Who runs Vinyl Watch
Vinyl Watch is operated by Josh Leist. Contact josh@joshleist.com with a privacy request or a question about your data.
What we keep
Your email address, account profile, collection, wantlist, followed artists and saved alerts are stored to provide your account. Optional details include your display name, username, biography, favourite genres, record copies, condition, acquisition details, notes, photos, receipts, favourite stores, visits and stock leads you save. We also store the friend requests, follows, blocks, reports and sharing preferences you choose to create.
Collections, wantlists and store history are private by default. In profile settings, you can choose a private, friends-only or public profile and separately choose who can see your collection, wantlist and stores. A section is shared only when the profile itself also permits access. You can hide individual records from shared lists. Shared profiles can show your followed artists, favourite genres, follower counts and a taste summary based on the information visible to that viewer. Following an artist can also contribute to an aggregate follower count.
An optional profile photo is stored in a private bucket with image metadata removed. Authorised profile viewers receive a signed image link that expires after five minutes. Changing sharing settings stops new unauthorised links; an existing signed link may remain usable until it expires. Your email, private address, connected-service credentials, acquisition details, receipts and private record photos are not included in shared profile or member-search responses.
Accounts you connect
Linking a music service is optional. Discogs can import your vinyl collection and wantlist. Last.fm can supply listening preferences. Available connections explain their access before you approve them on the provider’s website.
If you enable automatic sync for a verified Discogs or Last.fm connection, the app periodically refreshes the supported collection or listening preferences described on the connections screen. Public-username imports remain manual. You can turn this off or run a manual sync. We store authorization credentials encrypted on the server. We never ask for your music-service password. Disconnecting removes the saved authorization from Vinyl Watch; records you already imported remain in your collection. You can also revoke access in the provider’s settings.
Searches, maps and external services
Supabase handles account authentication and data storage. Vercel hosts the app. Music searches may contact Discogs, Deezer, Last.fm or Apple’s catalogue. Public music metadata is cached separately from account data. Authorised partner JSON feeds can refresh shared shop inventory and explicit completed-sale evidence within their permission and expiry limits; these requests do not send member account data.
Starting a web scan sends the artist, record title and any store URL you chose to OpenAI’s search service. Following an artist also enables shared scheduled release checks: these try Apple’s catalogue first and may send that artist’s name to OpenAI’s search service when more research is needed. Checks and public results are reused across followers, with confirmed release dates saved so the same artist is not searched repeatedly before that release. Research does not send your email, address, full collection, listening history or music-service credentials. Unfollowing removes that artist from your personal release monitoring and calendar; shared public checks may continue for other followers. Maps use OpenStreetMap data and OpenFreeMap tiles; choosing directions opens Google Maps or Apple Maps. Shop logos may load from a shop’s website or image host. Shared logo lookups do not include your collection or saved shop preferences. Location access is optional and requires your browser’s permission.
Providers may process connection details such as IP addresses in their own operational logs and may process data in other countries under their own terms and privacy policies.
Your private home area
Adding an address or location is optional. Street address, postcode and country are stored in an owner-only account table, separate from music metadata and member discovery. Other members and family cannot see them. You can clear them in account settings.
Device location is requested only when you press its button. We round it to an approximate area before saving; there is no live tracking. Saving a UK postcode sends only that postcode to Postcodes.io for lookup. Your street address is not sent to map or postcode providers. Maps display the selected area and may request tiles or public shop details around it.
Finding family and friends
Email discovery and invitation sharing are off by default. If you enable email discovery, people who already have your email can match your verified account. Results show only your display name and private invitation code. We keep a server-keyed digest of your own verified email for this purpose; changing your email invalidates the old discovery entry.
Contact selection is optional. A selected contact file is read in your browser’s memory. Nothing is sent until you select people and press the check button. Only their selected email addresses are sent for that check; we do not save your address book or send invitations. Contact names and photos are not uploaded. Closing the page clears the selected contact list.
You can instead share a private invitation code yourself. Renewing the code invalidates the old one. Turning off both email discovery and invitation sharing removes your discoverability. Finding someone does not share either person’s records, address or location. Sending a friend request saves the two account identifiers, request status and timestamps; only the participants can see that relationship. The recipient must accept it. Either friend can remove the connection. Accepting gives access only to sections you have explicitly set to friends-only; your location remains private. Optional username search finds only profiles the searching member is allowed to see, without returning email addresses. Blocking removes a friendship and follows between the two accounts, stops new invitations, and excludes that pair from signed-in member discovery and shared profiles. Public information may still be visible to someone who is signed out or uses another account.
You can report an account from its profile or from an invitation or friendship’s safety menu. Reports are visible to the reporter and the app administrator; private review notes are available only to administrators.
Gift ideas
Gift suggestions are off by default. If you enable them, signed-in viewers in your chosen audience can see permitted wantlist items and recent cached shop leads. Hidden records and records you exclude from gifts are left out. Gift suggestions do not expose your address, receipts or private acquisition details. There is no gift checkout or delivery-address sharing in the current app.
Photos, receipts and exports
Optional record photos and receipt images are stored privately, with image metadata removed before saving. Access requires ownership and uses short-lived signed links. They are separate from the artwork used in shared collection grids.
Your account export and inventory PDF are owner-only downloads. You can choose whether an inventory PDF includes private notes and record images. A cover-grid image includes the artwork and labels you select. Downloaded files can be saved or forwarded by whoever receives them, so choose what to include before sharing. An inventory PDF is a record of your saved information, not a formal insurance appraisal.
Reports and email
Daily in-app reports summarise saved activity and collection counts. Email notices are off by default. If you enable them in notification settings, Resend delivers a notice to your verified account email with a link to your private report. The email does not include your collection or report contents. Resend also handles account-related emails such as signup and password reset. You can turn report email off at any time.
Your release calendar
An optional private subscription link lets Apple Calendar or another calendar app read confirmed upcoming releases from artists you follow, when a shared scheduled check or a release search has found them. Calendar refreshes do not run paid web scans. Saved announcements stay in your subscription until their release date has passed, you unfollow the artist or revoke the subscription. Fresh release searches can update their dates; their original check time stays recorded. Your calendar app chooses when to refresh the feed.
Anyone with that link can read its release events, so keep it private. It cannot read or change your personal Apple calendars. You can renew or revoke the link in account settings; remove the subscription in your calendar app too. Calendar credentials are kept separate from public music data.
Contributions and review
Suggestions are visible to you and the app administrator. An approved artist detail, picture or store suggestion may be published with its supporting source. Do not submit private information or images you do not have permission to share.
Storage and retention
Your browser stores the session information needed to keep you signed in. The app does not use advertising trackers. Hosting and authentication providers maintain operational and security logs.
We retain account data while your account exists. Deleting your account removes its private profile photo, record photos and receipt files, address and location, discovery settings, calendar subscription, active collection and copies, friend relationships, follows, blocks, submitted account reports, preferences and saved connection credentials. Private daily reports older than a year are periodically removed; deleting the account removes its reports. Already approved public contributions may remain published after their submission and account linkage are removed. Contact josh@joshleist.com if you want a published contribution reviewed for removal. Deleting or making information private cannot withdraw files another person has already downloaded or independently saved public information. Provider backups and security logs follow their retention schedules. Deletion does not change your original Discogs, Last.fm or other external accounts, or remove independently sourced public catalogue metadata.
Your choices and rights
You can edit or remove saved records and preferences, disconnect services, and download an account export or delete your account from account settings. You can contact us to request access, correction, deletion or a restriction on processing, or to object to processing. We use account data to provide the service you request and to keep it secure.
If you are in the UK, you can raise a concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Depending on where you live, your local data protection authority may also handle complaints.