Privacy & Content Policy
Last updated: 2025-07-29
Welcome to vlogtube.app ("VlogTube," "we," "our," or "us"). Your privacy—and the rights of the YouTube creators whose work we study—matters. This page explains:
Contents
- 1. What data we collect & why
- 2. How we handle cookies and analytics
- 3. How user recordings are stored
- 4. Who owns the videos & subtitles
- 5. Your choices and contact options
1. What We Collect 🗂️
| Data Type | When It's Collected | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Account basics (e-mail, password hash) | When you create an account | Sign-in & password resets |
| Progress data (which lines you've viewed, quiz scores) | While you study | Resume lessons, tailor spaced-repetition intervals |
| Audio recordings (optional) | When you use pronunciation challenges | Provide waveform & pitch-accent feedback |
| Usage analytics (page views, device type) | Via privacy-friendly Plausible.io | Improve site speed & lesson design |
We do not collect location-level GPS data, contact lists, or payment-card numbers (all payments run through Stripe).
2. Cookies & Local Storage 🍪
- Essential cookies – keep you logged in and store language-display preferences.
- Analytics cookies – anonymised counts only; no cross-site tracking or ad pixels.
- Local storage – saves "last watched timestamp" so a video restarts where you left off.
You can disable non-essential cookies in Settings → Privacy without breaking the core study features.
3. User Recordings 🔊
Pronunciation clips you record stay on our servers for 30 days, encrypted at rest (AES-256). After that, they're permanently erased by an automated cron job. You can also delete them immediately via Dashboard → My Recordings.
4. Content Ownership & Fair-Use Policy 📜
- All videos on VlogTube are embedded directly from YouTube via the official API.
- Copyright remains with the original channel owners.
- We do not download, re-upload, or monetise the source videos.
Our contribution is limited to:
- • Timed bilingual subtitles
- • Vocabulary lists & grammar notes
- • Interactive study tools (loop-back player, pitch overlay, quizzes)
If you are a creator and prefer your video not to appear inside our study interface, e-mail us at copyright@vlogtube.app and we'll remove the embed within 48 hours—no lawyers needed.
5. Your Choices & Rights ✅
- Export data – Download your vocabulary lists or full progress log (CSV) at any time.
- Delete account – One-click erasure under Settings → Danger Zone; all personal data and recordings are purged within 24 hours.
- Opt-out of analytics – Toggle off in Settings → Privacy.
Residents of the EU/EEA have additional GDPR rights (access, rectification, restriction, and objection). We honour those requests—just contact us.
6. Security Practices 🔐
- TLS 1.3 enforced across vlogtube.app
- BCrypt password hashing
- Annual external penetration test
- Principle-of-least-privilege IAM roles on all cloud services
7. Third-Party Services 🔗
| Service | Purpose | Data Shared |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube API | Embed native videos | Video ID, timestamp |
| Plausible Analytics | Aggregate traffic stats | Anonymised page-view events |
| Stripe | Payment processing | E-mail (hashed), plan tier |
8. Updates to This Policy 🔄
We'll post any privacy-related changes here. If the update is significant, you'll receive an in-app banner and e-mail before it takes effect.
9. Contact Us 📮
Questions, deletion requests, or press inquiries?
Happy learning—and thank you for trusting VlogTube to guide your real-world Japanese journey!