Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

Account and profile information

• Email address, username, and optional display name
• Password hash if you create a password-based account (we do not store your plain-text password)
• Email verification status and account timestamps such as creation and last login
• Linked sign-in providers (for example Google or Apple) and the provider subject identifier stored at link time

User activity and content you create

• Ratings and written reviews for movies and TV shows
• Favorites, watchlists, and watchlist items
• Watch history for movies and individual TV episodes
• Search history entries associated with your account
• TV show and movie follow preferences, including notification settings for new seasons or episodes
• In-app release notifications and related notification events

Device and push notification information

• Expo push notification token and platform (iOS or Android) when you register a device for alerts
• Optional device identifier fields associated with push registration records
• Notification permission status is handled on your device by the operating system

Preferences handled mainly on your device

• App language and regional browsing preferences (such as watch region) are primarily stored on your device
• The app may send language preferences to our servers through request headers when communicating with the API

Technical and security information

• Authentication tokens issued by our service when you sign in
• Server logs that may include request metadata, correlation identifiers, authenticated user identifiers, and error information
• IP addresses may be used for rate limiting and abuse prevention; we do not maintain a separate user profile database of IP addresses based on the current application design

AI recommendation feature

If you use AI-assisted movie recommendations, we build a taste profile from your in-app activity and send relevant portions of that profile, along with your recommendation prompt, to Google Gemini to generate suggestions. This currently includes information such as genre affinities and movie/TV title metadata derived from your ratings, favorites, watchlist, and watch history. It does not include your email address or account ID in the provider request based on the current implementation.

2. How we use information

• Provide and operate the Service, including authentication, catalog features, and account management
• Store and display your ratings, reviews, lists, watch history, and follow preferences
• Deliver transactional emails such as email verification and password reset messages
• Send push notifications you have opted into for followed TV content
• Generate personalized recommendations and insights based on your activity
• Maintain security, prevent abuse, enforce rate limits, and troubleshoot problems
• Measure coarse product usage through aggregated counters that are not linked to individual users in our product metrics store

3. How we share information

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only with service providers that help us operate the Service, when required by law, or to protect rights and safety.

Current categories of service providers and integrations include:

• Hosting and infrastructure: application hosting, PostgreSQL database, and Redis cache (for example Render-managed infrastructure)
• Email delivery: Resend for verification and password-reset email
• Push notifications: Expo push infrastructure to deliver notifications to your device
• Catalog metadata: TMDB and related metadata providers for movie and TV information; TVDB may also be used for certain catalog operations
• Authentication providers: Google and Apple when you choose social sign-in (they process identity tokens according to their own policies)
• AI recommendations: Google Gemini when you use the AI recommendation feature

Your device may also contact third-party image CDNs (such as TMDB image hosts) directly to load poster and artwork URLs returned by the Service.

4. Data retention

• Account and activity data are kept while your account remains active
• Read in-app notifications may be deleted automatically after a configured retention period (currently seven days for read notifications)
• AI recommendation session data in Redis expires automatically after a limited TTL
• Server logs and infrastructure backups may retain limited technical data for operational, security, and disaster-recovery purposes even after account deletion

5. Account deletion

You can delete your account from inside the Movie Cave app. Deletion removes your user record and associated personal activity data from our primary application database, including ratings, reviews, favorites, watchlists, watch history, search history, follows, notifications, and push device registrations.

See our Delete account page for step-by-step instructions and details about data that may remain outside the primary user database.

6. Security

We use technical and organizational measures appropriate to the Service, including hashed passwords, authenticated API access, transport encryption for production endpoints, and access controls on infrastructure components. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure.

7. Children

The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us using the method described below.

8. International processing

We and our service providers may process information in countries other than where you live, including where our hosting and infrastructure providers operate data centers.

9. Your choices

• Update your display name and account email from the app where supported
• Control push notifications through app and device settings
• Delete your account at any time using the in-app deletion flow
• Choose whether to use optional features such as AI recommendations or TV follow notifications

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will revise the “Last updated” date above when changes are posted. Continued use of the Service after an update means you accept the revised policy.

11. Contact

For privacy questions, account help, or other support requests, email support@moviecaveapp.com.

To delete your account, use the in-app flow described on our Delete account page. If you cannot access the app, you may also request account-deletion assistance by email.