Privacy Policy

Tightcut is run by Joshua Karasik, an individual (“we” and “us” below). This policy covers the Tightcut website at tightcut.app and the Tightcut iPhone app: what we collect, why, who helps us process it, how long we keep it, and how you delete it. It takes effect on September 27, 2026.

What stays on your device

We don't upload your videos or your finished cuts. In the iPhone app, the edit is made on your phone. On the website, the cut is made in your browser on your computer, and the review screen plays the file from your own disk. What we do receive is below.

What we collect

• Your account. Your email address, and a user ID we give your account. If you sign in with Google, the name and profile picture Google shares. If you sign in with Apple, the name and email address Apple shares, which can be a private relay address. If you use a password, our sign-in provider stores it as a hash; we never see it.
• What each video needs to be cut. When you start a video: the sound track of each clip, small still frames from the clips (about one a second), small copies of any pictures you add, the names, sizes and lengths of the clips, and the names of the pictures. In the app, also a song you add under a video with little or no talking, so it can be cut to the beat.
• What's made from it. Transcripts of what's said; the AI's descriptions of your clips and pictures, including what happens when, whether someone is talking to the camera, where a face is in the frame and which parts of a picture matter; which takes were picked; your edits, such as what's kept or cut, caption fixes, titles, the order of clips and each video's name; and how much AI processing each video took.
• Your plan. How many videos you've used, your plan and whether it's active. For a plan bought on the website, your Stripe customer and subscription IDs and billing dates. For a subscription bought in the iPhone app, the transaction details Apple gives us to confirm it, such as transaction IDs. We never see your card or bank details.
• Your yes to AI processing. In the app, which version of the question you agreed to, and when (see below).
• Your welcome answers. If you answer the questions when you first open the app: the kind of videos you make, how long editing takes you, how often you post, and the caption style you picked.
• Technical data. Cookies that keep you signed in to the website (the app keeps your session on your phone). Our hosts' logs of requests, which include IP addresses, times, and browser or device details. Our own error logs, which can include your user ID, a video's ID or a file name.

There are no ads in Tightcut and no advertising or analytics SDKs. We don't track you across other apps or websites, and don't let other companies do so through Tightcut. We don't sell your data or share it for advertising.

How we use it

Only to run Tightcut for you: to sign you in; to transcribe and look at your footage and plan your edit; to show you your videos and edits; to count your videos and handle your plan; to answer you when you write to us; to keep the service working and secure, which includes finding and fixing errors and stopping abuse; and, from your welcome answers, to understand who Tightcut is for and make it better.

The AI, and asking first

When you start a video, its sound, stills and pictures (with the pictures' names) are sent to Google's Gemini API, which transcribes what's said and looks at the stills and pictures. Later steps send it the transcript and those descriptions, to pick the best takes and plan the titles and what goes on screen, and parts of the sound again, to time each word. Songs aren't sent to it: we find their beat ourselves.

Before the iPhone app first sends anything to be processed this way, it asks you, and we record your yes. You can take it back at any time on the app's Account screen, and the app asks again before it sends anything more. Taking it back doesn't undo what was already processed, but you can delete that at any time (below). On the website, choosing videos to cut is what sends them.

Google's use of what we send

Tightcut uses Google's paid Gemini API. Under Google's terms for paid use, Google doesn't use what we send it, or what it sends back, to improve its products or train its models. It may keep it for a limited time to detect abuse, as those terms describe.

Who processes it for us

• Google: the Gemini API, as above, and Google sign-in if you use it.
• Supabase: sign-in, our database, and storage for the sound, stills, pictures and songs.
• Vercel: hosts the website and the server code that analyses your videos.
• Stripe: payments for plans bought on the website.
• Apple: the App Store, payments for subscriptions bought in the iPhone app, and Sign in with Apple.
• Expo: delivers updates to the iPhone app. When the app checks for one, Expo receives basic technical details such as your IP address and the app's version.

Each handles your data only to provide its service to us, under its own terms and privacy policy. They may process it in the United States and other countries.

How long we keep it

• Your account details, until you delete your account.
• A video made in the iPhone app keeps its sound, stills, pictures and song, and everything made from them, until you delete the video or your account, so you can keep editing it or have it made again.
• A video made on the website: the sound and stills it sent are deleted once it's analysed. A small copy of the sound, kept for timing words while you edit, and the transcript and your edits stay until you delete the video or your account. A video that couldn't be analysed keeps what it sent until you delete it.
• Our database provider keeps daily backups for about 7 days, so deleted data can stay in a backup until it rolls off.
• Hosting and error logs are kept for a short time, usually days to a few weeks, then deleted.
• Billing records are kept by Stripe and Apple, and by us where needed, for as long as tax and accounting law requires, even after you delete your account.

Deleting your data

Delete a video, in the app or on the website, and its files and everything made from them are deleted straight away. Delete your account on the app's Account screen, or on the website from the account menu (your name, top right), and everything we keep for you is deleted straight away, apart from the backups and records above.

Deleting your account ends a plan bought on the website. It doesn't cancel a subscription bought in the iPhone app, which Apple bills: cancel that in iPhone Settings.

Seeing and correcting your data

You can see your videos, their transcripts and your edits whenever you're signed in, in the app or on the website, and your email and plan on the app's Account screen. In the app you can rename a video, change its titles and fix its captions yourself.

To correct anything else, get a copy of your data, or have it deleted, write to joshuakarasik@gmail.com. We'll answer within 30 days. Depending on where you live, you may have other rights too, such as to object to how your data is processed or to complain to your data protection authority.

Do Not Track

Some browsers can send a “Do Not Track” signal. Tightcut doesn't track you across other websites or apps, with or without it, so there's nothing for it to change: it works the same either way.

Security

Your data is encrypted on its way to and from us. The files and records we keep for you are private to your account, so other people using Tightcut can't reach them. No service is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your data, we'll tell you as the law requires.

Age

Tightcut is for people 18 and over, and isn't meant for anyone younger. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone under 18; if we learn we have, we'll delete it.

Changes

When this policy changes, we'll post the new version on this page with a new date at the top. Before a significant change takes effect, we'll also tell you by email or in the app.

Contact

For anything about your data or this policy, write to joshuakarasik@gmail.com. There are answers to common questions on the Support page.