Privacy at Podstack

What we collect

A cookie id. When you open trypodstack.com or a Podstack link in a browser (an invite, a friend link, a shared episode or a snip), trypodstack.com sets one cookie, called pvid. It is a random number with nothing about you in it. It lets us tell that two visits came from the same browser. If you make an account after opening a link, we link that browser's earlier visits to your account.

Your IP address: the network address your phone or computer used to reach us, when you open trypodstack.com or one of those links, and when the Podstack app is installed or updated on a phone. We also note whether it is one of Apple's Private Relay addresses.

Your device type: iPhone, iPad, Android or computer, and which browser and version, from what your browser says about itself. From the app: its version, your iOS version, your language setting and a random id the app makes for itself.

When you sign in to the app: Apple's id for your copy of Podstack. It is the same on every device that uses your Apple Account. We use it only to spot one person making several accounts.

Listening: how long you listen on a shared page, and in the app what you listen to and for how long.

If you make an account: your name, your photo if you add one, and the email address Apple or Google shares when you sign in. If you join the waitlist: the name and email address you type.

Why

Referrals: to know who sent you, so the friend who invited you gets the free months they earn.

Fraud: to spot one person making many accounts to earn free months.

The app working: your library, your place in every episode, and the ads taken out.

How long we keep it

The cookie lasts a year. You can clear it from your browser at any time.

Your full IP address: 7 days for a visit that never led to an account, and 90 days for one that did and for the app's reports. After that we keep only a shortened address (the first three numbers of an IPv4 address, or the first half of an IPv6 one), which points at a network, not at you.

The rest of a visit or an install record (the cookie id, the device and browser, and the shortened address): until you ask us to delete it. One that is linked to your account goes when the account does.

Apple's id for your copy of Podstack, and the app's own random id: for as long as you have the account.

Our server's logs: 14 days.

Your account, library and listening: for as long as you have the account, or until you ask us to delete them.

We don't sell or share it

We do not sell what we know about you, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers. None of it is used to show you ads. The only other companies involved are the ones that run the service for us: our server host and Cloudflare carry the traffic, and Apple and Google handle signing in.

Asking us to delete it

In the app: open Preferences and tap Delete Account at the bottom. Your account and everything in it are erased at once: your library, your shows, your snips, your sign-in and the records linked to you.

Or use Send Feedback in the app: tap the Podstack name at the top of any screen, and say you want your data deleted. We will delete it and tell you when it is done.

No app? Write to us at trypodstack.com/support with your email address and say you want your data deleted.