Cortex Privacy Policy

Last Updated: July 26, 2025

Welcome to Cortex. The Cortex application and related services ("Service") are provided by the individual developers known as Vertex ("we," "us," or "our"). This Privacy Policy explains the specific data practices for the Cortex Service and supplements the general Vertex Privacy Policy, which applies to the entire Vertex ecosystem.

This document should be read in conjunction with the general Vertex policy and our Cortex Terms of Service. By using the Service, you acknowledge and agree to the data practices described in these documents. An account created for Cortex is a unified Vertex Account, usable across our ecosystem of apps and games.

A) Information We Collect

We collect information in a few different ways to provide and improve our services:

Information You Provide Directly: To create and manage your Vertex Account, we collect your username, email address, and a password.
User-Created Model Data: When you create a custom AI character or model, we collect the configuration data you provide (such as the model's name, description, and system prompt). This information is used solely for a one-time, automated safety review during the creation process and is not stored on our servers afterward.
Information from Third-Party Services (e.g., Google Sign-In): You may have the option to create or access your account through a third-party service like Google. When you do so, you authorize us to receive certain information from that service's platform. This may include your name, email address, profile picture, and a unique identifier associated with your account. We use this information to create and populate your Vertex Account. The specific information we receive is determined by your privacy settings on that service and the permissions you grant during the sign-in process.
Subscription and Payment Information: If you subscribe to a paid tier or purchase digital goods like Credits, all financial transactions are processed directly by an app store platform (e.g., the Google Play Store). We do not collect or store your sensitive payment details, such as full credit card numbers.
To validate and fulfill your purchase, the app store provides us with specific transaction data. This includes a unique transaction ID (e.g., Google Play Order ID), a purchase token for verification, the specific product ID you purchased, and the timestamp of the transaction. We link this information to your user ID for the sole purposes of:
- Verifying the payment with the app store to prevent fraud.
- Adding the purchased credits or subscription benefits to your account.
- Assisting you with customer support if there are any issues with your purchase.
This data is essential for managing your in-app purchases and is never used for advertising, profiling, or any other purpose.
Conversation Data: This includes your prompts and AI responses. The handling of this data is strictly determined by your choice of an online or offline model.
Technical and Device Information: To ensure our service runs securely and correctly, we or our partners (like Firebase) automatically collect technical data when you connect to the Service. This includes your IP address, device type and identifiers, operating system version, and crash reports. This information is fundamental for security, bug fixing, and enabling core application features.
Usage and Interaction Data: To understand, improve, and secure our Service, we collect data about your interaction with the application's features. For instance, to manage service resources and prevent abuse, we track metrics associated with your account, such as your current credit balance, the number of characters generated, or requests made. This information is essential to operate our "pay-as-you-go" credit system for online models. Similarly, we record the timestamp of model creations to prevent abuse of the feature. This interaction data is used for our internal analytics to identify usage trends and enhance user experience. It is processed in a pseudonymous manner and is never used by Vertex for advertising or to personally identify you. This data may be shared with our analytics partners like Google Firebase, who may use it in accordance with their own privacy policies. This data is always kept separate from the content of your private conversations.

B) How We Use and Share Information

We use the information we collect primarily to provide, maintain, and secure our services. This includes authentication, enabling features, and communicating with you. More specifically:

1. Offline Models: Privacy and Safety

When you use an offline model, we are committed to providing the highest level of privacy. However, to ensure a safe user experience, we have implemented a hybrid approach:

Core Conversation Privacy: The core processing of your conversation data (your prompts and the AI's responses) happens entirely on your own device. This sensitive content is never transmitted to our servers or any third-party.
On-Device Safety Moderation: To prevent the generation of harmful content even in offline mode, the app periodically connects to Google Firebase (when an internet connection is available) to download an updated set of moderation rules (e.g., a list of prohibited words or patterns).
- This connection only fetches the safety rules; it does not transmit the content of your private conversations.
- The actual safety check is then performed locally on your device using these downloaded rules.

This approach allows us to ensure a secure and responsible environment while keeping the content of your personal conversations private and on your device.

2. Online Model Data Flow and Moderation

When you use an online model, your data (prompts and images) undergoes a multi-step process designed for safety and functionality. This same safety-first approach also applies when you create a new custom AI model.

Step 1: Automated Safety Review: Your content—whether it's a conversation prompt or the configuration data for a new model you are creating—is first sent to our partners, such as OpenAI (GPT-4o and Moderation models), for an automated check against their safety policies. This is a crucial step to filter out inappropriate or harmful content before it is processed further.
Step 2: Secure Relay to AI Provider: Content that passes the safety review is then securely relayed through our infrastructure on Cloudflare to OpenRouter, which routes it to the final AI provider you selected (e.g., Anthropic, Google).
Our Data Handling Promise: Our system is designed as a secure relay. We do not permanently store the content of your conversations, images, or model configurations on our servers after the request is completed. The primary purpose of this flow is to provide the service securely and safely.
Third-Party Responsibility: Your data is subject to the privacy policies of Cloudflare, OpenAI, OpenRouter, and the final AI provider. We strongly advise you to review their policies to understand how they handle your data.

3. The Vertex Ecosystem and Data Separation

Your Vertex Account allows for a seamless experience across our products. However, we maintain strict data separation. Your activity, conversations, and technical data from Cortex are never used to track you or personalize your experience (e.g., show ads) in other Vertex apps or games.

4. Handling of User Reports and Content Moderation

To ensure the safety and integrity of our Service, we provide an in-app tool for you to report content you believe violates our policies. When you submit a report, we collect specific data for the sole purpose of investigating the issue, enforcing our Terms of Service, and improving our AI safety mechanisms. The information we collect includes:

Reported Content (messageText): The full text of the AI-generated message you are reporting. We may also collect a few preceding messages from the conversation to provide essential context for our review.
Your Feedback (description & subject): This includes the report category you select from the provided options (the 'subject') and any additional text or description you choose to provide.
Account Information (reporterUid): Your unique user identifier. We require this to process the report, to prevent spam or abuse of the reporting system, and to maintain the integrity of our moderation process.
Technical Details (modelId & timestamp): The identifier of the AI model that generated the content and the precise timestamp of when the report was submitted. This helps us identify and resolve issues with specific models or at specific times.

This data is handled with strict confidentiality and is used exclusively for content moderation and service improvement. It is never used for advertising, user profiling, or any other purpose unrelated to maintaining a safe and functional environment.

C) Your Rights and Data Control

You are in full control of your data.

Choice of Privacy: You can always choose offline models for maximum privacy.
Right to Deletion: You can permanently delete your entire Vertex Account and all associated data. To do so, please fill out the data deletion form at: vertexishere.com/delete-data.

D) Transparency and Open Source

We are committed to full transparency. The Cortex application is open source. We encourage you to review our code on GitHub to see exactly how your data is handled.

GitHub Project: https://github.com/VertexCorporation/Cortex

E) Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed to or intended for use by individuals under the age of 13. In alignment with our Google Play Store target audience declaration, we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take immediate steps to delete that information from our systems. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can take action.

F) Security

We and our partners use industry-standard security measures. However, no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

G) Limitation of Liability

Cortex integrates with essential third-party services to function, including but not limited to, Cloudflare, Google Firebase, OpenAI, and OpenRouter. We select our partners carefully and implement industry-standard security measures to protect the data we handle. However, we do not control the internal data practices or security of these third parties. Their handling of your data is governed by their own respective privacy policies.

While we strive to work with reputable partners, you acknowledge that using services that rely on a chain of providers carries inherent risks. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of our key partners to make an informed decision. By using our service, you understand and accept that the ultimate responsibility for data security within a third-party's platform lies with that provider.

H) Changes to This Privacy Policy

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace this Privacy Policy at any time. We will indicate any changes by updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this Policy. For any significant changes, we will provide a more prominent notice, such as through an in-app notification or by sending an email to the address associated with your account. Your continued use of our Service following the posting of any changes constitutes acceptance of those changes.

I) Contact Us

For any questions, concerns, or feedback, please contact us:

Email: [email protected]
Website: vertexishere.com