Privacy Policy

Last updated: 3 October 2026

YMAL recommends shows, games, books and music from what you tell it you love, skip or have not seen. This page says what that takes, what we keep, and how to take it back. The short version: no name, no profile, no advertising, and you can use YMAL without an account.

1. What we keep

• Your answers (love, skip, not seen) and your votes on recommendations. Without an account they are tied to a random id stored in a cookie on your browser; with one, to your account.
• If you create an account: your email address. You sign in with a link sent to it, so there is no password to store.
• Messages you send through the feedback forms, with the page you sent them from.
• A hashed (one-way, salted) version of your IP address next to answers, votes and feedback, so we can limit abuse without keeping the address itself.

2. What we use it for

To work out your recommendations, to count votes towards the public rankings, to sign you in, to fix what feedback reports, and to stop abuse. We do not build advertising profiles, we do not show ads based on you, and we never sell personal data.

3. Cookies, local storage and analytics

YMAL uses a few cookies it needs to work: the random voter id (kept for a year), your sign-in session if you have an account, and your theme. Your browser also keeps some preferences in local storage. Anonymous usage statistics come from Rybbit, which we host ourselves: it counts visits and which steps people take — never which titles, never who — and sets no cookies. You can switch it off on the Privacy & your data page, and it is already off if your browser sends Global Privacy Control.

Cookie Policy

4. Who handles it

Our database and sign-in run on Supabase, which stores the data above and sends sign-in emails from noreply@ymal.net. Analytics run on our own server. Posters and covers load straight from the catalogs we draw on (such as TMDB, IGDB, Open Library and the Cover Art Archive), so your browser fetches those images from them; we send them nothing about you. We share data with nobody else, except where the law requires it.

5. Affiliate links

Some title pages show "Buy it" links to stores such as Amazon, Fnac or Humble. These are affiliate links: if you buy something after following one, the store may pay us a small commission, at no extra cost to you. The store learns that you arrived from YMAL; we do not send it your account, your answers or anything else about you. Affiliate links never influence recommendations, rankings or which titles we show.

6. Your choices

You can see, take back or erase what YMAL keeps at any time, signed in or not:

• Privacy & your data — download a copy of your data, clear your answers and votes, turn analytics off, or make this browser forget YMAL.
• Delete my account — removes your account, its email address, your answers and your votes straight away. Feedback messages you sent are kept anonymously so the fix can still be made.

The app offers the same under You. For anything else — access, correction, objection — write to us; you can also complain to your data protection authority.

7. How long we keep it

Answers, votes and your account stay until you clear them or delete the account. The voter cookie expires after a year without being renewed. Feedback is kept while it is useful for fixing what it reports.

8. Security

Data travels over HTTPS and access to the database is restricted. No system is perfectly secure; if you spot a problem, please tell us.

9. Contact

Questions about privacy or your data: support@ymal.net

Emails you receive from YMAL come from noreply@ymal.net, which is not read — write to the address above instead.