Privacy Policy

Last Updated: August 16, 2026

CertLynx is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights as a user of our platform.

Information We Collect

  • Account Information: When you sign up, we collect your name, email address, and password.
  • Profile Details: You may choose to add information such as a profile photo, bio, or certification interests.
  • Usage Data: We collect information about how you use CertLynx, such as pages visited and actions taken.
  • Cookies: We use cookies for authentication, session management, and UI preferences. See our Cookie Policy for details.

How We Use Your Information

  • To provide and improve our services
  • To personalize your experience
  • To communicate with you about your account or updates
  • To maintain the security and integrity of the platform

Advertising on CertLynx

CertLynx may display advertisements for certification-related products or services within the platform. These ads are managed and served directly by CertLynx and are not provided by third-party ad networks. We may use information such as your certification interests or activity on CertLynx to show relevant ads, but we do not share your personal information with external advertisers. Ad performance (such as impressions, clicks, and engagement) may be tracked to help advertisers understand the effectiveness of their campaigns. No third-party tracking or behavioral advertising is used.

Security, Device Fingerprinting, and Phone Verification

To protect the CertLynx community and maintain the integrity of our platform, we use device fingerprinting and phone verification. Device fingerprinting helps us detect and prevent repeat offenders from creating new accounts after being banned or suspended. Phone verification may be required for certain actions or account types to ensure authenticity and prevent abuse. These measures are used solely for security and anti-abuse purposes and are not shared with third parties.

SMS / Text Messaging Program

CertLynx offers an SMS text messaging program to send transactional and account-related messages to users who provide their mobile number and opt in. Messages may include one-time phone verification codes, certification study reminders, and tutor session and booking updates.

  • Consent: You opt in by entering your mobile number and checking the SMS consent box during registration, or by enabling text messages in Settings → Notifications. Consent to receive text messages is not a condition of purchasing any goods or services.
  • Message frequency & rates: Message frequency varies based on your activity. Message and data rates may apply, depending on your mobile carrier and plan.
  • Opt-out: You can opt out at any time by replying STOP to any message, or by turning off text messages in Settings → Notifications. Reply HELP for help.
  • No sharing of mobile opt-in data: We do not sell, rent, or share your mobile phone number or SMS opt-in consent with any third parties or affiliates for their marketing or promotional purposes. Phone numbers are shared only with our SMS delivery provider (Twilio) solely to transmit the messages you have requested.

Lynx (AI Study Companion) & Third-Party AI Processing

CertLynx offers Lynx — an AI study companion that uses your camera, microphone, and chat messages to provide personalized study support. The following disclosures apply when you use this feature.

  • Facial Expression Analysis: When you enable the Full Experience mode, your device camera is accessed locally and processed in your browser using TensorFlow.js-powered models (face-api.js). No video or image data is transmitted to CertLynx servers or any third party. Detected emotion labels (e.g., happy, neutral, sad) are used only within your current session to inform AI responses and are not permanently stored.
  • Voice & Speech Processing: When you enable the Full Experience mode, your microphone is accessed to detect voice energy and pitch locally in your browser. If your browser supports the Web Speech API (e.g., Chrome), spoken words may be transcribed to text by your browser's built-in speech recognition service. In Chrome, this transcription is processed by Google's servers. This is a function of your browser, not CertLynx. Please refer to Google's Privacy Policy for details on how browser speech recognition data is handled. No raw audio is transmitted to CertLynx servers.
  • AI Chat & OpenAI: Your chat messages, along with a contextual summary of your detected emotional state and session data, are sent to OpenAI's API to generate Lynx responses. This data is processed by OpenAI in accordance with their API Data Usage Policy. Raw video, audio recordings, and biometric identifiers are never transmitted to OpenAI. Under OpenAI's current API data usage policy, data submitted via the API is not used to train OpenAI models by default.
  • Session Data Storage: Lynx session data — including chat message history, emotion log summaries, and session duration — is stored securely in CertLynx's database and associated with your account. This data is used to personalize future Lynx sessions.
  • Data Deletion: You may request deletion of your Lynx session history at any time by contacting support@certlynx.com or via the in-session data controls. Deletion requests are processed in accordance with applicable data protection law including GDPR and CCPA.

Your Rights

  • You can update or delete your profile information at any time
  • You can request deletion of your account by contacting support
  • You can manage cookie preferences in your browser settings

For questions or requests regarding your privacy, please contact us at support@certlynx.com.