Privacy Policy - What's the Point?

1. Introduction

Welcome to What's the Point? ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and providing a transparent experience. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our story pointing application.

This Privacy Policy should be read in conjunction with our Terms of Use, which govern your use of the Service.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in the following ways:

2.1 Information You Provide

Name/Display Name: You may choose to provide a name when joining a pointing session.
Session Data: Information created during pointing sessions, including votes and session configurations.

2.2 Automatically Collected Information

Browser Information: Browser type, version, and settings.
Device Information: Device type and operating system.
Usage Data: How you interact with the application.

2.3 Local Storage

We use browser localStorage (a standard web technology) to store your preferences locally on your device. This includes:

Animation Preferences: Allows the user to reduce visual animations (confetti, transitions)
Auto-Scroll Preferences: Allows the user to customize auto-scroll behavior
Auto-Reveal Preferences: Allows hosts to automatically reveal all votes once all participants have locked in their vote.
Session Identity: Anonymous session identifier to maintain your session across page refreshes
Display Name: Your display name for sessions when you join sessions

Important Security Notes:

Client-Side Only: This data never leaves your device and is not transmitted to our servers
Your Control: You can clear this data at any time through your browser settings (Clear browsing data → Local storage)
No Personal Information: We do not store any personally identifiable information in localStorage
Temporary Session Data: Session identifiers are used only for coordinating real-time collaboration and are not linked to any personal information

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information for the following purposes:

To provide and maintain the story pointing service
To enable real-time collaboration in pointing sessions
To remember your preferences (such as dark mode)
To improve and optimize our application
To monitor and analyze usage patterns
To detect and prevent technical issues

4. Data Storage and Security

Session Data: Session data is stored temporarily in memory and automatically deleted when the session ends or becomes inactive. We do not permanently store your voting history or session content.

Local Storage: Your preferences are stored locally in your browser and never transmitted to our servers unless necessary for session functionality.

Security: We implement reasonable security measures to protect your information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS). However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure.

5. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share information in the following circumstances:

With Session Participants: Information you provide in a session (such as your name and votes) is visible to other participants in that session.
Service Providers: We may use third-party service providers to host and operate our application (e.g., Cloudflare).
Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required by law or in response to valid legal requests.

6. Your Rights and Choices

You have the following rights regarding your information:

Access: You can view the information you provide during sessions.
Control: You can choose what name to display and whether to participate in sessions.
Deletion: You can clear your local browser data at any time. Session data is automatically deleted after sessions end.
Opt-Out: You can stop using the service at any time.

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Essential Cookies: We use essential cookies to store your preferred language setting and theme preference (dark/light mode). This allows us to display the website correctly immediately when you visit.

Local Storage: As described in Section 2.3, we use browser localStorage to store certain preferences and identifiers on your device. This data:

Stays on your device and is never sent to our servers
Does not track you across websites
Contains no personally identifiable information
Can be deleted at any time through your browser settings

Privacy-Focused Analytics: We use a privacy-focused, cookie-free analytics service to understand how users interact with our application (e.g., page views, button clicks, feature usage). This service does not:

Use cookies or persistent identifiers
Track you across websites
Collect personally identifiable information
Share data with advertising networks

All analytics data is anonymized and aggregated. We cannot identify individual users from this data.

Privacy-Focused Event Tracking: We track user actions (such as voting, changing settings, or navigating pages) to understand how the application is used. This tracking is privacy-focused and does not use cookies, does not track you across websites, does not create user profiles for advertising, and does not sell or share your data with third parties.

8. Children's Privacy

Our service is not directed to children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have collected information from a child under 13, please contact us immediately.

9. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your own. By using our service, you consent to the transfer of information to countries that may have different data protection laws than your country of residence.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us through our GitHub repository or project website.