Privacy Policy & Consent Notice

Overview

VHS Label Generator ("we", "our", or "the Service") is a web application that helps you create custom labels for VHS tapes, audio cassettes, CDs, and other media formats. It also offers optional accounts, saved designs, premium subscriptions, and a members-only community chat. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. You can use most of the Service without an account; some features (saving designs, premium features, and community chat) require you to sign in.

Information We Collect

Automatically Collected

• Usage Analytics: We use Vercel Analytics, which counts page views anonymously and without cookies, together with our own product measurement, which records events such as which format you opened and whether an export succeeded on our own servers. We also record a coarse device type (mobile, tablet, or desktop) and the country your connection comes from, both read from the request itself and never stored on your device. We do not use Google Analytics.
• Device Information: Browser type, operating system, and screen resolution, used to optimize your experience.
• IP Address & Approximate Location: We use your IP address for security (rate limiting and abuse prevention) and to estimate your country or region so we can set sensible currency and paper-size defaults. Approximate location is derived from your IP using Vercel's edge network and ipapi.co.
• Log & Session Data: When you sign in, we record each session and device with its IP address, browser user-agent, and sign-in time so you can review and revoke access. We also keep an activity log of key actions (such as sign-ins and uploads), which may include the page URL and, for uploads, your IP address and user-agent.
• Error Diagnostics: If the app encounters an error, we use Sentry to capture diagnostic information, which may include a short session replay to help us reproduce the problem. Text is masked and images and media are blocked in these replays.

User-Provided

• Search Queries: Movie titles, album names, and playlist URLs you search for to generate labels.
• Account Information: Your email address (used for passwordless sign-in) and, optionally, a display name and avatar.
• Label Customizations: Text and customizations you add to your labels. If you don't save or sign in, these live only in the URL and your browser; if you save a design, they are stored in your account.
• Saved Designs & Uploads: Designs you save, and images, fonts, or avatars you upload.
• Community Chat: Messages, reactions, and reports you submit in the community chat.
• Support & Feedback: The content of support requests, bug reports, surveys, cancellation feedback, and suggestions you send us.

Accounts and Authentication

Creating an account (required for saving designs, premium features, and community chat) involves:

• Passwordless Sign-In: We sign you in with a one-time code sent to your email address. We store a hashed version of the code and your active session tokens as hashes — we never store a password, because there isn't one.
• Single Sign-On: We use a secure cookie on the .texs.org domain so you can stay signed in across our related sites.
• Session Records: Each signed-in device is recorded with its IP address, browser user-agent, and sign-in time so you can review and revoke sessions.

Saved Designs and Uploaded Content

When you save a design or upload files:

• Saved Designs: Your design settings are stored in our database, associated with your email address, so you can access them across devices. They include your customization choices and references to third-party content (such as poster URLs).
• Uploads: Images, fonts, and avatars you upload are stored in private cloud storage. They are not publicly listed and are served to you through short-lived, signed links.
• Ownership & License: You keep ownership of your content and grant us a limited license to store and display it solely to provide the Service to you.
• Deletion: You can delete saved designs and uploads at any time from within the app.

Community Chat (Taper Chat)

The Service includes an optional real-time community chat with an AI assistant ("HAL"). Chat is available only to signed-in members, and access may be limited to team members or subscribers. If you take part:

• What We Store: Your account email, display name, avatar, the content of your messages, reactions, reports, and your acceptance of the chat house rules. Messages you delete are removed from view but may remain in our systems and backups.
• Who Can See It: Messages are visible to other chat members, not to the general public. Some channels are private and restricted to authorized members.
• Moderation: To keep the community safe, moderators can remove messages, mute users, and review reports. We may retain reported content for moderation and safety purposes.
• AI Assistant: When you mention the assistant, the text of your message (and, in support conversations, the page you're on and your browser user-agent) is sent to our AI provider to generate a reply. See "AI Features" below.

AI Features

We use Anthropic's Claude AI in two places:

• Community Assistant (HAL): Generates replies in the community chat. It answers from a curated, PII-free knowledge base plus the text you send it.
• Support Automation: Helps us classify and draft replies to support emails, which may involve sending the content of your support message to the AI provider.

These AI providers process your input to generate a response and, under their commercial terms, do not use it to train their models. We do not use AI to make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you.

Third-Party Services

We integrate with the following third-party services to provide functionality. Your use of content from these services is also subject to their own privacy policies:

How We Use Your Information

• To provide and improve the label generation service
• To fetch media information from third-party APIs based on your searches
• To generate QR codes that link to music streaming services
• To authenticate you and keep your account secure
• To store and sync your saved designs and uploaded files
• To operate the community chat and the AI assistant
• To respond to support requests, process bug reports, and improve support
• To send transactional email and, if you opt in, newsletter email
• To process premium subscription payments
• To detect, prevent, and investigate abuse
• To analyze usage patterns and improve the Service

Email and Marketing Communications

We send two kinds of email:

• Transactional: Sign-in codes, email-change verification, welcome, billing notices, and replies to your support requests. These are necessary to operate the Service and to your account.
• Marketing / Newsletter: Only if you opt in (for example, by subscribing to the newsletter or checking an opt-in box). Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can opt out at any time.

We use Brevo to deliver email. Our support inbox is handled through Gmail; incoming support emails and our replies are stored so we can track, answer, and improve support.

Data Storage & Security

• Where Data Is Stored: Accounts, saved designs, preferences, chat messages, and related records are stored in our Supabase (PostgreSQL) database. Uploaded images, fonts, and avatars are stored in private cloud storage.
• Local Processing: Label artwork is rendered in your browser. If you don't save a design or sign in, your customizations are not stored on our servers — they live only in the URL and your browser.
• URL Parameters: Your customizations can be captured in the URL, allowing you to bookmark and share designs.
• Short Links: When you generate a QR code, we may create a short URL stored in our database to enable compact QR codes.
• Encryption & Access: All data transmission uses HTTPS. Uploaded files are private and served through short-lived signed links, and sensitive tokens we hold are encrypted at rest.

Data Retention

We keep personal data for as long as it is needed to provide the Service:

• Account & Saved Content: Retained while your account is active. Deleting your account removes your saved designs and uploaded files and cancels any active subscription.
• Chat Messages: Deleting a message removes it from view, but chat history may be retained in our systems and backups.
• Logs & Analytics: Session, activity, and analytics records are retained for a limited period for security and product improvement.
• Payments: Subscription and billing records are retained as required for accounting, tax, and dispute purposes.

To request deletion of personal data that isn't removed automatically, contact us at privacy@texs.org.

Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights under laws such as the GDPR or CCPA. In particular, you have the right to:

• Access the information we have about you
• Request correction or deletion of your data
• Delete your account and saved content directly in the app
• Opt out of marketing email at any time using the unsubscribe link
• Opt out of analytics tracking (use browser privacy settings or extensions)
• Cancel your subscription at any time
• Contact us at privacy@texs.org to exercise any of these rights

Cookies & Local Storage

We use a small number of cookies and browser storage: an essential cookie to keep you signed in across our sites, and your browser's local storage to remember preferences such as theme, sound, and paper size. We do not use Google Analytics, advertising cookies, or any third-party tracker that follows you across other websites, and we do not store any identifier that recognises you on a later visit. Our usage statistics are measured without cookies: Vercel Analytics counts page views anonymously, and our own product measurement records events on our servers. Anything we record about how you found us lasts only for the current browsing session and is discarded when you close the tab. Where we log an IP address for security and rate limiting, it is stored only as a one-way hash that changes every day, so it cannot be traced back to you or linked from one day to the next. You can control cookies through your browser preferences, but blocking essential cookies may prevent you from signing in.

Children's Privacy

This Service is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify users of any material changes by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.

Contact

For privacy-related questions or requests, please contact us at: