Privacy policy

CouchApproved (couchapproved.com) is run by Michael Freeman in Victoria, Australia (“we”, “us”). This policy explains what the site stores, what stays on your own device, and the choices you have. Questions go to hello@couchapproved.com.

The short version

• There are no accounts. We never ask for your name, email address or phone number.
• Your kids’ ages, and any names you give them, are kept in a cookie in your own browser. Our server reads that cookie to show whether a title suits them, but never saves it.
• The only thing we store on our server is a movie-night list, if you make one.
• We use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are useful. In the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland we ask first: if you reject cookies, or haven’t answered, Google Analytics doesn’t load at all. Everywhere else it’s on unless you turn it off with “Cookie settings” at the bottom of every page. Ads, when we show them, come from Google AdSense and follow the same choice.

Cookies we set

• ca_kids: the ages you enter in “Who’s watching”, plus an optional first name or nickname for each child. It lets every page show a verdict for each child. Kept for one year.
• ca_picker_seen: remembers that you’ve opened “Who’s watching?”, so we stop highlighting it. Kept for one year.
• ca_consent: whether you accepted or rejected cookies in our banner or “Cookie settings”, so we don’t ask on every page. Kept for one year.
• ca_geo: the country you’re in, worked out from your IP address (see “Your country” below), so we know whether to ask before Google Analytics loads. Kept for one year and updated if you move.
• ca_country: the country for ratings and streaming services. It starts as the country you’re in, and changes if you pick another. Kept for one year.
• ca_guest: a random code created when you first add a title to a list, so you (and only you) can edit your lists. We store a scrambled (hashed) copy of it next to your lists, never the code itself. Kept for one year.
• ca_list: the short code of the list you’re adding to, so the site can show “View list”. Kept for one year.

These cookies are needed for the features you use and aren’t used for advertising or tracking (Google’s cookies are covered below). You can delete them at any time in your browser’s settings. The site still works without them, but it will forget your kids and your country.

Movie-night lists

If you create a list, we store its name, the titles in it and when it was changed, together with the hashed code described above. Anyone who has a list’s link can view it, so please don’t put personal details in a list name. You can remove titles and rename a list yourself. To delete a list completely, email hello@couchapproved.com with its link.

Your country

We work out which country you’re in by looking up your IP address in a country database on our own server (the free database from DB-IP; your address isn’t sent anywhere), falling back to the United States for ratings if we can’t tell. We use it only to choose ratings and streaming services, unless you pick another country, and to decide whether to ask about cookies before Google Analytics loads; if we can’t tell where you are, we ask. We keep the country in the ca_geo and ca_country cookies in your browser, and we don’t store it or your IP address on our server. Our site doesn’t keep visitor logs. Like any website, the hosting infrastructure handles your IP address briefly in order to send you pages.

Other services your browser talks to

• TMDB (The Movie Database): posters and backdrops load straight from TMDB’s image servers, so TMDB receives your IP address and browser details when you view them. See TMDB’s privacy policy.
• YouTube, JustWatch, streaming services and Wikipedia: we only link to these. Nothing is sent to them unless you follow a link, and then their own privacy policies apply.
• Google Analytics (in the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland only if you accept cookies; elsewhere unless you turn it off): tells us how many people visit, which pages they view, roughly where they are (country and city, worked out from the IP address), what device and browser they use and how they found the site. It sets cookies named _ga and _ga_SZV9RMNSQQ, kept for up to two years, to tell repeat visits apart. We only see totals, not who you are. Your kids’ names are never sent to Google, but Google Analytics records the address of each page, and search pages can include the ages you search for (for example ?ages=4,9). See how Google uses this information; you can change your mind at any time, wherever you are, with “Cookie settings” at the bottom of every page, which also deletes the _ga cookies. Google also offers an opt-out browser add-on.
• Google AdSense: when ads are shown, Google and its partners use cookies to show ads, limit how often you see them and measure them. They may personalise ads based on your visits to this and other sites. You can read how Google uses information from sites that use its services and turn off personalised ads in Google’s ad settings. Ad cookies follow the same choice as Google Analytics: in the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland they’re only used if you accept cookies in our banner.

Children

CouchApproved is made for parents and carers, not for children, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from children. The ages and names you enter about your kids stay in the ca_kids cookie on your device. If you’d rather not store a name, leave it blank or use a nickname: ages alone are enough.

Where information is kept

Lists are stored on a server we rent from Hostinger in Jakarta, Indonesia. By creating a list you agree to it being stored there. We take reasonable steps to protect it: the server is only reachable over encrypted connections and the database isn’t exposed to the internet. We keep lists until you ask us to delete them, and we may delete lists that haven’t been used for a long time.

Your rights

You can ask us what we hold about you, and ask us to correct or delete it, by emailing hello@couchapproved.com. Because there are no accounts, the only way we can find your data is through a list link, so include it. We don’t sell personal information.

We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled a request, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. If you’re in the EU or UK, you also have rights under the GDPR and UK GDPR, including to object to processing and to complain to your local data protection authority. We rely on our legitimate interest in running the features you use (preferences and lists), and on consent for Google Analytics and ad cookies where the law requires it.

Changes

If we change this policy we’ll update the date at the top. See also our terms of use and how we rate.