Privacy Policy

Last Modified & Effective Date: August 15, 2026

1. Scope of this Policy

Plotline ("we", "us", or "our") is dedicated to safeguarding user privacy and processing personal data in compliance with applicable data protection statutes. This Privacy Policy sets forth our policies and operational practices regarding the collection, use, maintenance, protection, and disclosure of personal information ("Personal Data") processed through our mobile applications, web platforms, and associated services (collectively, the "Services").

This policy applies to all Personal Data collected through your interactions with the Services, in communications between you and Plotline (including electronic messages and support inquiries), and through your creation of synchronized media watchlists, reading shelves, clubs, and tier lists.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We collect and process several categories of Personal Data necessary to operate and enhance the Services:

Account & Identity Information: Chosen username, display name, registered email address, authentication credentials, and optional profile avatar. When authenticating via Apple Sign-In or Google Sign-In, we receive unique federated user identifiers and verified email addresses authorized by your identity provider settings.
Media Tracking & Library Records: Movie, television, and book titles logged to your profile; status indicators (Watching, Reading, Plan to Watch, Completed, Dropped, On Hold); episode and page/chapter progress counters; personal ratings, sentiment tags, and review notes; and custom tier list placements.
Clubs & Social Contributions: Clubs created or joined; turn order sequence positions; votes cast during club round candidate polls; text messages submitted in club chat feeds; and user-following relationships.
Subscription & Purchase Tokens: Transaction identifiers, subscription tier status (e.g., Plus or Pro entitlements), billing cycle periods, and renewal timestamps provided by authorized platform payment processors (Apple App Store or Google Play Store). Plotline does not collect or store full credit card or bank account numbers.
Device & Technical Usage Details: IP address, device hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, language preferences, application crash logs, and anonymized performance telemetry.

3. How We Collect Personal Data

Plotline collects information through three primary channels:

Direct User Provision: Information you provide directly when registering for an account, building watchlists, participating in clubs, casting votes, or submitting support inquiries.
Automated Collection Technologies: Diagnostic and telemetry data gathered automatically when you navigate, interact with, or launch the mobile application.
Authorized Third Parties: Authentication status and purchase receipt verification tokens delivered by Apple, Google, or our cloud backend providers.

4. Purposes of Data Processing

Plotline processes Personal Data strictly for legitimate business purposes, including:

Operating, synchronizing, and delivering your media tracking shelf across all authorized personal devices;
Coordinating club activities, calculating turn sequence rotations, tallying round candidate votes, and delivering turn notifications;
Verifying subscription tier entitlements and unlocking paid premium features;
Computing personalized entertainment metrics, aggregate statistics, and reading milestones;
Protecting system integrity, detecting and mitigating abusive behavior, and maintaining network and server security.

5. Information Disclosures, Commercial Sharing & Third Parties

We may disclose aggregated, anonymized, or de-identified information about our users without restriction for research, statistical analysis, industry benchmarking, and service optimization.

Plotline may also disclose personal data that we collect or that you provide as described in this Privacy Policy:

Subsidiaries, Affiliates & Service Providers: To our parent companies, subsidiaries, contractors, cloud database providers (e.g., Neon Lakebase Postgres), and operational vendors supporting our infrastructure and core services under confidentiality agreements.
Business Partners & Marketing: To authorized business partners, analytics providers, and third parties to market products, services, content, or personalized recommendations to you, subject to your opt-out rights described below.
Public Contributions & Community Feeds: Content, shelf milestones, and ratings that you designate as public are visible to other members of the Plotline community.
Mergers, Asset Sales & Business Transfers: To a buyer, investor, or successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, financing, acquisition, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Plotline's assets, whether as an ongoing enterprise or as part of bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings, in which personal data held by Plotline is transferred as part of the business assets.
Affiliate Networks & Retail Partners: When you navigate to outbound links for streaming platforms, digital retailers, or book merchants, anonymized referral tokens or click identifiers may be transmitted to the respective merchant network solely to verify qualifying referral transactions.
Legal, Regulatory & Safety Compliance: To comply with any court order, subpoena, law, or legal process; enforce our Terms of Service; or protect the rights, safety, and property of Plotline, our users, or the public.

6. Data Security & Comprehensive Breach Disclaimer

Plotline maintains commercially reasonable administrative, physical, and technical safeguards designed to protect Personal Data against accidental loss, destruction, and unauthorized access or alteration. All network communications are encrypted in transit using industry-standard Transport Layer Security (TLS/HTTPS), and database records are encrypted at rest using AES-256 protocols.

NO ABSOLUTE SECURITY GUARANTEE & CYBER INCIDENT DISCLAIMER: NOTWITHSTANDING THE SECURITY MEASURES EMPLOYED BY PLOTLINE, NO TRANSMISSION OVER THE INTERNET, CLOUD DATABASE, WIRELESS NETWORK, OR ELECTRONIC STORAGE SYSTEM IS COMPLETELY IMPENETRABLE OR 100% SECURE. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU TRANSMIT AND STORE PERSONAL DATA AT YOUR OWN VOLUNTARY RISK.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, PLOTLINE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY LOSS, THEFT, EXFILTRATION, DESTRUCTION, OR UNAUTHORIZED MODIFICATION OR DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL DATA ARISING OUT OF OR RESULTING FROM ANY SYSTEM INTRUSION, HACKING INCIDENT, MALWARE, RANSOMWARE, ZERO-DAY EXPLOIT, DDOS ATTACK, OR THIRD-PARTY INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY BREACH BEYOND OUR REASONABLE CONTROL.

7. Subscriptions & Financial Information

All financial billing, credit card processing, and transaction management for Plotline's paid subscription tiers are handled exclusively by third-party in-app purchase intermediaries (the Apple App Store or Google Play Store) in accordance with their respective privacy policies and PCI-DSS compliance frameworks. Plotline never accesses or stores your raw payment card data.

8. Data Subject Rights & Account Deletion

Plotline provides users with robust tools to inspect, export, and delete their Personal Data:

Data Export: You may request an export of your complete watch history, library records, and reviews in standard CSV format at any time.
Permanent Account Deletion: You may permanently delete your account and all associated Personal Data directly within the application (Settings → Manage Account → Delete Account). Upon deletion, your profile, club memberships, shelf logs, and custom notes are permanently purged from our active database clusters.

9. U.S. State Privacy Rights & Sale/Share Opt-Out

Under applicable state data privacy laws (including the California Consumer Privacy Act/CPRA, Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603A, Virginia CDPA, and Colorado CPA), certain disclosures of consumer data or browsing activity to third-party partners for marketing or analytics may be categorized as "selling" or "sharing" personal information.

Your Opt-Out Rights: You have the right to direct Plotline not to sell or share your personal data with third parties for cross-context behavioral advertising or commercial marketing. To exercise your right to opt out, you may submit a request by emailing support@plotline.app with the subject line "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information".

California "Shine the Light": Under Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.83, California users may request information regarding the disclosure of personal data to third parties for their direct marketing purposes by contacting support@plotline.app.

10. Children's Privacy

The Services are not directed to or intended for children under the age of 13. Plotline does not knowingly solicit or collect Personal Data from children under 13. If we discover that Personal Data has been inadvertently collected from a child under 13 without verified parental consent, we will take immediate measures to permanently delete such information from our records.

11. Data Retention & International Transfers

We retain Personal Data for the duration of your active account relationship and as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, enforce our Terms of Service, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, and comply with applicable statutory retention requirements. Upon account deletion, data is removed in accordance with our standard purge routines.

12. Changes & Contact Information

We reserve the right to amend this Privacy Policy at any time. Material updates will be reflected by the "Last Modified" date at the top of this document. Continued use of the Services following the posting of modifications constitutes your acknowledgment and acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data protection practices, please contact us at:

Plotline
Email: support@plotline.app