Who is responsible
background is operated by Egor Knyazkov. Questions and privacy requests can be sent to privacy@mybackground.io.
Information we process
- Account and profile data: email address, Sign in with Apple identifier, display name, nickname, profile photo, authentication records, and account settings.
- Your collection: categories, titles, notes, dates, ratings, links, completion and wish states, recommendations, sharing choices, and cover images you create or upload.
- Social features: public profile settings, subscriptions, and recommendations sent to or received from other users.
- Membership: your Background account identifier, purchases, product, trial, renewal, refund and access status. Apple does not provide us with your payment card details.
- Integration data: identifiers and encrypted authorization credentials for services you choose to connect, plus the library data you ask background to import.
- Operational data: IP address and basic request, device, crash, security, and performance information needed to run and protect the service. For signed-in users, the app also sends an activity timestamp while it is open in the foreground.
Data is provided by you, generated when you use the service, received from a connected service at your request, or supplied by Apple when you use Sign in with Apple.
How and why we use information
We use account activity timestamps to calculate aggregate active-user and current-app-activity counts. We process information to authenticate you, synchronize and restore your collection, provide search, imports, public profiles, recommendations and push notifications, send registration and password recovery email, respond to support requests, detect abuse, diagnose failures, and keep the service secure. We do not sell personal information, run third-party advertising, or use your collection for cross-company tracking.
Depending on your location, these activities rely on performing the service you request, your consent for optional integrations and public sharing, our legitimate interest in reliable and secure operation, and compliance with legal obligations. You can withdraw optional permissions without affecting processing already performed.
Public sharing
Entries are private by default. If you enable a public profile and select categories or entries for sharing, that selected information can be viewed by anyone with the public link and may be indexed or copied by others. You can disable sharing in the app, but copies made by other people or search engines may remain outside our control.
Service providers and external services
We disclose only the information needed for these services to perform their role:
- DigitalOcean: infrastructure hosting for the database, authentication, API, website, and media storage.
- Google Workspace: registration, verification, password recovery, and support email delivery.
- RevenueCat: purchase validation and Membership access. We send your Background account identifier, transaction information and technical SDK data, not your notes, avatar, collection contents or integration tokens. See RevenueCat's privacy policy.
- Apple: Sign in with Apple, App Store distribution, and APNs push delivery.
- Optional integrations: Spotify, Steam, MyAnimeList, Google Books, Goodreads, and Yandex Music receive authorization or synchronization requests only when you connect or use them.
- Metadata search: search text and item identifiers may be sent to Wikidata, MusicBrainz, TMDB, OMDb API, PoiskKino API, TVmaze, and Media Arts Database. We do not include your email address, private notes, or complete collection in those requests.
Providers process information under their own terms and privacy policies. We select providers needed to operate background and require appropriate protection where applicable. Information may be processed outside your country subject to the safeguards required by applicable law.
Website analytics
The background website uses a self-hosted Umami installation to measure aggregate visits, page performance, referrers, countries, and device types, as well as clicks on App Store and Open in App links. We use this information to understand and improve the website, not for advertising or cross-site profiling.
Device permissions
Camera and photo-library access are used when you choose or save an avatar or cover image. Notification permission is used to deliver account and recommendation updates through APNs. You can change these permissions at any time in iOS Settings.
Retention, deletion, and your choices
App activity timestamps are stored with your account and deleted when you delete your account. Account and collection data are retained while your account is active. Shorter operational logs and backups are retained only for security, reliability, and recovery and expire on their configured schedules. Some records may be kept longer when required by law or to resolve abuse and security incidents.
You can edit collection and profile data, disable public sharing, disconnect integrations, and delete your account from inside the app. Account deletion removes the account and associated cloud data from active systems; residual encrypted backup copies expire through normal backup rotation. You may also request access, correction, deletion, export, restriction, or objection where applicable by emailing us. We may need to verify that the request belongs to you.
Security and children
We use access controls, encryption in transit, restricted administrative access, and monitoring to protect information. No method is completely secure. Please report a suspected vulnerability to security@mybackground.io.
background is not directed to children below the minimum digital-consent age applicable in their country. If you believe a child provided personal information without valid permission, contact us.
Changes and contact
We may update this policy as the service changes. The current version and effective date will remain published here. For any privacy question, email privacy@mybackground.io.