Privacy Policy | GrooveWatch

Last updated: 8 November 2026

1. Who is responsible for your data

GrooveWatch helps you monitor turntable and cartridge usage, manage your equipment, and use supported smart-plug controls. This policy explains how personal data is handled when you use the website and connect a device to the service.

Data controller: Operator identity to be confirmed before the public beta.
Address: Controller contact address to be confirmed.
Privacy contact: A privacy contact will be provided before the public beta.

2. Information we collect

Beta invitations: an administrator can enter your email address before you create an account. We store the address, invitation status, sending and acceptance records, and the administrator who added it, to manage beta access.
Account information: your username, email address, password hash, email confirmation status, account settings and notification preferences.
Equipment information: the devices, turntables and cartridges you add, their names, models, identifiers, settings and notes.
Usage and device status: spin times and durations, cartridge usage totals and adjustments, power and online status, calibration information, and network details reported by your device, including its local IP address. GrooveWatch does not record audio or identify the music you play.
Connection and security information: IP addresses and request details in server logs, sign-in and recovery attempt counters, session records and security-token hashes.
Notifications:in-app messages and delivery status. If you enable browser push notifications, we also store your browser's push subscription address and the keys needed to deliver notifications.
Contact & Feedback: the category and message you submit, an optional reply email, submission and delivery records, and your account ID if you are signed in. Spam protection uses hashed IP/account rate-limit keys.

Providing an email address, username and password is necessary to create an account. Equipment and usage data are needed for the monitoring features you choose to use. Optional notification settings can be changed at any time.

During the invite-only beta, an invited address and email confirmation are required to create an account. An administrator can send a beta invitation through the email service. The invitation link does not grant access by itself or enable optional notifications.

3. How and why we use your data

To create and manage your account, provide equipment monitoring and controls, keep your listening history, and deliver notifications you request. The legal basis is providing the service you request, under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR.
To prevent abuse, protect accounts, diagnose faults and maintain the service. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in running a secure and reliable service, under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.
To respond to questions, investigate reports and consider suggestions sent through Contact & Feedback. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in providing support and improving the service, under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.
Where a legal obligation requires us to retain or disclose information, the legal basis is compliance with that obligation, under Article 6(1)(c) GDPR.

If we introduce a purpose that requires your consent, we will ask separately and explain how to withdraw it. Reading this policy does not give consent for additional uses.

The current service does not sell personal data, use advertising trackers, or send marketing emails. We do not use your data for automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

4. Cookies and storage on your device

We use the gg_session cookie to keep you signed in. It lasts up to 30 days unless you sign out or the session is revoked earlier. You can sign out of your current session or use “Log out everywhere” in Account settings.

Your browser stores the last turntable you viewed and your push-notification preference for that browser. The installable web app also caches application files and pages to support loading and offline use. You can remove this storage through your browser settings; doing so may sign you out or reset local preferences.

5. Service providers and international transfers

Personal data is processed by the GrooveWatch operator and providers needed to run the service.

Hosting and database: The production provider and hosting location have not yet been selected and will be listed before the public beta.
Email delivery: the current integration uses Resend for beta invitations, registration confirmation codes, password recovery, account security messages and notification emails you enable. Your email address and the message contents are sent to Resend for delivery. Resend describes processing in the United States and contractual transfer safeguards in its Data Processing Addendum. The applicable provider arrangements will be confirmed before the public beta.
Feedback email copies:once enabled, your message and any reply address are also forwarded to the operator's private inbox through the same email service. The inbox recipient is not published on the website.
Browser push:if enabled, notifications are delivered through the push service used by your browser or operating system. Its processing locations depend on that provider. Notification text can appear on your device's lock screen, depending on your settings.

The production hosting, provider agreements and any transfers outside the European Economic Area are part of the details still being finalized for this draft. The final policy will identify the applicable safeguards and how to obtain information about them.

6. How long information is kept

Your account, equipment and listening history are kept to provide monitoring and maintain your history. Retiring equipment preserves its record and history. Removing a spin excludes it from your visible history and usage totals while retaining a discarded record. Permanently deleting a cartridge removes that cartridge and its linked listening records. The current service does not automatically delete inactive accounts.

An administrator can permanently delete an account and its related equipment, listening history, sessions, notifications, accepted invitation and account-linked feedback from the live database. A minimal administrative audit keeps the action, administrator ID, deleted account ID and time. Copies in backups and external email inboxes follow their separate retention below.

A pending registration stores your username, email, password hash and a protected confirmation-code hash. Codes expire after 10 minutes. Unfinished registrations expire after 24 hours without a new code and are removed by periodic cleanup.

An invitation is marked accepted when an account is created and is removed when that account is deleted. Pending and revoked invitations currently have no automatic expiry; their retention period is still being finalized for this draft. Revoking an invitation prevents new registration and does not disable an existing account.

The notification inbox keeps up to the latest 200 messages per account; related event and delivery records may remain with the account. Password-reset links expire after 30 minutes. Session expiry and reset-link expiry prevent further use of those credentials and do not by themselves mean that all related records have been deleted.

Contact & Feedback messages expire after 90 days and are removed by an hourly cleanup, including their reply address and delivery records. Rate-limit records use one-hour windows and are also removed by periodic cleanup.

Email correspondence: Retention of feedback copies and replies in the operator's email inbox is still being finalized.
Server and security logs: Retention period to be set with the production hosting.
Expired and revoked session records: Retention period to be finalized before the public beta.
Backups: Backup retention and the deletion schedule to be set with the production hosting.

Where information must be retained for a specific legal obligation or dispute, the purpose and applicable retention period will be explained when relevant.

7. Your choices and rights

You can edit equipment information, manage your notification preferences in User Settings, and disable browser notifications through your browser or operating-system settings. Account security messages, such as password-reset emails you request, are separate from optional equipment notifications.

Subject to the conditions in applicable data-protection law, you can request access to your personal data, correction, deletion, restriction of processing and a portable copy of data. You can object to processing based on legitimate interests. Where processing relies on consent, you can withdraw it without affecting earlier lawful processing.

A contact for privacy requests, account deletion and data export will be provided before the public beta.

You can also complain to a data-protection supervisory authority, including the authority in the EU country where you live or work, or where you believe an infringement occurred. The European Commission provides a guide to your data-protection rights.

8. Protecting your information

Passwords are stored as salted hashes. Access to account data requires authentication, and the application uses safeguards such as request validation, sign-in limits and session revocation. No online service can guarantee absolute security. Please use a unique password and keep your device credentials private.

9. Changes to this policy

We will update this page as the service develops and change the date above. Material changes to how personal data is used will be explained through the service or another appropriate channel before they take effect, where required.