Overview
Popcorn is a social movie and TV tracking app. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, when we share it, and the choices you have.
This policy applies to the Popcorn mobile app and related services operated through our backend providers.
Information We Collect
Account information. When you create an account, we collect your phone number for verification and may collect your email address and password for account recovery, support, and login-related features.
Profile information. We collect information you choose to add to your profile, such as display name, username, profile photo, bio, home city, and social handles.
App activity and user content. We collect the ratings, rankings, watchlist items, notes, comments, likes, follows, invites, and other social activity you create in the app.
Contacts data. If you grant contact access, we read contact phone numbers on your device to help you find friends and send invites. Phone numbers are converted to hashed identifiers on our servers, and we store only those hashes — never your address book itself. We do not need your full address book for anything unrelated to these features.
Device and notification data. If you enable notifications, we collect your push token and notification delivery metadata so we can send and manage alerts.
Diagnostics and technical data. We collect crash reports, error logs, and limited device/app metadata to diagnose issues, improve reliability, and prevent abuse.
How We Use Information
We use information to create and secure your account, verify phone ownership, provide social features, personalize your experience, maintain rankings and watchlists, and operate the app.
We use contacts information you authorize to match hashed contact data against existing members, suggest connections, and support invite flows. Unless you turn off “Discoverable by contacts” in Settings, we may also use stored contact hashes to let members who already have your phone number in their contacts know when you join Popcorn.
We use diagnostics, logs, and service metadata to monitor uptime, investigate bugs, enforce our rules, and protect the service from misuse.
How Contacts Are Handled
When you use the invite or find-friends feature, Popcorn reads phone numbers from contacts stored on your device. Those numbers are normalized, sent securely to our servers, and converted to hashed identifiers. We store only the hashes and use them to identify which of your contacts already use Popcorn, which can be invited, and to notify members who already have your number in their contacts when you join — you can turn that off with the “Discoverable by contacts” setting.
You can delete your stored contact hashes at any time with “Remove synced contacts” in Settings; using the find-friends feature again will re-sync them. Stored contact hashes are also deleted when your account is deleted.
We do not use your contacts for advertising. We only use them to power contact-based social features inside Popcorn.
How Information Is Shared
Your public profile and social activity may be visible to other Popcorn users depending on the feature. For example, other users may be able to view your username, display name, profile image, ratings, watchlist items, comments, likes, and follow relationships.
We share information with service providers that help us operate the app, including Supabase for authentication, database, storage, and server functions, Sentry for crash and error monitoring, Expo for app delivery and push notification infrastructure, and TMDB for entertainment metadata.
We may disclose information if required by law, to protect users or the service, or as part of a merger, acquisition, financing, or asset sale.
Data Retention
We keep information for as long as it is reasonably necessary to operate Popcorn, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Stored contact hashes are kept until you remove them in Settings or delete your account.
Some information may remain in backups, logs, or derived operational records for a limited period even after it is removed from the active service.
Your Choices
You can update profile details inside the app, control notification settings, and decline optional permissions such as contacts, photos, camera, and notifications.
You can control contact-based features in Settings: turn off “Discoverable by contacts” to stop contact-based join notifications about you, and use “Remove synced contacts” to delete your stored contact hashes.
You can remove the app at any time. You can also request account deletion inside the app. If you need help with account or data deletion, contact us using the support information below.
Children
Popcorn is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we may update the effective date above and provide additional notice when appropriate.
Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or need help with account or data deletion, contact us at [email protected].