Privacy Policy

Introduction

Cicadas provides video creation tools and an account workspace. This notice explains the data involved in preparing a device draft, saving account projects, requesting AI generation and downloading results.

Information We Collect

When customer API access is enabled, we retain a hash and identifying prefix of each key, its owner, permissions, expiry and admitted-credit usage. A newly created key is shown once. API task records use the same private delivery and credit ledger as the website. The optional local MCP bridge keeps its key in your own client environment and saves downloaded files to your chosen directory.

When the friend-invitation campaign is enabled, accepting an invitation link sets a signed, HttpOnly cookie for up to seven days to associate a subsequent new account with its inviter. We retain that account relationship and reward status to allocate the bounded campaign once; the inviter sees aggregate registration and reward counts, not the friend's email or content. This functional invitation cookie is separate from optional analytics. Referrals do not bypass email verification or add another signup trial.

We collect the following types of information to provide and improve our service:

1. Account Information — Your name, email address, and other details you provide when creating an account.
2. Your Content — Product information, prompts, uploaded images or clips, project edits and generated or exported results that you submit to the service.
3. Service Records — Project and task identifiers, task status, credit transactions, order records and error information used to deliver results and resolve problems.
4. Device Information — Device type, operating system, and browser type, used to optimize compatibility and performance.
5. Cookies and Device Storage — Small data files stored on your device to remember preferences and improve your experience.
6. Payment Information — Billing details handled by trusted third-party payment processors. We do not store full card numbers on our servers.

Device Drafts, Uploads and AI Requests

On the product-materials page, selected files and entered facts are saved in this browser before you continue. These device drafts have an original expiry of up to 24 hours; editing does not extend that expiry. Expired records are removed when the application next opens or its active cleanup runs. You can clear the current device draft using its clear action. Browser cleanup may also remove it. Device storage is not a cross-device backup.

Continuing while signed in uploads the selected materials and saves an account project. Account projects and media are stored so you can reopen work and retrieve results. The device-draft expiry does not delete account projects, uploads, payment records or files downloaded to your computer.

Recordings and music you upload for your own-voice or own-music clips are deleted from our storage 30 days after upload; the generated clip is not affected.

Saving a product project does not itself request a paid AI-generated shot. When you choose AI generation, the selected model provider receives the prompt, reference media and settings required for that request. Current fal-hosted generation is subject to fal’s privacy information. A provider’s retention policy is separate from this browser’s draft expiry.

How We Use Your Information

We use the data we collect to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve the service.
• Process transactions and send related confirmations.
• Send technical notices, security alerts, and support messages.
• Respond to your questions, feedback, and support requests.
• Detect, prevent, and address fraud and abuse.

Optional Site Analytics

After you choose Allow under the revised notice, Plausible measures public-page visits, referral domains, fixed acquisition source labels. This integration sends page paths without fragments. It retains only a recognized, standardized utm_source (such as chatgpt.com) and the fixed plausible-verification campaign label used to separate our own checks; all other query values are removed. External referrers contain domains only. It excludes account, authentication, settings, admin, checkout and studio pages. We disable automatic form, download and outbound-link tracking and do not send account identifiers, prompts, photos or media links. Plausible sets no analytics cookies. Previous approval requires a fresh choice; a previous refusal remains effective. Refusing or withdrawing analytics prevents subsequent collection. See Plausible's data policy for its processing of request data.

If you choose Allow, Cicadas records a limited set of entry pages, coarse source categories, tool and signup intent, quote views, optional fixed-choice tool feedback and export-ready events. Page views and tool steps (scene chosen, photo uploaded, generate tapped, quote shown, video submitted or finished, result downloaded, logo export and its intro link) also note the screen size class (phone, tablet or desktop, from the window width), whether the visitor is signed in, whether a balance already shown in that tab is zero, and the visit's short utm_campaign label. After sign-in, a consented visit may be linked to the authenticated account to compare registration, verification, credit grants, actual generation and LIVE payment outcomes. Entry attribution is approximate and available to reports for 30 days. Expired optional records are removed by scheduled daily maintenance; storage cleanup may lag by up to 24 hours. Events do not contain your email, prompts, uploaded files, raw referrer, unfiltered URL query or IP address. Refusing analytics does not prevent registration, trial credits or generation. Service account, credit and payment records remain necessary to operate the service and have separate retention rules.

With fresh analytics consent, we also remember the first eligible public entry path, external referrer domain only, short utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign labels, and its time. We store this in a host-only first-party cookie for up to 30 days; later navigation does not extend it. At successful registration, these browser-reported values are linked once to the new account in a separate attribution record, retained for 30 days after signup and removed by the existing maintenance schedule (cleanup may lag up to 24 hours). We do not backfill old accounts or overwrite this entry on later sign-in. Campaign fields reject emails, URLs, duplicate parameters and free text; we do not keep full referrer URLs, other query parameters, IP addresses or device fingerprints in attribution. Refusing or withdrawing analytics clears the pending browser attribution and does not affect the service. An existing account session also clears pending attribution. Previously stored server records expire under their retention policy. This is approximate, account-linked analytics, not anonymous identity, a verified search query, or cross-device tracking. Late consent, missing referrers and expired or blocked cookies remain unknown.

The first-video experiment assigns consented tab visits evenly to the existing workflow or a guided signup and low-cost generation workflow. Both groups receive the same trial offer. We record a button exposure only when it becomes visible; we do not treat a click as a successful video or payment.

Microsoft Clarity loads only after this choice, on public pages, tool pages included, for signed-out and signed-in visitors alike; once you are signed in, public pages are recorded too, with photos, videos and prompt boxes masked. Account, settings, admin, authentication, checkout and studio pages are excluded from its recordings. Files you pick in a browser tool are shown from your own browser's memory, which a recording cannot open. Pages whose address carries parameters other than campaign labels (utm_…) or a public sample or plan choice, pages with unreviewed URL fragments, and documents entered from private or parameter-bearing referrers do not start Clarity. It records page interactions, heatmaps and session replays with strict text masking and Clarity cookies turned off. We do not send account identifiers or email to Clarity, and cookie-free recordings do not establish unique people or cross-page retention. Recordings carry short filter labels: the page group, the traffic source, the language, whether you are signed in and whether your credit balance is zero (never the amount), plus the names of steps such as a generate click. Microsoft may process usage data; see the Microsoft Privacy Statement. We do not use this project for advertising personalization.

Use Privacy choices in the footer to change your choice. Withdrawal stops subsequent optional first-party events, removes the tab attribution token, and reloads the page if Clarity or Plausible is active. Previously collected server events age out under this reporting and cleanup policy; withdrawal does not itself delete them. Browser Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control also prevent these optional events. This broader notice requests fresh consent even if you previously allowed Clarity. Your choice is saved in local browser storage.

Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We may share data only in these limited cases:

• With hosting, storage, authentication, email, payment and AI service providers as needed to operate the features you use.
• To comply with legal obligations or respond to lawful requests from public authorities.
• To protect our rights, property, or safety, or that of our users.

Data Security

Account authentication and ownership checks limit access to account projects and private media. No storage or transmission system eliminates all risk. Keep your sign-in credentials private, and avoid uploading material that you do not intend to process through the selected service.

Your Rights

Your available rights depend on applicable law. Profile settings let you update your name and avatar; project and video views provide access to saved work and available downloads. The current account settings do not provide a self-service account deletion or complete personal-data export button. Clearing a device draft or signing out does not close your account or erase its server records. Requests about account data require a separate support process; they are not completed by those browser actions.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by updating the date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, sending a notice through the service.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please email us at support@cicadas.ai.