Privacy Policy

Bicker helps a group agree on something to watch. It is designed to need as little information about you as possible: there are no accounts, no email addresses, no passwords, and no payment details. This page explains exactly what is stored and why.

What we store

When you open Bicker, we create an anonymous session for your device. Specifically we store:

• An anonymous ID. A random identifier for your device, held on your device and attached to your activity in a room. It is not linked to your name, email, phone number, or any account.
• Room data. For rooms you create or join: the room code, the room name you chose, the country and filters selected, the list of titles in the deck, and the final decision.
• Your votes. Which titles you liked, skipped, or vetoed in a room, so the app can find matches for the group.
• A display name. Currently always “Guest”. If we add named profiles later, only the name you choose to type would be stored.

What we do not do

• We do not ask for or store your name, email address, phone number, or payment details.
• We do not use the device location API. The country selector is pre-filled from your device’s language and time zone settings, and you can change it.
• We do not run advertising, ad tracking, or third-party analytics.
• We do not sell or share your data for marketing.

Who processes data for us

We rely on a small number of third-party service providers:

• Cloud hosting and database providers — run the website, its API, and the database that stores rooms and votes, and issue the anonymous sessions. Like any web host, they process connection data such as IP addresses in order to serve requests.
• The Movie Database (TMDB) — supplies the film and TV information. Requests for that information are made by our server, not your device. Posters and streaming-service logos, however, load directly from TMDB’s image servers, so TMDB receives your IP address when those images load.
• An image service for country flags — the small flag icons load directly from a third-party image host, which likewise receives your IP address when they load.
• Cloudflare — provides the automated bot check (Cloudflare Turnstile) described below. When the check runs, Cloudflare receives your IP address and technical signals about your browser or device in order to tell a real person from an automated script. Cloudflare states that it does not use this information for advertising or to build user profiles. Cloudflare’s handling of that data is set out in its Turnstile Privacy Addendum.
• A rate-limiting service — briefly stores a counter against your IP address, or against your anonymous ID, so we can tell when one source is making an unreasonable number of requests. These counters expire on their own within minutes or hours and hold nothing else about you.

We can tell you exactly which providers we use, and where they process data, on request — see the contact details below.

Keeping Bicker working

Because Bicker needs no signup, the same thing that makes it easy to join also makes it easy to abuse: an automated script can create sessions or rooms far faster than any real group would. Two measures guard against that, and both involve a small amount of processing we would otherwise avoid:

• Rate limiting. We count recent requests against your IP address, or against your anonymous ID, and temporarily refuse further requests once that count is unreasonably high. The counters expire automatically and are not used for any other purpose.
• An automated bot check. When a new anonymous session is created, an invisible check from Cloudflare Turnstile confirms the request comes from a real browser rather than a script. It runs silently, with nothing shown on screen, and only when a session is created — not on every visit. What Cloudflare collects and how it uses it is described in its Turnstile Privacy Addendum.

Both exist to keep the service available and to stop the database filling with automated junk — not to identify or profile you.

How long we keep it

Rooms are short-lived by design and stop accepting activity 24 hours after being created, or sooner if the host closes them. Room and vote records may remain in the database after that. Because your ID is anonymous, we generally cannot identify which records belong to a particular person.

Anonymous IDs are deleted automatically once they have been unused for 30 days, unless they are still part of a room that is open. Deleting an ID also deletes that ID’s votes and room memberships. Rate-limiting counters expire within minutes or hours.

Your choices and rights

Clearing the app’s data (clearing site data in your browser, or uninstalling the mobile app) discards the anonymous ID stored on your device. After that, previous activity can no longer be connected to you, and a fresh ID is created next time you use Bicker.

Separately from anything you do, unused anonymous IDs and their associated votes are deleted automatically after 30 days, as described above.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete personal data, or to object to its processing. Because the data we hold is not tied to any identifying information, we may need you to provide your anonymous ID before we can locate anything. To make a request, use the contact details below.

Children

Bicker is not directed at young children. Film and TV information comes from TMDB and can include titles intended for adult audiences (for example horror or 18-rated films). Adult (pornographic) content is excluded.

Changes

If this policy changes, the “last updated” date above will change with it. Significant changes will be highlighted in the app.

Contact

Questions or requests about privacy: nashcodeapps@gmail.com.