Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

When you create an account, we collect your email address and, if you sign in with Google, your name and profile photo. When you subscribe, Stripe processes your payment information — we never store your card details directly.

We also collect usage data including which stories you read, your reading preferences, favorites, and reactions. This helps us recommend stories and improve the platform.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To provide and maintain your account and subscription
• To personalize your reading experience (genre preferences, spice levels)
• To send you daily story notifications if you opt in
• To process payments through Stripe
• To improve our stories and platform based on aggregate reading patterns

3. Information Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We share data only with:

• Stripe — for payment processing
• Vercel — for hosting and infrastructure
• Neon — for database storage

These providers process data solely to deliver their services to us and are bound by their own privacy policies.

4. Cookies and Local Storage

We use essential cookies for authentication and session management. We use localStorage to remember your text size preference. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.

5. Data Retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will delete your personal data within 30 days. Anonymized, aggregate data (e.g., story popularity metrics) may be retained indefinitely.

6. Your Rights

You can access, update, or delete your personal data at any time through your account settings. You can export your data or request deletion by contacting us at privacy@velveteverafter.com.

7. Security

We use industry-standard encryption (TLS/SSL) for all data in transit. Passwords are hashed using bcrypt. Payment data is handled entirely by Stripe and never touches our servers.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes via email or a notice on the platform. Continued use after changes constitutes acceptance.

9. Contact

For privacy-related inquiries, contact us at privacy@velveteverafter.com.