
• Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): server logs for the secure and reliable operation of the service and to defend against attacks.

We make no automated decisions within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR. Suggestions from the optional AI features are advisory and always reviewed by a person.

Who processes your data

We only share data with providers we need to run the service:

• Supabase — database, login, and file storage. The infrastructure is located in the EU (Frankfurt).
• Cloudflare — hosting and delivery of the application.
• Resend — sends transactional emails, e.g. “firing finished” notifications, booking confirmations, and monthly statements. Emails to members and customers carry the studio's name as sender; replies go directly to the studio.
• Stripe — handles the WheelOwl subscription (payment method, invoices, VAT calculation). Stripe receives the studio name, the studio owner’s email address, and the billing address and VAT ID where given; card details are entered directly with Stripe and never stored by us. If a studio connects WheelOwl through the Shopify app, the subscription runs through the studio's Shopify invoice instead: Shopify then processes the payment details under the studio's own agreement with Shopify; WheelOwl only receives the chosen plan and the subscription status from Shopify.
• Anthropic — for the AI features: categories and weight from photos of pieces, check-in sheets by photo (including the member name list for matching), mapping CSV columns when importing members, and answers in the help center. Only the content each feature needs is sent to Anthropic. The AI features are switched on for new studios; studio admins can turn them off in the settings at any time.
• Sentry — error monitoring. When a technical error occurs in the app, we send an error report to Sentry (error message, the affected page without access links, browser type, internal user and studio ID) so we can fix it quickly. We do not send names, email addresses, or form contents. Error reports are stored in the EU (Frankfurt).

We never sell data and never share it for advertising.

Data transfers to third countries

Some of our providers are US companies. We safeguard transfers to the USA as follows:

• Cloudflare and Resend are certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (adequacy decision, Art. 45 GDPR); Standard Contractual Clauses apply in addition. Resend dispatches our emails from EU infrastructure (Ireland) but stores service data in the USA.
• Stripe processes subscription data through Stripe Payments Europe Ltd. (Ireland); access by Stripe Inc. (USA) is covered by the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and Standard Contractual Clauses.
• Supabase and Anthropic rely on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46 GDPR). Supabase's infrastructure is in the EU (Frankfurt); the clauses cover any access from outside.
• Sentry (Functional Software, Inc., USA) stores error reports in the EU (Frankfurt); account data and any access from the USA are covered by the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and Standard Contractual Clauses.

How long we keep your data

Data is stored for as long as the account or studio is active. When a member is removed, we delete or overwrite their name, email address, phone number, and profile-picture link, and disconnect the login. Billing records of firings that were already charged and the recipient address of notifications that were already sent remain stored as immutable records (billing and statutory retention). When a studio is deleted, the studio profile and all members are cleaned up the same way.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and objection; you can withdraw any consent at any time with effect for the future. Much of this works directly in the app:

• Data export: members download their own data as a CSV in their settings; studio admins can export an individual member's data.
• Erasure of member data: studio admins remove members from the members page — personal details are cleaned up as described above.
• Account and studio deletion: you can delete your user account in the account settings; studio admins can delete the entire studio in the studio settings.

You can also lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, e.g. the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information.

Contact

Questions about privacy or your rights? Email us at hello@wheelowl.com.