Privacy Policy

Moonwhale Cove (“the Service”, “we”, “us”) is a reading and translation platform. We care about your privacy and we keep data collection to a minimum. This policy explains what the Service does and does not collect.

Summary

• We use Google Analytics to understand which stories are read — but only if you accept analytics cookies. If you decline, no analytics request is made and nothing is sent to Google. You can change your mind by clearing this site's data in your browser.
• We count story and chapter views ourselves, on our own servers. These counts are aggregate totals per day — not a log of who read what — and they run whatever you choose above.
• We show ads through Google AdSense in non-personalised mode: ad-preference and ad-tracking signals are switched off for everyone, whatever you choose in the cookie banner. Ads are matched to the page, not to you.
• Your reading progress, bookmarks, glossaries, and settings are stored with your account so they follow you across devices.
• If you use AI translation, your text is sent directly to the AI provider you choose, using an API key you supply. We do not store or proxy that content.

Information tied to your account

When you create an account we store the information needed to run the Service: your display name, username, email address, optional profile photo and bio, your library and reading progress, bookmarks, reading statistics, and preferences (theme, font, daily goal). Translator API keys are encrypted (AES-256) before storage and are never shared.

Sign-in

The Service offers optional social sign-in:

• Google — handled by Google’s OAuth. We receive a basic profile (name, email, avatar) to create your account. We never receive your Google password.
• Discord — if you link Discord, we use Discord’s OAuth to obtain your Discord username and an access token.
• You may also browse the Service as a guest, with no account.

AI translation (optional, “bring your own key”)

If you use AI features, you provide your own API key for a third-party provider (such as OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google). When you translate or analyse text, that text and your key are sent directly to that provider. Your use of those providers is governed by their privacy policies and terms. We do not receive, store, or proxy that content beyond what is needed to display your result.

Purchases

Shell purchases are processed by our payment providers (Stripe and PayPal). We do not receive or store your full card details. The provider supplies us only with the information needed to deliver your purchase (e.g. payment status).

Cookies and analytics

Some storage is essential and always on: a session cookie to keep you signed in, and local storage for your reading preferences (font, theme, progress). The Service does not work without it.

Analytics is optional and off by default. The first time you visit, a banner asks whether you accept analytics cookies. Only if you choose Accept do we load Google Analytics, which sets its own cookies to recognise a returning visitor and tells us which stories and chapters are being read. We ask Google to anonymise your IP address, and we strip query strings from the page addresses we send. If you choose Reject Non-Essential, the Google Analytics script is never loaded and no request to Google is made from your browser.

Separately, we keep our own daily view counts for each story and chapter, on our own servers. These are aggregate numbers only — they are not linked to your account and do not build a profile of you — and they are how the author of a story sees how it is doing.

Children

The Service is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect data from them.

Data deletion

You can request deletion of your account and associated data at any time by contacting us. Removing your account removes your library, progress, and personal content from our systems.

Changes

We may update this policy. Material changes will be posted on this page with a new “Last updated” date.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Reach us on our Discord.