Privacy Policy

What we store — and what we don’t

We never download, host, or store any video or audio. All playback happens through YouTube’s official embedded player, which streams directly from YouTube. A “clip” we save is only a set of references and metadata:

• the YouTube video ID (a pointer to the public video)
• the start and end timestamps you choose (or, for a clip with several parts, the start and end of each part)
• a title you provide, and loop/visibility settings
• creation and update timestamps

A lesson can also include a whole YouTube video. For that we store only the video ID and the video’s public title, and it plays in the same official player.

Account information

You can create and share clips without signing in. Those clips are automatically deleted 30 days after they are made, unless you sign in and add them to your library. If you choose to sign in with Google, we receive and store your basic Google profile information — your name, email address, and profile picture — solely to authenticate you and associate the clips you save with your account. We do not receive your Google password, and we do not access your YouTube account, your videos, or your subscriptions.

Cookies

We use one essential cookie to keep you signed in, which doesn’t require consent.

Clips made without signing in. When you create a clip while signed out, your browser’s local storage keeps a private code for it, so you can delete it or add it to your library after you sign in. The code never leaves your device except to prove the clip is yours; we store only a one-way hash of it, which is removed once the clip is added to an account.

Analytics (only if you accept). With your permission, we use Google Analytics 4 to understand how the Service is used — for example, which pages are visited, how visitors found us, the general location (country/city), device and browser type, and actions such as creating or sharing a clip. Google Analytics sets first-party cookies (named _ga and _ga_*) and processes this data on our behalf under the Google policies for partner sites. Google Analytics is not loaded at all until you click Accept on the cookie banner, advertising features are disabled, and we do not send your name, email, or account ID to Google Analytics.

You can change your choice at any time with the Cookie settings link in the footer; declining removes the analytics cookies. You can also use Google’s Analytics opt-out browser add-on. We do not use advertising cookies.

Cookieless usage statistics. Separately, we use Vercel Web Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights, provided by our hosting provider, to count page views and measure page loading performance. These do not use cookies or store anything on your device, and do not identify you: they record aggregate data such as the page visited, referrer, country, browser, device type, and loading times, and distinguish visitors using a hash of the request that is discarded every 24 hours. Because no personal data or device storage is involved, they run without the cookie banner.

Videos made for kids. Whenever a page plays a YouTube video, we check whether YouTube marks it as made for kids. If it is, or if we can’t confirm that it isn’t, Google Analytics, Vercel Web Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights send nothing from that page, and they stay off in that browser tab until the page is reloaded.

Search engines

Public clips saved to an account and public lessons can appear in search engines, and are listed in our sitemap. Private clips, unlisted and private lessons, and clips made without signing in are marked so search engines don’t index them. When a public clip or lesson is created, changed, made private or deleted, we send its web address, and nothing else, to IndexNow, a service used by Microsoft Bing and other search engines, so their results update sooner. Each search engine decides how quickly it updates or removes a result.

Usernames and readable links

If you choose a username on your Account page, you can give your clips and lessons readable links such as lessoncues.com/u/yourname/c/clip-name. We suggest a username based on your Google name, but nothing is saved until you confirm it, and you can pick anything else. Your username and link names are public: anyone who has or guesses one of those links sees them, and public clips and lessons may appear in search results under them.

If you change or remove your username, we keep the old one for 180 days so its links redirect to your current ones and nobody else can take it; then it is deleted and becomes available again. If you delete your account, we keep only the username itself, not linked to anyone, for the same 180 days so it can’t be taken over while old links still circulate; its links stop working straight away. Old link names of your clips and lessons keep redirecting until you reuse the name or delete the item. We record username changes in our security audit log.

Lesson share cards. If you turn on a lesson’s share card, sharing its link shows an image with LessonCues’s name and logo, the lesson title, your username (if you have one; never your Google name), the number of public clips and their total length. Anyone with the lesson’s link can load that image, and services that show link previews (for example WhatsApp, LinkedIn or X) fetch and may keep a copy of it. We draw it when it is requested and don’t store it; it changes when you edit the lesson. Other services may keep their copy for a while after you edit, make the lesson private or turn the card off.

Comments

If a clip’s owner turns comments on, signed-in users can post comments and replies, optionally pinned to a moment in the video. We store the comment text, that time, and which account posted it. With private feedback, only the clip’s owner sees your comments (and you see their replies). With public discussion, your name, profile photo and comments are visible to anyone who can view the clip. You can delete your own comments at any time; a clip’s owner can hide or delete comments on their clip. Deleting a clip or your account deletes the related comments.

YouTube API Services

This Service uses YouTube API Services: the embedded IFrame Player for playback and the YouTube Data API to check whether a video is made for kids and, when you import chapters, to read a video’s public description. By using it, you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service. Your use of YouTube through this Service is also governed by the Google Privacy Policy. We do not use YouTube API Services to collect or store personal data beyond the public video ID referenced by a clip. Video descriptions fetched for chapter import are used only to suggest timestamps and are not stored. A video’s made-for-kids status is kept for at most 30 days, linked only to the video ID.

Google Slides in lessons

A lesson can include slides from a Google Slides presentation. We store only a reference to the slide — the presentation’s ID and which slide to show, plus an optional caption — never a copy of the slide. A slide is shown in Google’s own viewer, which is not loaded until you click Show slide. Once loaded, Google receives your request and may set its own cookies under the Google Privacy Policy. Your choice to show slides is remembered only until you close the browser tab. Whether a slide can be seen depends on the presentation owner’s sharing settings in Google.

Security and abuse prevention

To protect the Service, we keep short-lived counters that limit how often certain requests can be made. For visitors who aren’t signed in, these use a salted, one-way hash of the IP address (never the address itself) and expire within an hour. We also keep a security log of sensitive actions — such as account deletion, data exports, comment moderation and administrative changes to other people’s content — recording the account ID, the action and the time. These log entries are kept for one year to investigate and prevent security incidents, then deleted.

Service providers

We rely on a few providers to run the Service: Google (sign-in, and Google Analytics if you consent), YouTube (video playback), Vercel (hosting, cookieless analytics and performance monitoring), and Neon (database). Data is processed only to operate the Service and is not sold.

Your choices and data deletion

You can delete any clip you own at any time from your library, which removes it from our database. Clips made without signing in are deleted after 30 days, along with their place in any lessons, unless they are added to an account first. When signed in, your Account page lets you download a copy of all data linked to your account and permanently delete your account. Deleting your account immediately removes your profile, sign-in records, clips (including from other people’s lessons), lessons, folders, tags, comments and link names (your username is held unlinked for 180 days, as described above). Backups kept by our database provider expire on their regular schedule, and limited technical logs may be retained where the law requires. For any other request, such as correcting your data, email us at mohammed.shammas@gmail.com. You may also review the data Google has shared with apps, and revoke this app’s access, at Google Account permissions.

Children

The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the effective date above.

Contact

Questions? Email mohammed.shammas@gmail.com.