Privacy Policy

Cliplash is a live, in-person party game: one screen hosts a room, everyone else joins from their phone. This page explains what information we collect while you do that, what we use it for, who we share it with, what we store on your device, and when we delete it. There is no account system — a "player" in our data is just a temporary seat in a temporary room.

Cliplash uses YouTube API Services to let players search YouTube and to play back embedded YouTube clips. By using Cliplash you also agree to the YouTube Terms of Service. Google's handling of data is described in the Google Privacy Policy. Cliplash does not use "Sign in with Google" and never connects to or reads your YouTube account — YouTube search runs through a server-side API key, and playback uses YouTube's public embedded player.

Information we collect

• The name you type to join. Shown to the other players in your room only. We don't require or collect an email address, phone number, or payment information to play.
• An optional avatar photo. If you choose to add one, your browser asks for camera access, crops a photo to your face on your own device, and uploads that cropped image so other players can see it. If you skip this, nothing photo-related is collected.
• Clips you submit during a round. Either a link to a video on a third-party platform (YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Vimeo, Twitch, or Google Drive) or a short video file you upload directly. Either way, this is content you chose to share with your room for that game.
• Gameplay data. Room codes, prompts, votes, and scores — needed to run the game you're actively playing, tied to a temporary room code rather than to any identity of yours.
• A rejoin token in your browser's local storage. Lets you reconnect to your seat in a game if your connection drops. It stays on your device and isn't something we can read remotely.

How we use, process, and share it

We use the information above strictly to run the game session you're in: showing your name and avatar to your room, sending your search text to the YouTube Data API and showing you the results, playing back the clips submitted each round in YouTube's embedded player (and the equivalent player for other sources), and tallying votes into a leaderboard. We also keep two small, non-identifying tables that help the game run better for everyone — a short-lived cache of YouTube search results (just the search text and the returned list of video titles, thumbnails, and channel names, with no player attached), and optional "did this clip preview look right?" feedback. We log a small amount of first-party diagnostic event data (for example, that a search failed or a round advanced) to keep the game working; it is not tied to your identity.

Sharing. We do not sell your information, and we do not share it for advertising. Information is shared only with the service providers that run Cliplash on our behalf and only to operate the game:

• Google / YouTube — your search text is sent to the YouTube Data API to return results; when a YouTube clip plays, your device loads YouTube's embedded player directly from YouTube.
• Supabase — stores the game data (names, avatars, submitted clips, votes, scores) and hosts uploaded files.
• Vercel — hosts and serves the app.
• The platform a clip comes from (YouTube, TikTok, Meta, Vimeo, Twitch, Google Drive) — your device contacts that platform directly to load a clip a player chose to submit from it.

We do not otherwise disclose information to third parties, except where required by law or to protect the safety of players or the service.

We do not use third-party analytics, advertising networks, or cross-site trackers.

Information stored on or read from your device

Cliplash stores a small amount of data in your browser so the game works, and some of our providers do the same:

• A rejoin token in local storage. Written by Cliplash so you can reconnect to your seat if your connection drops. It stays on your device; we can't read it remotely.
• Security and session cookies or similar storage set by our database and hosting providers (Supabase, Vercel) to keep your connection to the game working and protected. These are not used to profile or track you across other sites.
• Cookies and storage set by embedded players. When a YouTube clip (or a clip from another platform) plays, that platform's embedded player runs on your device and may place or read cookies or similar technology on its own domain, under its own privacy policy. For YouTube this is governed by the Google Privacy Policy.

We do not place advertising or analytics cookies of our own, and we do not allow third parties to use our pages for cross-site advertising.

Third-party services

Cliplash is built on:

• Supabase — our database and file storage.
• Vercel — hosts the app itself.
• Google (YouTube Data API v3 and IFrame Player API) — used to search YouTube and play back embedded YouTube clips. Cliplash's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. Google's own collection and use of data is described in the Google Privacy Policy.
• TikTok, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Reddit, Vimeo, Twitch, and Google Drive — used only to embed a clip a player chose to submit from that platform. Each is governed by its own privacy policy and terms whenever a clip from that source is shown.

Camera and photo use

Camera access is requested only if you choose to add an avatar, and only for that purpose. The photo is cropped to a face on your device before anything is uploaded. You can play the entire game without ever granting camera access.

How long we keep data

The personal parts of a game are short-lived. Avatar photos and uploaded video clips are removed from storage automatically within about an hour of a game ending or a room being abandoned. Names and player seats belong to a temporary room, not to a standing profile.

YouTube data. The short-lived cache of YouTube search results expires within 24 hours and is purged entirely within 48 hours. For a submitted YouTube clip, the video ID, title, and thumbnail we stored are cleared within 30 days of the game — we do not retain data obtained from the YouTube API beyond 30 days. If you ask us to remove something sooner, we act as soon as possible and within 7 days.

Gameplay records. We keep non-personal records of how games played out — the prompts used, vote tallies, final scores, and which type of source a clip came from — to understand which prompts work well and to improve the game. These records are not tied to your identity and contain no YouTube API data once the 30-day window above has passed.

Requesting deletion

Since almost everything is cleaned up automatically within hours, there's rarely anything left to delete. If you'd like something removed sooner — for example, an avatar photo from a game that just ended — email us at baylorjeppsen@gmail.com with the room code or approximate time of the game and we'll remove it.

Children's privacy

Cliplash is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with information, contact us at the address above and we'll remove it.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes in a meaningful way, we'll update the date at the top of this page. Continuing to use Cliplash after a change means you accept the updated policy.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data: baylorjeppsen@gmail.com