Legal Notice

Operator

Questions, takedown requests, or anything else: contact matthias.machold@gmx.at.

Data Protection

Movie Swiper is designed to work without accounts. The site collects only what is needed to make group swiping function:

  • Nickname. The display name you type when you create or join a group. Visible to other members of your group.
  • Session token. A random identifier stored both in our database and in a cookie called ms_session. The cookie lasts 48 hours and is used solely to keep you signed in to your group on the same device. It is not used for analytics or tracking.
  • Group code, join time, last-seen time. Used to assemble the group and show who is currently active.
  • Swipe decisions. For each movie shown to you, whether you picked like or pass, with a timestamp. This is the whole point of the app — your swipes are compared with your group's to find matches.
  • IP address (temporarily). When you create or join a group, your IP address is used to count recent attempts and block abuse (spam and automated flooding). It is stored only as part of a short-lived rate-limit counter, never tied to your nickname or swipes, and is automatically deleted within 24 hours. We keep no general access or IP logs of our own beyond this.

We do not collect your real name or email address, and we use no advertising trackers.

Analytics

To understand overall traffic — how many people visit and which pages and countries they come from — we use Umami, a privacy-focused analytics tool. Umami is cookieless: it sets no cookies, does not track you across other websites, and does not store data that identifies you personally. It collects only aggregate, anonymous figures such as page views, approximate country, referring site, browser, and device type. We do not use Google Analytics or any advertising/profiling trackers. We rely on our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) in understanding and improving the service.

Cookies and local storage

We use one strictly necessary cookie, ms_session (described above), to keep you in your group. We use no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies, and our analytics (above) is cookieless. Separately, your browser's local storage keeps a few preferences on your own device — your list of recent groups, your chosen streaming country, and (if you set one) your Jellyseerr address. This data stays in your browser, is never sent to us, and you can clear it at any time through your browser settings.

Why we are allowed to process this (legal basis)

Under the GDPR, we rely on:

  • Performance of a service you requested (Art. 6(1)(b)). Nicknames, session tokens, group data, and swipes are processed so the group-swiping feature can work at all.
  • Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)). The temporary IP-based rate limiting is used to keep the service available and protect it from abuse.

Is swipe history personal data?

Possibly. Under the GDPR (Art. 4(1)), data is “personal” whenever it can be linked to an identifiable person. Because nicknames are user-chosen and may include real names or recognizable handles, the combination of nickname + swipe history could allow someone to be identified by people who already know them. We therefore treat this combination as potentially personal data. If you do not want your swipes to be associated with you in any way, pick a nickname that does not identify you.

Retention

Groups are temporary. A group and everything attached to it — members, nicknames, swipes, and matches — is automatically deleted about 48 hours after the group is created. The short-lived rate-limit counters described above are deleted within 24 hours. If you want your data removed sooner, email the address above with your group code and nickname.

Your rights

Where the GDPR applies, you have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to ask us to correct or delete it, and to object to processing based on legitimate interests. Because we hold no account or email for you, the practical way to exercise these rights is to email us with your group code and nickname so we can identify the relevant data. Note that most data erases itself automatically within 48 hours regardless.

Third parties

Movie metadata and poster images are loaded from The Movie Database (TMDB). When those assets load, your browser contacts TMDB directly; their privacy terms apply to that connection. Movie Swiper is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.