Privacy policy

Tier1Settings ("we", "us") runs tier1settings.com and publishes the Tier1Suite, Tier1Timer and Tier1Stretch apps for Windows. This page explains what we collect, why, who we share it with and the choices you have. You don't need an account to read the site or use the free apps.

On this website

Server logs

Our site and downloads are hosted on Amazon Web Services. Like almost every web host, it keeps standard access logs: your IP address, the page or file requested, the time, your browser type and the page that linked you here. We use these logs to count visits and downloads and to keep the site secure.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand which pages are read and which links are clicked. Google Analytics sets cookies and receives your IP address, browser and device details. You can block it with Google's opt-out browser add-on or any content blocker.

Advertising

Some pages may show ads served by Google AdSense. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.

• You can opt out of personalized advertising in Google's Ads Settings.
• You can opt out of other third-party vendors' use of cookies for personalized advertising at aboutads.info.
• Learn more about how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

If you visit from the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland, you'll be asked for consent before personalized ads are shown, and you can say no.

Affiliate links

Some pages link to retailers through affiliate programs. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy after clicking such a link we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. The retailer may set its own cookies when you click; its privacy policy applies on its site.

Page tests

We sometimes test different layouts of a page. Which version you see is picked at random and saved in your browser's local storage so it stays the same between visits, and a small request records which version was shown. It contains no personal details.

Newsletter

If you sign up, we store your email address to send you the newsletter. You can ask us to remove it at any time through the contact page.

Contact form

Messages you send through the contact form, including your name and email address, are emailed to us so we can reply.

Purchases

Pro purchases are processed by Stripe. We receive your email address and order details, never your card number, and we use your email address to send your licence key and help with your purchase. Stripe handles payment data under its own privacy policy.

In the apps

Update checks

The apps check tier1settings.com for updates when they start. As with any web request, our host logs your IP address and the app version.

Anonymous usage data (optional)

With your permission, the apps send anonymous usage events (for example "a fix was applied") to our own server, tagged with a random install ID that isn't derived from you or your hardware. Some apps also send these events to Google Analytics. You can turn this off at any time; it doesn't change which features you can use.

Licences

When you activate Pro, the app sends your licence key and a random ID for that install to our server so we can check the licence and limit how many PCs it's active on.

Feedback

Feedback you choose to send from an app is stored on our server so we can read it.

AI Coach (Tier1Suite)

When the AI Coach explains a scan, a summary of the scan results and your hardware model names (for example the graphics card model and amount of memory) are sent to our server and passed to an AI model provider through OpenRouter to write the explanation. No name, email address, file paths or other identifying details are included.

In the ChatGPT plugin

The Tier1Settings plugin lets ChatGPT look up our guides. When ChatGPT calls it, our server receives only what the tool needs: the type of problem, the game name, and any short keywords ChatGPT passes along (for example "after a driver update"). It doesn't receive your conversation, your account, your name or your PC details. We don't store those requests. We keep a short log line per request saying which tool ran and which problem type and game were asked about, with no IP address or identifier, and it's deleted automatically after about a month. Links the plugin returns carry a utm_source=chatgpt-plugin tag so we can count visits that came from it, and then the website section above applies. OpenAI handles your conversation under its own privacy policy.

Who we share data with

We don't sell your personal information. We share data only with the services that run the site and apps — Amazon Web Services (hosting, email and storage), Google (analytics and advertising), Stripe (payments), OpenRouter and its model providers (AI Coach) and OpenAI (when you use the ChatGPT plugin, which runs inside ChatGPT) — and when the law requires it.

How long we keep it

• Anonymous app usage data: about 13 months, then it's deleted automatically.
• Newsletter email addresses: until you ask us to remove them.
• Licence and purchase records: as long as the licence is valid and as required for tax and accounting.
• Server logs, contact messages and feedback: only as long as they're useful for the purposes above.

Your choices and rights

You can ask us what we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it, through the contact page. Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the EEA and UK, or US state privacy laws), you may have further rights, such as objecting to processing or complaining to your local data protection authority. Anonymous usage data isn't linked to you, so we usually can't find it from your name or email address.

Children

Tier1Settings is not directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them.

Changes

We'll update this page when what we collect changes, and change the date at the top.