Privacy Policy

1. What data we collect

PodPast.ai collects the minimum data required to operate the service:

• Account data: email address and password hash (for authentication).
• Feed data: podcast RSS feed URLs and YouTube channel or video URLs you add to your vault.
• Transcript data: the text content of transcripts generated from your feeds, chunked and stored as text and vector embeddings.
• Usage data: search queries (anonymized after 30 days), Deepgram minute consumption, API request logs.
• Payment data: billing information processed by Stripe — PodPast.ai does not store raw card numbers.

We do not collect: audio files, video files, or any media content. Audio is streamed directly to Deepgram for transcription and is never stored by PodPast.ai.

2. How your data is used

• Transcript text and vector embeddings are used to power search queries and Claude MCP responses within your vault.
• Email address is used for account authentication, transactional notifications (transcription complete, credit balance low), and product updates (opt-out available).
• Usage data is used to calculate Deepgram credit consumption and to improve retrieval quality. Anonymized aggregate data may be used for product analytics.
• We do not use your transcript content to train any AI models.

3. Storage and security

All transcript data and vector embeddings are stored in a Supabase PostgreSQL database hosted in the United States (AWS us-east-1 region). Data is encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3). Access to the database is restricted to the PodPast.ai backend API. Your vault is private — transcript data is not accessible to other users or to PodPast.ai staff except where necessary to investigate a valid legal request.

4. Third-party data processors

PodPast.ai shares data with the following third parties solely for the purpose of operating the service:

• Deepgram: receives audio stream URLs for transcription of audio-only episodes. Deepgram does not store audio after processing. Deepgram's privacy policy applies to data processed by their API.
• OpenAI: receives transcript text chunks for the purpose of generating vector embeddings. OpenAI processes this data under their API data usage policy (zero data retention for API inputs by default).
• Stripe: processes payment information for paid subscriptions. PodPast.ai does not receive or store raw payment card data.
• Supabase: provides the PostgreSQL database infrastructure in the US. Supabase is a data processor acting under our instructions.
• Railway: hosts the backend API. Application logs may be retained for up to 30 days.

5. Your rights

• Access: you can view all feeds and transcript content in your vault at any time from the dashboard.
• Deletion: you can delete individual feeds, episodes, or your entire account and all associated data from Settings → Account. Deletion is permanent and irreversible.
• Export: transcript export in JSON format is available from the vault settings page.
• Correction: you may update your email address and account information from your account settings at any time.
• Opt-out of marketing: unsubscribe from any marketing email via the link in the email footer, or email privacy@podpast.ai.

6. Data retention

Transcript data and embeddings are retained until you delete them or delete your account. Anonymized search query logs are deleted after 30 days. Payment records are retained as required by applicable law (typically 7 years for financial records). After account deletion, all personally identifiable data is deleted within 30 days.

7. Cookies

PodPast.ai uses session cookies for authentication and a minimal analytics cookie (Plausible Analytics, privacy-preserving, no cross-site tracking, no fingerprinting). No third-party advertising cookies are used.

8. Changes to this policy

Material changes to this policy will be communicated via email to registered users at least 14 days before taking effect. The effective date at the top of this page reflects the date of the current version.

9. Contact

For privacy-related questions or to exercise your rights, contact: privacy@podpast.ai