Privacy Policy

Who we are

Watch Party ("we", "us") is an independently operated app, available at https://night-watch-party.vercel.app. For privacy questions or requests, contact us at watchparty.privacy@proton.me.

Google user data — what we access, and why

When you sign in with Google, and if you separately connect Google Drive, Watch Party requests the following Google user data:

• Basic profile (name, email address, profile photo) — used only to create and identify your Watch Party account, display your name/avatar to people you interact with in the app (friends, watch rooms, chat), and let you sign back in.
• Google Drive — drive.file scope only — the narrowest Drive scope Google offers. It lets Watch Party create and manage only the specific files and folder it itself creates in your Drive (a dedicated "Watch Party/Movies" folder) — it can never see, list, or modify any other file in your Drive. We use this solely so you can store a movie in your own Drive and play it back in a Watch Party room; we never use it for any other purpose.

We store a reference to each Drive file we create on your behalf (its Drive file ID, file name, MIME type, and size) so the app can find and play it again. We never download, copy, or retain the video content itself outside your Drive.

How we use it

Exclusively to provide and improve Watch Party's own functionality: authenticating you, running playback from your Drive, and displaying your profile info to people you interact with inside the app. We never use Google user data for advertising, for training AI/ML models, or for any purpose unrelated to Watch Party's functionality, and we never sell it.

Who we share it with

We do not transfer, sell, or share your Google user data with any third party, except: (a) Google itself, as necessary to make the underlying API calls (e.g. Google's Drive API servers, to store/retrieve a file you've chosen to save); and (b) the infrastructure providers that host the app and its database (currently Vercel and MongoDB Atlas), who process it only on our behalf to run the service and cannot use it for their own purposes. We do not share it with advertisers, data brokers, or any party for their independent use.

Storage, retention, and deletion

Google access/refresh tokens are encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM) and stored server-side only — they are never exposed to your browser or to other users. Disconnecting Google Drive (Settings → Google Drive → Disconnect) immediately and permanently deletes your stored refresh token from our database; Watch Party can no longer access your Drive from that point on. Disconnecting never deletes files already saved in your Drive — those remain exactly where they are, under your control. Deleting your account deletes your profile data and stored tokens within 30 days.

Other information we collect

Movie metadata

Titles, descriptions, duration, visibility settings, and similar details you provide about a movie you add to your library.

Watch history and watch rooms

What you've watched, when, with whom, and for how long, so features like Continue Watching and History work. Watch room metadata (room name, participants, timestamps) is stored similarly.

Chat, messages, and reactions

Messages and reactions sent inside a watch room are stored for the duration needed to deliver them to other participants and, unless you delete a room, as part of that room's history.

Friends and social information

Your friends list, pending friend requests, and related activity (e.g. who invited whom).

Discoverable content

If you set a movie's visibility to Discoverable, its title, description, contributor attribution (your name), and watch count become visible to other Watch Party users in Discover.

Third-party services

We use Google for authentication and, where you connect it, Google Drive for movie storage — see the dedicated section above for what that involves. We use Ably for real-time features (chat, playback sync, presence) inside a watch room, Vercel for application hosting, and MongoDB Atlas for our database. Your use of Google Drive through Watch Party is also subject to Google's own privacy policy.

Data security

We use industry-standard measures to protect your data in transit (TLS) and at rest. No system is perfectly secure, and we can't guarantee absolute security. Google API credentials and refresh tokens are encrypted, stored server-side only, and are never exposed to the browser.

Data retention

We retain account and library data for as long as your account is active. Watch history and chat messages are retained as described above unless you delete them. If you delete your account, we delete associated data, including Google tokens, within 30 days — except where we're required to keep it longer (e.g. an active copyright dispute).

Your controls

• Disconnecting Google Drive revokes Watch Party's access to your Drive and deletes our stored token immediately. It does not delete your movie files — they remain exactly where they are in your Drive.
• Changing a movie's visibility back to Private removes it from Discover immediately.
• Deleting a movie from your library removes it from Watch Party. You can separately choose to also delete the underlying file from Drive — this is presented as a distinct, explicit, confirmed action because it's irreversible.
• Deleting your account removes your Watch Party data per our retention policy above. Account deletion via the app is not yet available in this preview build — contact us at the email above to request deletion in the meantime.

Copyright and takedowns

If you believe content on Watch Party infringes your copyright, you can report it from the movie's page, or contact watchparty.privacy@proton.me. See also our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.

Children's privacy

Watch Party is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

Changes to this policy

We'll update the "Last updated" date above when this policy changes, and, for material changes affecting how we use Google user data, notify you in-app before the change takes effect.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data: watchparty.privacy@proton.me.