Privacy Policy

Last updated · 18 August 2026

This policy explains how Pointnode Limited, trading as Pointnode ("Pointnode", "we", "us"), handles personal data when you visit our website, contact us or use the Pointnode platform. The platform supports industrial assets of any type. The separate craneIQ iOS app is a mobile client for lifting-equipment workflows.

It is written in plain English. If anything is unclear, email privacy@pointnode.io.

1. Who is responsible for your data

Pointnode is a B2B platform used by asset owners, operators, service providers and inspection organisations. Our role depends on why the data is being used:

• Customer content. The organisation that controls the relevant workspace or asset is normally the Controller. Pointnode is its Processor for user accounts, inspections, work orders, defects, technical files, activity records and other data handled on its instructions under our Data Processing Agreement.
• Pointnode business data. Pointnode is an independentController for demo enquiries, customer relationship and billing contacts, our own staff accounts, security and abuse-prevention records, and the handling of privacy requests and complaints.
• Connected service providers. An asset-owning organisation may grant a service or inspection organisation access to selected sites and assets. Each organisation is responsible for its own legal role and purpose. A provider may be a separate Controller for professional records it creates or must retain, while Pointnode remains Processor for platform hosting. Access is limited by the grants configured in the platform and can be revoked.

If your employer, customer or service provider added your data, contacting that organisation is usually the quickest route. You can also use our privacy request form; we will handle the request where Pointnode is Controller or route it to the appropriate Controller where we act as Processor.

Pointnode contact details

• Pointnode Limited, registered in England and Wales (Company No. 13338758). Registered office: Kingsland House, 39 Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY2 6BL. VAT registration number GB 381 6752 73.
• Privacy queries: privacy@pointnode.io
• Registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), registration reference ZC156059.

2. What personal data we process

For Customer accounts (Pointnode as Processor)

• User profile: display name, email address, role assignment within the Customer organisation, hashed password (we never see plaintext).
• Activity: timestamps of logins, configuration changes, lockout issue/release actions, asset record submissions (including pre-use safety checks).
• Asset records: inspection, service, and safety records filed against a specific asset. Depending on the asset and Customer configuration, this can include statutory examinations, maintenance, pre-use checks and ad-hoc reports. A record may include the submitting user, asset, person who performed the work, qualification reference, outcome, findings, signatures, photographs and attached evidence.
• Defects, work orders and visits: defect descriptions and risk state; quote or approval references; planned dates; assigned engineers; job notes; time, parts and components used; completion evidence; customer acknowledgement; review and acceptance decisions.
• Organisation and service-provider connections: which organisations are connected, the sites and assets included in a grant, who approved it, permitted capabilities, and grant/revocation dates.
• Lock-out / tag-out (LOTO) records: who locked out which asset, when, and why.
• Notification preferences: which alerts you want, on which channels.
• Push-notification devices: an app-specific Apple push token, environment and registration status where you enable iOS push notifications. Alert title and message content are sent to Apple for delivery to your device.
• Documents you upload to the document vault: manuals, drawings, PLC documentation, datasheets and similar files attached to an asset. These do not normally contain personal data, but may incidentally do so where you choose to upload a document that includes it. Used to power the optional document-vault search described in Section 9.
• Free-text questions submitted to AI features: the questions you type into the optional AI Engineer assistant. These are processed to generate a response and are covered by Section 9.

Telemetry from assets (not personal data, with caveats)

The bulk of data on the platform is operational telemetry from the monitored assets (load, cycle counts, temperatures, levels, fault codes, etc.). This is machine data, not personal data. It only becomes personal data when correlated with operator activity through the audit log (e.g. "operator X started a session on asset Y at time Z"). Telemetry reaches us from more than one kind of source, but lands in the same place and is treated the same way:

• On-asset PLCs: controllers on higher-capability assets publish telemetry over an encrypted MQTT connection.
• Connected-lite wireless sensors: for assets that will never carry a PLC (tanks, pumps, pressure vessels, HVAC, galvanizing baths, switchgear, and similar), the Customer may fit a low-power wireless sensor — typically LoRaWAN, or Bluetooth in future — whose readings reach the platform through a LoRaWAN Network Server (the "LNS", listed as a sub-processor). Alongside the readings we store limited device metadata for each fitted device: its radio identifier (for example a LoRaWAN DevEUI or a Bluetooth MAC address), last-seen time, battery level, and signal strength. This is equipment data, not personal data.

Command / actuation data (optional interlock feature)

Where a Customer opts in to the optional wireless start-inhibit interlock, the platform can send an outbound command to a wireless relay fitted to an asset — enabling or inhibiting the asset's start command based on whether a pre-use safety check has been passed. We record the command issued (enable / inhibit), the time, the identity of the person or automated rule that triggered it, the relay's reported contact state, and any use of the operator override. This record is kept as part of the audit trail (and can be correlated with the operator who filed the underlying pre-use check, so it may be personal data on that basis). The interlock is an administrative / procedural control that is always physically operator-overridable; it is not a functional-safety device (see the Terms of Service).

Profile contact details

• Phone number (user_profiles.phone) where you choose to add one to your profile. Used for out-of-band identity verification when you contact support (for example, when recovering access after losing your second-factor device).
• Job title (user_profiles.job_title) where you choose to add one. Helps your org admin and Pointnode staff understand who they are speaking to in a multi-person team. Lawful basis is explained in Section 3.

Support tickets and help-centre feedback

• Support tickets and conversation history: when you raise a support request via /support/new, we store the subject line, the message body, any attachments you upload, the assigned ticket number (PN-YYYY-NNNN), category, priority, status, and the threaded follow-up messages between you and Pointnode staff. Visible to authorised members of your organisation and to Pointnode staff who need it to provide support.
• Help-content feedback: when you click "Was this article helpful?" on a /help/<slug> page, we record your vote (yes/no) and any optional free-text feedback against your user account and organisation. Used to prioritise content improvements. Lawful basis: legitimate interest (product improvement).

Integration credentials (where you choose to use them)

• Outgoing webhook configuration: the destination URL you configure, the event types you subscribe to, and the HMAC signing secret for each webhook. The cleartext secret is shown only through a short-lived one-shot reveal mechanism.
• API tokens: long-lived bearer credentials you mint for programmatic access. We store a one-way hash of the token value (we never see the cleartext after creation), the token name + scope, the creator's user identity, and last-used timestamp.

Multi-factor authentication state

• Authenticator-app enrolment: the record that your MFA is enabled, the date you enrolled, and the status of the factor. The shared secret stored on your phone is held by our authentication provider; we do not see it in cleartext.
• Recovery codes: ten one-shot backup codes generated for you when you enrol MFA, stored only as one-way hashes (we cannot read the original code once it’s saved). The presence of a row and its used_at timestamp records that MFA is active and which codes have been redeemed.

Technical data

• Session: a sign-in cookie that keeps you signed in.
• Device: browser type and IP address appear in standard server logs for security and abuse prevention. We do not maintain a separate analytics IP database.
• Error diagnostics: where error monitoring is enabled, an account UUID, request URL, browser details, HTTP status, exception stack and environment fingerprint may be sent to Sentry. Session replay and performance tracing are disabled, and email-shaped values are hashed or scrubbed before transmission.
• Cookies: see Section 10.

Website, demo and business-contact data

• Demo enquiries: your name, work email, organisation, role, approximate estate size and anything you ask us to focus on.
• Customer relationship and billing contacts: name, work email, role, organisation, order and invoice information, support history and contractual correspondence.
• Privacy requests and complaints: the contact details, request category, message, identity-verification correspondence and our investigation and response record.

Where the data comes from

We receive personal data directly from you; from your employer or an organisation administrator; from a customer or service provider that has invited or assigned you; from records, photographs and documents users upload; from connected assets and devices; and from the hosting, security, email, payment and authentication services used to operate Pointnode.

3. Why we process it (lawful basis)

For Customer content, Pointnode acts on the Controller's documented instructions. The Controller decides and records its lawful basis. Depending on the workflow, that may include a legal obligation, performance of a contract, or legitimate interests in operating, maintaining and evidencing the safety of its assets.

Where Pointnode acts as Controller for its own business activities, we use the following bases. "Contract" applies only where the individual is a party to that contract; for corporate customer contacts we normally rely on legitimate interests instead.

4. Who we share it with (sub-processors)

We do not sell personal data and we do not share it with anyone other than authorised users and connected organisations within the access scope set by the Controller, the sub-processors listed at /legal/sub-processors and their authorised sub-processors, professional advisers, or a regulator or law-enforcement body where disclosure is legally required. Each platform sub-processor is engaged under written terms that include the data-protection obligations required for the service it provides.

Customers are notified at least 30 days before any new sub-processor is added and may object before the change takes effect.

5. International transfers

Core database storage is configured in the EEA. Some providers process limited data in the United States or through global infrastructure. For a restricted transfer, we use an available adequacy route or appropriate safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, together with the required data-protection test or transfer risk assessment and supplementary measures. Transfers from the EEA to Pointnode in the UK can currently rely on the EU's UK adequacy decision. See the sub-processor list for provider details.

6. How long we keep it

At the end of the contract with a Customer, we return or delete the Customer's personal data within 30 days as set out in the DPA, unless the Customer instructs us to retain or return it differently, or law requires Pointnode to keep a limited record. Provider backups may take a short additional period to age out and remain protected while they do.

7. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access a copy of your personal data. Org admins can export their organisation's data via Settings → Organisation → Export organisation data; for individual access requests, contact your Customer first or email us.
• Rectification: ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• Erasure ("right to be forgotten") and account deletion: you can delete your own account at any time. In the Cloud dashboard, go to Settings → Account → Delete account; in the craneIQ iOS app, use the equivalent in-app "Delete account" control. You can also use our privacy request form. Self-service deletion removes memberships, notification subscriptions, profile contact details and active API tokens, disables the sign-in, replaces the account email with a non-replayable tombstone and labels linked history as "Deleted user". A non-identifying profile key and records already filed against an asset may remain so that evidence, signatures and audit references are not silently rewritten. We assess each request against the Controller's instructions and any applicable exemption, including a legal obligation or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. The exemption and retention period are record-specific; Pointnode does not apply a blanket lifting-equipment period to every asset. A sole organisation administrator must appoint another administrator or ask us to transfer the organisation before self-service deletion can complete.
• Portability: receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format (we provide JSON).
• Restriction: ask us to pause processing while a dispute is resolved.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interest.
• Withdraw consent at any time, where any processing is based on your consent. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
• Make a complaint using our privacy request and complaint form. We acknowledge privacy complaints within 30 days, investigate them, keep you informed where appropriate and respond without undue delay. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113 without contacting us first.

Rights are not absolute and the applicable response period can depend on the request and our role. We normally respond to a rights request within one month after receiving it and any information reasonably needed to verify identity. We will explain any extension, refusal or exemption.

8. Security

Technical and organisational measures we apply:

• Customer data is encrypted in transit over supported service connections using TLS 1.2 or higher or an equivalent secure transport.
• Customer data is isolated at the database level using row-level access policies, with application permission checks providing an additional layer.
• The audit log is append-only during normal operation: past entries are not editable, and deletion is restricted to the controlled retention process.
• Directly connected MQTT assets use a credential scoped to that asset. Certificate-based connections use a unique client certificate that can be revoked without affecting other assets.
• Per-organisation rate limits on write actions and outbound email.
• Internal admin credentials are held server-side only and never exposed to browsers or controllers.
• Provider-managed encryption at rest for the database, files and supported infrastructure services.
• Security headers on Pointnode application responses, including HSTS, Content-Security-Policy, frame protection and referrer policy.
• Multi-factor authentication available on every account.

Technical detail for your security team: see our public security overview page and the Annex 3 (Security Measures) of our DPA.

9. Automated processing and AI features

Pointnode offers an optional set of AI features, marketed as the Asset Intelligence add-on. These are:

• Asset briefings: plain-English narratives summarising an asset's health, condition trends and risk.
• AI Engineer: a conversational assistant you can ask reliability and maintenance questions about an asset or your fleet.
• Document-vault search: search across manuals, drawings and other documents uploaded to an asset, so the AI Engineer can point you to the relevant passage.

What data is sent, and to whom

To generate this analysis we send a bounded amount of context to two AI sub-processors, both in the United States and both engaged under the EU Standard Contractual Clauses / UK International Data Transfer Agreement (see the sub-processor list):

• Anthropic PBC (the "Claude" models) powers the briefings and the AI Engineer. We send asset telemetry summaries and trends, condition and health signals, event and defect descriptions, compliance status, and the free-text questions users type into the AI Engineer. Anthropic does not train its models on data submitted through its commercial API.
• Voyage AI (MongoDB, Inc.) powers document-vault search. We send the text extracted from documents you upload to an asset's document vault so it can be turned into a searchable numeric index (an embedding).

We do not send payment data or account credentials. Asset context is minimised before transmission, but defect text, questions and uploaded documents can contain personal data if a user includes it. Customers should avoid placing special-category data or credentials in AI questions or documents. This processing is separate from Pointnode's own engineering use of AI tooling, which does not touch production Customer data.

When these features run

The per-asset AI features (an asset's briefing, and the AI Engineer scoped to a single asset) require the paid Asset Intelligence add-on to be enabled for that asset. No asset context is sent to Anthropic or Voyage for an asset that does not have the add-on switched on. Certain fleet-level features — for example a fleet-wide briefing or a fleet-scoped AI Engineer available to an organisation's administrators — run only where the organisation-level Asset Intelligence entitlement is enabled, whether or not every individual asset carries a legacy per-asset add-on.

Automated decision-making

These features are advisory and human-in-the-loop. They produce analysis and suggestions about equipment for a person to review and act on; they do not make automated decisions, and they do not produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning an individual. Accordingly, they do not constitute solely automated decision-making under UK GDPR Article 22. AI-generated output can be incomplete or wrong and must not be relied on as a substitute for a competent person's judgement or a statutory inspection.

10. Cookies

We use essential, strictly-necessary cookies only — no advertising, analytics, or tracking cookies — so no consent banner is required under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). Every cookie we set is first-party and needed for the service to function or to keep it secure. They fall into these categories:

• Authentication / session: the sign-in cookies (Supabase sb-*) that keep you signed in and refresh your session safely.
• Security re-authentication: short-lived cookies that record a recent successful sign-in ("sudo mode") so we can require a fresh check before sensitive actions.
• One-shot credential reveal: short-lived cookies used to display a sensitive value exactly once — a device certificate bundle, an API token, or a webhook signing secret — and then cleared.
• UI preferences: your interface choices, such as whether the sidebar is collapsed and the monitoring viewport size.
• Billing state: a short-lived cookie that clears a stale billing-status cache so your organisation's access reflects its current subscription.
• Staff "view-as" context: an internal cookie used by Pointnode staff when providing support.

You can clear cookies in your browser settings; you will need to sign in again afterwards.

11. Children

Pointnode is a workplace tool intended for adults using or managing industrial equipment. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18.

12. Personal data breaches

If a personal data breach occurs that is likely to result in a risk to rights and freedoms, we will:

• Notify each affected Customer (Controller) within 48 hours of becoming aware, per our DPA Section 7, so they can fulfil their own breach-notification duties to data subjects.
• Notify the UK Information Commissioner's Office without undue delay and within 72 hours where required by UK GDPR Article 33, for breaches concerning personal data for which Pointnode is the Controller.

Where Pointnode is acting as Processor, the affected Customer (Controller) is responsible for any onward notification to the ICO and to data subjects.

13. Changes to this policy

The current version is always at this URL with a "Last updated" date at the top. We will highlight material changes through the service or by direct notice where reasonably possible and where our contract or the law requires it. Sub-processor changes follow the notice process in the DPA.

14. Contact

Submit a request or complaint through our privacy request form, or email privacy@pointnode.io. Pointnode has not formally appointed a Data Protection Officer because we do not currently consider the Article 37 thresholds to be met. The privacy contact is responsible for escalating data-protection matters to senior management.
Pointnode Limited, registered in England and Wales (Company No. 13338758). Registered office: Kingsland House, 39 Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY2 6BL.