Privacy Policy — TV Tier List

This Privacy Policy explains how Couch Rank ("we", "our", or "us") collects, uses, and shares information about you when you use our web application and mobile application (collectively, the "Service").

By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide Directly

Account information — When you register, you provide an email address and choose a unique username. If you sign up with Google or Apple, we receive your name and email from those providers.
Profile information — You may optionally provide a display name, biography (up to 500 characters), a profile avatar URL, and a banner image URL.
Show and rating data — The TV shows and movies you add to your list, the tier ratings (S–F) you assign, your watch statuses, episode progress, and any personal notes you write about a show.
Group information — Group names, descriptions, and settings you create or edit within Watch Groups.
Communications — If you contact us for support, we receive the contents of those communications.

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

Usage data — We collect information about how you interact with the Service, such as pages visited, features used, and actions taken (e.g. adding a show, updating a tier).
Device and browser data — Browser type, operating system, and approximate time zone may be collected by our infrastructure providers.
Local storage — We store a timestamp in your browser's localStorage to manage the frequency of automatic episode data refreshes (at most once every 24 hours per account). No personal data is stored in localStorage.

1.3 Information from Third Parties

Authentication providers — If you use Google Sign-In or Sign in with Apple, we receive your name and email address from those providers in accordance with their respective privacy policies.
TMDB (The Movie Database) — Show metadata such as titles, posters, synopses, episode counts, and air dates is sourced from TMDB's public API. We do not share your personal data with TMDB.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

Create and manage your account.
Display your tier grid, show list, and profile to you and, according to your privacy settings, to other users.
Calculate and display community rankings on the Global Rankings page.
Refresh episode air date data for shows you are actively watching.
Enable social features including following other users, comparing show lists, and participating in Watch Groups.
Respond to your support requests.
Monitor for abuse, spam, or violations of our Terms and Conditions.
Maintain and improve the Service.

We do not use your data to serve third-party advertising.

3. How Your Information Is Shared

3.1 With Other Users

Certain information is visible to other users depending on your Privacy Permissions settings:

Public — Visible to anyone, including non-logged-in visitors to your public profile.
Groups & Followers — Visible to users who follow you or share a Watch Group with you.
Followers Only — Visible only to users who follow you.
Private — Visible only to you.

You control the visibility of your Tier Grid and Show Notes independently in your Account settings. Your username, bio, and avatar are always visible on your public profile page.

Custom Tier Lists you mark as Public are accessible to anyone via a direct link and appear on your public profile.

3.2 With Service Providers

Google Firebase (Firebase Authentication and Cloud Firestore) — Handles account authentication and stores all user and application data. See Google's Privacy Policy.
TMDB — Provides show and movie metadata. No personally identifiable information is sent to TMDB.

3.3 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, regulation, or valid legal process, or if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of Couch Rank, our users, or the public.

3.4 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via the email address associated with your account before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

4. Data Retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. You may delete your account at any time from the Account page. Deleting your account permanently removes your profile, show list, ratings, notes, tier lists, and group memberships. This action is irreversible.

Some residual data (e.g. aggregated, anonymised show ranking scores already incorporated into global statistics) may persist after account deletion, but cannot be linked back to you.

5. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including:

All data in transit is encrypted via HTTPS/TLS.
Firestore Security Rules enforce that user data can only be read or written by the account owner, except for data you have explicitly made public.
Authentication is handled by Firebase Authentication, which follows Google's security standards.

No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. We encourage you to use a strong, unique password and to sign out of shared devices.

6. Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed to children under the age of 13 (or the applicable minimum age in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will take steps to delete it.

7. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Access — Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Correction — Update inaccurate information via your Account settings.
Deletion — Delete your account and all associated data via the Account settings Danger Zone.
Portability — Request an export of your data in a machine-readable format.
Objection — Object to certain processing of your data.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the address below.

8. Cookies and Local Storage

We do not use tracking cookies or advertising cookies. The Service may use browser localStorage to store non-personal session preferences to improve performance. This data does not leave your device.

Third-party authentication providers (Google, Apple) may set their own cookies during the sign-in flow. Please refer to their respective privacy policies for details.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. For material changes, we will endeavour to notify you via the email address on your account. Your continued use of the Service after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us at:

Couch Rank
Email: privacy@couchrank.com