Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 2026

1. Information We Collect

We collect information you provide directly to us, including:

  • Account Information: Email address and authentication data when you create an account
  • Profile Information: Display name and profile picture you choose to provide
  • Usage Data: Media items you add to lists, ratings, reviews, and your interactions with the service
  • Preference Data: Your media preferences used to generate personalized recommendations
  • Technical Data: Essential authentication and session information needed to keep you signed in and secure your account
  • Connected Services Data:If you choose to connect an external reading or watching account (such as Goodreads or Letterboxd), we fetch your recent activity from that account's public feed at your direction. See “Connected Services” below for details.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

  • Provide, maintain, and improve our services
  • Generate personalized media recommendations
  • Enable social features like sharing lists and following other users
  • Send service-related communications
  • Protect against fraud and abuse
  • Operate affiliate links when you choose to follow purchase links

3. AI and LLM Data Usage

Tangent uses Google Gemini to help generate recommendation explanations and other AI-assisted recommendation features. This processing may include your taste data, such as anchors, likes, lists, and related recommendation context.

We use that data only to operate Tangent's recommendation features. We do not permit your Tangent taste data to be used to train third-party models.

4. Information Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information:

  • With your consent or at your direction
  • With service providers who assist in operating our service
  • To comply with legal obligations
  • To protect the rights and safety of our users and third parties

5. Data Storage and Security

We use industry-standard security measures to protect your data. Your information is stored securely using Supabase infrastructure. While we strive to protect your information, no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure.

6. Cookies

Tangent uses essential cookies required for authentication and session management. These are set by our authentication provider (Supabase) and are necessary for the service to function. No personal data is stored in cookies beyond what is required to maintain your login session.

We use Vercel's cookieless analytics, which records aggregate page views without setting cookies, persistent identifiers, or fingerprints. We do not use advertising cookies or cross-site tracking technologies.

7. Affiliate Links

Some outbound links in Tangent are affiliate links. In particular, Bookshop.org links may generate affiliate revenue for Tangent when you choose to make a purchase. This does not change the price you pay.

8. Your Rights and Choices

You have the right to:

  • Access and update your account information
  • Delete your account and associated data
  • Control the visibility of your profile and lists
  • Opt out of non-essential communications

9. Data Retention

We keep account, profile, recommendation, and list data for as long as your account remains active or as needed to operate the service, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

If you delete your account, we will delete or de-identify your personal data within a reasonable period, except where we need to retain limited records for security, fraud prevention, legal compliance, or backup recovery windows.

10. Third-Party Data Processors

  • Supabase: hosting, database, storage, and authentication infrastructure
  • Google: Google Sign-In, Gemini AI features, and Google Books data
  • TMDB: movie and TV metadata
  • Taddy: podcast metadata

11. Connected Services

Tangent may offer the option to connect an external reading or watching account — such as Goodreads or Letterboxd — so that newly added items on those services are reflected in your Tangent library without re-uploading a file each time. Connecting any external service is optional and entirely at your direction.

What we fetch.When you connect a service, we read from the public feed (typically RSS) that the service exposes for your account. The feed's contents are determined by the third-party platform and typically include item titles, authors or directors, the date you marked an item as read or watched, and any star rating you assigned. We do not fetch private messages, friend graphs, social interactions, or any data the platform does not expose through its public feed.

How often. Once you connect a service, Tangent checks for new activity approximately once a month by default. You can change the cadence or disconnect the integration at any time from the Settings page.

What we do not do. The connection is read-only. We do not post to the connected service on your behalf, request write permission, or share your access credentials with any third party.

Stopping the sync. You can pause or disconnect any connected service from the Settings page. Disconnecting stops all future fetches and removes the connection record. Items already imported into your Tangent library remain there unless you delete them individually.

12. Children's Privacy

Tangent is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

13. Changes to This Policy

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

14. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please reach out through the feedback option in the app's Settings page.