Last updated: 27 July 2026
Synaptate is built to be private by default. It is a desktop application that runs on your computer and stores your work locally. The short version: we don't collect your research, your files, or your annotations, because they never leave your machine. The detail is below.
Everything you create in Synaptate is stored locally on your computer:
None of this is uploaded to us or to any third party. There is no Synaptate account, no sign-in, and no cloud sync of your library. If you delete the application and its data folder, that data is gone from your machine and it was never anywhere else.
Synaptate works offline. It reaches the internet only when you actively use a feature that needs external data, and only to the service that feature names:
These requests contain only what the feature needs to work — for example, a search term, a DOI, or an accession number. They do not include your notes, your annotations, or your library. If you never use these features, Synaptate makes no network requests at all.
The welcome screen shows a public-domain image from the history of science. Eight of them ship inside the app and that is all it uses by default — no request is made. If you switch the setting to "Bundled + online", Synaptate draws from a wider curated list of public-domain works: at most one image a day, each cached on your computer so it is never requested twice, and the request carries no search term and nothing about you or your library. You can set it back to "Bundled only", or turn the artwork off, in Settings at any time.
Nothing. Synaptate contains no analytics, no telemetry, no tracking, and no advertising identifiers. We do not know who you are, what you read, or how you use the app, and we have designed it so that we cannot.
This website (synaptate.com) is a set of static pages hosted by a third-party hosting provider. Standard server logs (such as IP addresses and requested pages) may be recorded by that provider for security and operational purposes. This website sets no advertising or tracking cookies. It loads a web font from Google Fonts; if you prefer, your browser can be configured to block that request without affecting the site's function.
If you email us (for example at hello@synaptate.com), we receive your message and email address so we can reply. We use it only to respond to you and do not add you to any marketing list without your consent.
When you use an online feature, your request is handled by that third party under their own privacy terms — for example PubMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine), bioRxiv, Crossref, UniProt, NCBI, PubChem, the RCSB Protein Data Bank, PubPeer, Retraction Watch, and — for the optional welcome-screen artwork — Wellcome Collection and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We do not control those services and encourage you to review their policies if you have questions about how they handle requests.
Synaptate is a tool for researchers and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children.
If Synaptate ever adds a feature that changes how data is handled — for example an optional account or sync — we will update this policy and note the change here before that feature is enabled by default. The "last updated" date at the top always reflects the current version.
Questions about privacy? Email hello@synaptate.com.