Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Account: When you first open the app or the website, we create a guest account using a random identifier stored on your device (in the secure keychain on iOS, so it can survive reinstalling the app; in your browser's storage on the web). No sign-up is needed. If you save your account with email, we store your email address and your password as a secure one-way hash; sign-up codes expire after 10 minutes. Your profile has a username and, if you add them, a profile photo and a short bio. Every account also has an invite code.

Content You Create: Stories and the titles, premises, names, settings and choices you enter; the pages, covers, character portraits and narration audio generated for them; quick caricatures; series, comments, likes and follows.

Photos You Upload: Photos you add for a hero or a companion are stored with that story so the same character can be drawn on every page; to keep them consistent, the AI also writes a short visual description of each character (for example hair, glasses, apparent age or build) that is stored with the story. Photos for a quick caricature are sent to the AI and are not stored; only the finished drawing is kept. A profile photo is shown on your public profile. Photos sent as a cameo in a live comic are described in section 5.

Purchases: For token purchases we store the product, the date and the store's transaction ID, and we record every change to your token balance. Payments are processed by Apple's App Store or Google Play; we never see your payment card details.

Connected Accounts (optional): If you connect Twitch or Kick, we receive your account ID, display name and profile picture from that service (we may use the picture as your avatar). We do not store your Twitch email address.

Usage and Technical Data: Which platforms you use ComicPad on (iOS app, Android app or web, detected from your app or browser), counts such as stories created and pages generated, records of each AI request (the model used, its cost and whether it was blocked by a safety filter), and error logs. Our servers process your IP address to deliver the service and protect it from abuse. Our request logs mask passwords, codes and email addresses and do not contain photos.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to: (a) provide the service and run your account; (b) generate story text, images and narration with AI from what you enter; (c) manage tokens, purchases, invite rewards and achievements; (d) run live comics; (e) send account emails only: sign-up codes, email verification and password reset (no marketing emails); (f) keep the service safe, including automatic safety checks and preventing repeated free-token sign-ups; (g) understand how the app is used and improve it; (h) measure our advertising, as described in section 7.

3. AI Processing

To create your comics we send your prompts, story text, names, choices, character descriptions, earlier pages and the photos you upload (hero, companion, caricature and cameo photos) to Google's Gemini API, which generates the text, images and narration. We use the paid Gemini API: under Google's terms for paid use, Google processes this data as our service provider, does not use it to train or improve its models, and keeps it only for a limited time to detect abuse. Background music comes from a pre-made library and uses none of your data. Requests and results may be checked automatically for safety; blocked attempts are counted per page (see the Terms of Service).

4. Public Content and Visibility

Profiles are public by default. While your profile is public, a story is published automatically when it reaches page 4. Public stories can be seen by anyone on ComicPad and comic-pad.com, with your username and profile photo, and may appear in search engines. Your public profile shows your username, photo, bio, follower counts and public stories.

You can make any story private at any time from its share menu. If you make your profile private, new stories are no longer published automatically, but stories that are already public stay public until you make them private one by one.

Live comic episodes become public when the stream ends. Images on public pages carry the ComicPad logo. Image files are served from our storage at hard-to-guess addresses; anyone who has the exact address of a file can open it, and copies may stay in browser and image caches for a short time after deletion.

5. Live Comics (Twitch and Kick)

Streamers: When you run a live comic from comic-pad.com, you connect your Twitch or Kick channel. On Twitch we ask for permission to read your email, Bits and channel-point redemptions and to manage redemptions; on Kick we ask to read your profile and channel, send chat and subscribe to channel events. Twitch access tokens are stored encrypted; Kick tokens are not stored.

Viewers: During a stream we read the channel chat and act only on ComicPad commands, and we receive paid events such as Bits, channel-point redemptions and Kicks. For each vote or action we store the viewer's platform user ID, display name, the text they sent and the amount, together with the stream session. This applies to viewers who do not have a ComicPad account. A viewer's name and text can appear in the comic, for example as the author of a plot twist.

Cameos: A viewer who joins with a ComicPad account can send a photo to appear in the story. The photo is stored with the stream session, shown to the streamer for approval, sent to the AI, and the character drawn from it becomes part of the public comic.

6. Who We Share Data With

We do not sell your personal information. We share data only with:

Google: Gemini API for AI generation (section 3), and Google Play for purchases on Android.

Apple: App Store purchases on iOS.

Hetzner: our hosting provider in Nuremberg, Germany, which runs our servers, database and file storage.

Resend: our email provider, for account emails.

TikTok: advertising measurement in the app (section 7).

Twitch and Kick: when you connect an account or take part in a live comic.

Streamers and the public: cameo photos and live-comic contributions (section 5) and public content (section 4).

Authorities: when required by law, or to protect users and the service.

7. Advertising Measurement (TikTok)

The ComicPad app includes the TikTok Business SDK to measure how well our ads on TikTok work. The app sends TikTok events: app installs and launches (recorded automatically by the SDK), stories created and stories viewed (with the story's ID and type; app versions before 2.2.0 build 4 also sent the title) and purchases (with the product, price and transaction ID). On iOS, the app asks for your permission when you first open it (App Tracking Transparency); your ComicPad user ID and your device's advertising identifier are shared only if you allow tracking; you can change this at any time in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. On Android, your ComicPad user ID is shared and the SDK follows your device's advertising ID settings. The website does not use TikTok or any other advertising or analytics trackers. We do not show ads inside ComicPad.

8. Where Your Data Is Stored

Our servers, database and files are in Germany (European Union). Some providers listed in section 6, such as Google, TikTok, Resend, Twitch and Kick, may process data in the United States and other countries. Where this happens, they rely on the safeguards required by law, such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.

9. Security

Connections are encrypted (TLS). Passwords are stored only as secure hashes and Twitch tokens are stored encrypted. Access to our systems is restricted. Earlier copies of images without the ComicPad logo are kept in private storage that is not reachable from the internet. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we work to protect your data.

10. Data Retention and Deletion

We keep your data while your account exists.

Deleting a story removes its pages, images, narration audio, likes and comments, the hero and companion photos uploaded for it (unless another of your stories uses the same photo) and the cameo photos of its live sessions.

Deleting your account (Profile → Delete My Account, in the app or on comic-pad.com) permanently removes your profile, email, password, stories, pages, images, narration, caricatures, uploaded photos, series, comments, likes, follows, tokens, purchase records, connected-account tokens, the live comics you ran, and your cameos and actions in other people's live comics. Files are removed from our storage shortly after the request.

What we keep: to prevent abuse of free tokens and rewards, a record that a device identifier or a Twitch or Kick account has already received free starter tokens, invite rewards or a sharing reward; it is not linked to your content and does not contain your email. We also keep AI usage and cost statistics with your account link removed. Pages already drawn in other people's comics (for example a cameo or a credited plot twist) remain part of those comics. Server logs are kept for a limited period for troubleshooting and security.

Unfinished sign-ups expire after 10 minutes and account-link codes after 3 minutes.

11. Children

ComicPad is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you are under the age required in your country to agree to the processing of your data (for example 16 in some European countries), use ComicPad only with permission from a parent or guardian. If you believe a child under 13 has used ComicPad, contact us and we will delete the account and its data.

12. Your Rights and Choices

You can: (a) view and edit your profile; (b) make stories or your profile private; (c) delete stories, comments and caricatures; (d) disconnect Twitch or Kick in your profile; (e) delete your account at any time; (f) withdraw tracking permission in your device settings. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to access, correct, export or delete your data, to object to or restrict its processing, and to complain to your local data protection authority. To use these rights, contact us at the address below.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy. We will tell you about significant changes in the app or on the website, and the date at the top will change. If you keep using ComicPad after the changes take effect, the updated policy applies.

14. Contact Us

For questions or requests about your privacy, contact us at trash.mrash.apps@gmail.com