Privacy Policy

Last updated: 1 April 2026

1. Introduction

This privacy policy explains how takerank.com ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, and protects your personal data when you use the TakeRank website and services at takerank.com (the "Service").

We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data responsibly.

2. Data We Collect

Account Data

When you register, we collect:

  • Email address
  • Display name
  • Password (stored as a bcrypt hash - we never store plain text passwords)
  • Profile information you choose to provide (profile picture, public/private preference)

If you sign in with Spotify or Apple, we receive basic profile information from those services (name, email, profile image).

Usage Data

When you use the Service, we collect:

  • Your album votes and rankings
  • Artists and albums you interact with
  • Voting session data (matchups completed, rounds played)
  • Share links you create

Technical Data

We automatically collect:

  • IP address
  • Browser type and version
  • Device information
  • Pages visited and time spent
  • Referral source

3. How We Use Your Data

We use your data to:

  • Provide and maintain the Service
  • Calculate personal and global album rankings
  • Display community activity and leaderboards
  • Send email notifications you have opted in to (reminders, digests)
  • Improve the Service and fix issues
  • Protect against fraud and abuse

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

4. Analytics

We use Plausible Analytics, a privacy-friendly analytics tool that does not use cookies and does not track individual users. Plausible collects aggregate data about page views and traffic sources without storing personal information.

5. Cookies

We use a minimal number of cookies:

  • Authentication cookies - to keep you logged in
  • Theme preference - to remember your light/dark mode choice
  • Consent cookie - to remember your cookie consent choice

We do not use tracking cookies or third-party advertising cookies.

6. Third-Party Services

The Service integrates with the following third parties:

  • MusicBrainz - for artist and album metadata (open database, no personal data shared)
  • Deezer - for album cover art and streaming links (no personal data shared)
  • Cover Art Archive - for album artwork (no personal data shared)
  • Cloudflare - for bot protection via Turnstile (processes IP addresses)
  • Mailgun - for sending transactional and notification emails (processes email addresses)
  • Vercel - for hosting (processes technical data as part of serving web pages)

7. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account:

  • Your personal data (email, display name, profile) is deleted immediately
  • Your votes and rankings are anonymised (disassociated from your identity)
  • Unverified accounts are automatically deleted after 7 days

8. Your Rights (GDPR)

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you have the right to:

  • Access your personal data
  • Rectify inaccurate data
  • Erase your data (delete your account)
  • Restrict processing of your data
  • Port your data to another service
  • Object to processing of your data

You can exercise most of these rights through your account settings. To make a formal request, contact us through the contact page at takerank.com.

9. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including:

  • Encrypted connections (HTTPS) for all data in transit
  • Hashed passwords (bcrypt)
  • Access controls and authentication for all administrative functions
  • Regular security reviews

10. Children

The Service is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal data, please contact us so we can remove it.

11. Email Communications

We may send you:

  • Transactional emails - account verification, password reset (these are essential and cannot be opted out of)
  • Notification emails - ranking reminders, activity digests (you can control frequency or unsubscribe via account settings or the unsubscribe link in each email)

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will notify registered users of significant changes via email. The "last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised.

13. Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy or your data, please contact us through the contact page at takerank.com.