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Security

How we protect your documents

The practical detail behind “documents are deleted automatically” — what we encrypt, who can access what, and what we deliberately don't do.

Last updated 2 August 2026

The short version

  • If you use Explain This without an account, your document and any extracted text are automatically deleted — generally within 48 hours.
  • If you create an account (by purchasing credits), your documents and explanations are kept so you can revisit them from your dashboard — you can delete any of them yourself, anytime.
  • Traffic to and from Explain This is encrypted (HTTPS/TLS) end-to-end.
  • We never use uploaded documents to train AI models.
  • We never see or store your full payment card details — that's handled by a PCI-compliant payment processor.
  • Found a security issue? Email us — we take reports seriously.

1. Encryption in transit and at rest

All connections to Explain This are encrypted using HTTPS/TLS. Documents and data stored on our systems, however briefly, are encrypted at rest.

2. Automatic document deletion

If you use Explain This without creating an account, the original file or pasted text you submit, and any text we extract from it, is automatically and permanently deleted from our active production systems — generally within 48 hours of your explanation being generated, usually much sooner. Backups are retained only briefly for disaster-recovery purposes and are purged on a rolling schedule; we don't keep indefinite backups of uploaded documents.

If you create an account (by purchasing document credits), your documents and explanations are instead kept so you can revisit them from your account dashboard. You can permanently delete any document yourself at any time from there, and doing so removes the original file and extracted text the same way.

3. Access controls

Access to production systems, and to any data held on them, is restricted to people who need it to operate the Service, follows least-privilege principles, and is logged.

4. How AI processing works

When we generate your explanation, its content is sent securely to the AI provider(s) we use, solely to produce your result. We choose providers with strict data-handling commitments and do not permit content you submit to be used to train their models. We don't manually read your documents ourselves, except where necessary to investigate a specific support request or suspected abuse or fraud, and only with appropriate safeguards.

5. Payment security

Payments are handled entirely by a PCI-DSS-compliant third-party payment processor. We never see, transmit, or store your full card number, expiry date or security code on our own systems.

6. No guarantee of absolute security

Despite these measures, no method of electronic storage or transmission is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee the absolute security of information transmitted to or stored by the Service. You transmit information at your own risk.

7. Reporting a vulnerability

If you believe you've found a security vulnerability, email support@explainthiss.com with details. Please act in good faith, avoid accessing or modifying data that isn't yours, and give us a reasonable time to investigate and respond before disclosing publicly.

8. Related policies

See our Privacy Policy for what we collect and why, and our Terms of Service for the full agreement covering your use of the Service.