Privacy Policy
SofaList (the "App") and the website at sofalist.app (the "Website") are published by Applications Macareux, a sole proprietorship registered in Quebec, Canada ("we", "us").
Effective date: [launch date]
Last updated: [date]
1. The short version
- Your lists stay on your phone. There is no account and no sign-in. Your titles, notes, photos and settings are stored on your device, not on our servers.
- Some features need the internet. When you search for a title, open a title's details, scan a TV screen or poster, take a photo in the App, or share an image or text to the App, the App sends what that feature needs to our server, which passes it on to the services described in section 4. Our server keeps nothing that identifies you.
- Photos you scan or take are analysed by Google's Gemini API, on Google's paid service, where Google does not use them to train its models. Photos you choose from your phone's gallery never leave your phone.
- We do not sell, rent or share your data for advertising. The App has no ads, no analytics SDK and no tracking.
- The only personal information we ever hold is what you choose to send us, such as an email.
The rest of this Policy explains this in the detail that privacy laws require.
2. Who is responsible
Applications Macareux is responsible for the personal information handled through the App and the Website. Its owner is the Person in Charge of the Protection of Personal Information under Quebec's Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector ("Law 25").
Contact: feedback@sofalist.app
Mail: Applications Macareux, 936 av. du Mont-Royal E, Montréal (Québec) H2J 1X2, Canada
3. What stays on your phone
The following is created and stored only on your device:
- your lists and the titles in them, with their details, notes and statuses;
- the photos you add to titles (taken in the App, picked from your gallery, kept from a scan, or shared to the App);
- your settings (theme, streaming services, filters and similar);
- a count of the AI features you have used this month, used to apply the free monthly allowance;
- a record of your last backup (the file's name and the place you saved it).
We do not receive a copy of any of this. Uninstalling the App deletes it, except what Android's own backup or your own backup file contains (section 6).
The App does not ask for your name, email address, phone number, contacts or location.
4. What leaves your phone, and why
The App connects to our server, a Cloudflare Worker that we operate, only for the features below. Our server does not store photos, does not store search text with anything that identifies you, and does not keep logs of IP addresses.
4.1 Title search and title details. When you type, speak or share a title to search for, the search text is sent to our server, which looks it up in Wikidata, the free knowledge base run by the Wikimedia Foundation. When you open a title, or when the App refreshes the genres of titles saved in your lists, the title's Wikidata identifier is sent the same way. For title details, our server may also fetch the opening of the title's English Wikipedia article; Wikipedia receives only the article's name. Wikidata and Wikipedia see our server, never your phone or your IP address. To answer faster, our server keeps search results in Cloudflare's cache for up to 24 hours and title details for up to 7 days; these cached results are keyed by the search text or the title, never by who asked.
4.2 Text shared to the App. If you share text to SofaList from another app (for example a link to a film), the App keeps only the title it finds in the text and searches for it as in 4.1. Any web link in the shared text, and anything in it that could track you, is removed on your phone and never sent.
4.3 Scans, photos taken in the App, and images shared to the App. When you scan a screen or poster, take a photo with the App's camera, or share an image to the App, the App sends a reduced copy of the image (about 1024 pixels on its longest side, with location and other embedded data removed) to our server. Our server passes it to Google's Gemini API to identify the film or show and/or to find where the artwork is in the image, then returns the answer to the App. Our server does not keep the image. Google processes it as our service provider under its paid-service terms: Google does not use it to improve its products, and keeps it for a limited time only to detect abuse of its service. Avoid scanning people or personal documents; the App only needs the title on screen. Photos you choose from your phone's gallery are not sent.
4.4 AI summaries and mood tags. To write a title's short summary and mood tags, our server sends Gemini the title, its year, its genres and the opening of its English Wikipedia article. Nothing from your phone or about you is included. The result is stored on our server per title and language, so the next person who opens the same title gets the same summary. Summaries are adapted from Wikipedia under the CC BY-SA licence, as the App shows under each summary.
4.5 Reporting a summary. If you use "Report" on a summary, the App sends the title's identifier, the reason you chose and the text that was shown. Our server emails it to us. The report does not include your name, email or any identifier of you or your phone.
4.6 Voice search. When you search by voice, the App uses your phone's built-in speech recognition service (on most phones, Google's). That service converts your speech to text under its own terms and privacy policy; it may process audio on your phone or on its servers. SofaList receives only the resulting text and uses it as a typed search (4.1). The App does not record or keep audio.
4.7 What every connection reveals. Like any internet connection, a request to our server reveals your IP address to Cloudflare, which hosts it. Our server uses the IP address only to limit how many requests one connection can make per minute, which protects the service from abuse; these counters expire within about a minute. Cloudflare may keep its own operational logs, under its privacy policy. We also count how features are used (for example, how many searches found a result) without recording IP addresses, search text, titles or anything else that identifies you or your phone.
4.8 Links you open. The App's buttons can open other websites (for example IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, Wikipedia, or a Google search) in a browser. Those sites receive your visit directly and their own privacy policies apply.
5. Permissions
- Camera: to scan a screen or poster and to take photos in the App. Used only while you are scanning or taking a photo.
- Microphone: for voice search. Used only while you hold or tap the voice search button.
- Internet: for the features in section 4.
The App does not ask for permission to read your photos or files: when you pick a photo or choose where to save a backup, Android's own picker or Save screen gives the App only the one item you chose.
6. Backups
- Android's own backup. If backup is turned on in your phone's settings, Android copies the App's lists and settings to your Google account (and to a new phone during a phone-to-phone transfer). Your photos are excluded from cloud backup and stay on your phone. On Android 12 and later, a direct phone-to-phone transfer can still carry the photos; on Android 11 and earlier, it does not. Google handles these backups under its own terms; we cannot see them.
- "Back up now". This creates a file with your lists and your photos and saves it where you choose (for example a cloud drive, your phone, or a memory card), or sends it to an app you pick. It goes only where you send it. We never receive it.
7. Emails you send us
If you write to feedback@sofalist.app or hello@sofalist.app, or use Send feedback in the App (which opens your email app with the App version and Android version filled in, which you can edit or delete before sending), we receive your email address and your message. We use them only to reply and to improve the App. They are stored in our email service (Google Workspace) for as long as needed to follow up, and you can ask us to delete them at any time.
8. Premium and payments
SofaList Premium is sold through Google Play. Google processes the payment; we never receive your card number or billing address. Google gives us a purchase record (product, price, country and an order number) for accounting and taxes; it does not tell us your name or email. Whether you have Premium is checked on your phone with Google Play. Google Play's billing library also sends Google some technical data of its own when the App starts, under Google's privacy policy. To cancel a subscription, use Manage subscription in the App or the Subscriptions page of the Google Play Store.
9. The Website
The Website has no cookies, analytics, ads or trackers. It is hosted by Cloudflare Pages, which, like any web host, may log the IP address of visits to serve the site and protect it from abuse. We do not use those logs.
10. Who processes data for us, and where
| Service | What it receives | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare (hosting of our server, cache and Website) | everything in section 4, in transit; cached results; IP address | worldwide network, closest to you; company in the United States |
| Google (Gemini API) | reduced images (4.3); title data for summaries (4.4) | United States and other countries |
| Wikimedia Foundation (Wikidata, Wikipedia) | search text and title identifiers, from our server only | United States |
| Google (Workspace email) | emails you send us | United States and other countries |
| Google (Play Store, Play Billing) | purchase and app-store data, under Google's terms | United States and other countries |
Information may therefore be processed outside Quebec and Canada, where privacy laws may differ. Before sending information outside Quebec, we assessed these transfers as Law 25 requires and rely on these providers' contractual commitments to protect it.
11. How long we keep things
- Photos sent for a scan or crop: not kept by our server; kept by Google for a limited time for abuse detection only.
- Search results in the cache: up to 24 hours. Title details in the cache: up to 7 days.
- AI summaries: kept per title until the title's information or our summary method changes.
- Rate-limit counters: about one minute.
- Reports: kept in our email until handled.
- Emails you send: as long as needed to follow up; deleted on request.
12. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you can ask us to tell you what personal information we hold about you, give you a copy, correct it, delete it, or stop using it, and you can withdraw a consent you gave. Because the App keeps your data on your phone, the only personal information we usually hold about you is email you sent us. To make a request, write to feedback@sofalist.app. We answer within 30 days.
If you are in the European Union, the United Kingdom or Switzerland: we process the data in section 4 because it is needed to provide the feature you asked for (performance of our service), and the IP-based rate limiting because of our legitimate interest in protecting the service from abuse. Emails are processed to answer you. You also have the right to object, to restrict processing, and to data portability, and to complain to your local data protection authority.
If you are in Brazil, India, Australia or elsewhere: you have the rights your local law gives you; write to the address above and we will honour them.
13. Age
SofaList is intended for adults (18 and over). We do not knowingly receive personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
14. Security
Every connection between the App, our server and the services above is encrypted (HTTPS). Our server keeps no store of personal information that could be breached. If a confidentiality incident involving your personal information ever occurred, we would record it and notify you and the authorities as the law requires.
15. Changes to this Policy
If we change this Policy, we will update the "Last updated" date. If a change means the App sends new kinds of information, we will say so in the App's release notes and on this page before the change takes effect.
16. Contact and complaints
Questions, requests and complaints: feedback@sofalist.app
If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can contact:
- Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec: https://www.cai.gouv.qc.ca/
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: https://www.priv.gc.ca/
- or the data protection authority where you live.