Privacy

What we store about you

On our Firebase backend the application keeps the smallest set of fields it needs to function:

• Email address — your sign-in identifier.
• Password — hashed and managed by Firebase Auth; we never see it in plaintext.
• Display name and profile photo — optional, shown on your profile and next to anything you post.
• Invite key reference — to enforce single-use signup.
• Account timestamps — when your account was created and last updated.

What you create on VidNest

When you use the site, we also store the things you explicitly add:

• Your watchlist, favorites, ratings, reviews, and collections — and the comments you post on review threads.
• Watch activity — counts of films, series, and episodes you've opened, plus per-genre tallies. Used for your profile stats and the leaderboard. You can switch this off in Settings; you can also opt out of the leaderboard separately.
• Your follows and notifications — who you follow, who follows you, and the inbox items those relationships generate (follow alerts, suggestions, comment replies).
• Your visibility preference — whether other members can find and follow you.

What other members see depends on those preferences. Public profiles show your display name, photo, totals, and anything you posted publicly. Email is never shared.

What we don't store

• We do not store IP addresses on our backend.
• We do not run analytics, telemetry, or behavioural tracking.
• We do not embed third-party trackers, fingerprinters, or advertising scripts.
• We do not share, sell, or rent any data to third parties.

Cookies

VidNest sets two cookies on your device, both first-party:

• __sc_session — a signed, HttpOnly session cookie that keeps you signed in. Expires 5 days after your last sign-in.
• __sc_csrf — a non-HttpOnly anti-forgery token used to verify that form submissions originate from this site. Expires 30 days after the most recent visit.

No third-party cookies are set by VidNest.

Third parties

Using VidNest involves two external services. Each may receive data from your browser depending on how the application is used:

• TMDB — provides film and series metadata. Metadata queries run server-side, so your IP isn't sent to TMDB during browsing; however, poster and backdrop images are loaded directly from image.tmdb.org by your browser. Policy.
• Firebase (Google) — handles authentication and database storage. Signing in to VidNest creates a Firebase identity used only for this application. Policy.

Your rights (GDPR)

If you are in the EEA, the GDPR gives you the right to access, correct, export, or delete the personal data we hold about you. Because this is a personal project, the simplest way to exercise those rights is by email — we will action the request manually.

You can also:

• Update your display name, photo, and privacy preferences in Settings.
• Delete your account by emailing the contact below.

Children

VidNest is invite-only and not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect data from children.

Changes

If material changes are made to this policy, existing users will be notified by email at the address on file.

Contact

For any privacy question, deletion request, or data-access request, head to the contact page.