Privacy Policy

Distil Reads is a single-player app for saving long-form videos and web pages and reading them as distilled cards. This policy explains what we collect, why, and the choices you have. We keep the footprint deliberately small: there is no advertising, no tracking, and no selling of data.

Who is responsible

The controller for your data is Phuoc Pham, Neubiberg, Germany. You can reach us at [email protected]. Full contact details are in our Impressum.

What we collect

• Your account. You sign in either with Google or with a single-use link sent to your email address. With Google we receive and store your name, email address, profile image, your Google account identifier, and the tokens that keep you signed in; we do not receive your Google password. With an email link we store only your email address. Sign-ups from disposable-email domains are refused.
• Your AI key. You may bring your own API key for the provider behind your chosen model — DeepSeek, Anthropic, Google (Gemini), Groq, or OpenRouter. We store that key encrypted, never display it back to you (only the last four characters), and use it only to process your own captures.
• Content you create. The videos and pages you capture (their URLs and extracted text), the cards, summaries, key points, highlights, notes, tags, Occasions, and your reading activity (what you have read, understood, or scheduled to revisit).
• An essential cookie. A single session cookie keeps you signed in. It is required for the app to function. We use no analytics, advertising, or third-party tracking cookies.

What the browser extension accesses

The Distil Reads Capture extension for Chrome exists to do one thing: send the page you are looking at to your account when you ask it to.

• Only on your click. Nothing runs on any page you visit until you click the extension icon. There is no always-on script and no background monitoring of your browsing. The extension cannot see the pages you do not capture.
• What it reads. When you click, it reads the current tab: the main article text (or your text selection, or a YouTube video’s transcript), plus the page’s title, author, site name, lead image, and URL.
• Where it goes. That content is sent to distilreads.com and stored on your account, and nowhere else. It is sent only when you press Capture. The extension holds no login of its own — it uses the session you are already signed into.
• What it does not do. It collects no browsing history, no analytics, and no personal communications; it shows no ads; and it sends nothing to any third party. We do not sell or transfer what it captures, and we use it only to provide the service you asked for.

Because the page is read in your browser rather than fetched by our server, a page you can see behind your own login can be captured too. Please be deliberate about capturing pages containing other people’s personal data or anything confidential.

How your content reaches an AI

To turn a capture into a card, the text of the source you saved is sent to the AI provider behind your chosen model — DeepSeek, Anthropic, Google (Gemini), Groq, or OpenRouter — and the summary is returned to us and stored on your account. That request is governed by that provider’s own terms and privacy policy.

Whose key pays for it matters. Your first 1000 reads run on our API key, so those requests reach the provider under our account rather than yours. Once you add your own key, your captures are sent under your own account with that provider and no longer touch ours. Either way the content sent is the same. If you would rather a particular source never be sent to an AI, do not capture it.

Who else processes data for us

• Google — sign-in and identity, if you use that door.
• Resend — delivering the sign-in link to your email address, if you use that door.
• Your AI provider (DeepSeek, Anthropic, Google, Groq, or OpenRouter) — summarizing the content you capture.
• Our hosting and database provider — running the application and storing your data.
• YouTube — captured videos are embedded through YouTube’s privacy-enhanced (no-cookie) player when you open a source.

Why we are allowed to (legal bases)

We process your account and content to provide the service you asked for (performance of a contract), rely on your consent for using your AI key to summarize your captures, and rely on our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure and working.

How long we keep it

We keep your account and content for as long as your account exists. Distil Reads does not yet offer one-click account deletion — email us at [email protected] and we will delete your account and everything attached to it (captures, cards, highlights, notes, tags, keys) promptly.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you may request access to your data, correction, deletion, a portable copy, and you may object to or restrict processing. Contact us and we will help. You also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority — in our case the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (BayLDA).

Changes

If this policy changes we will update the date at the top of this page. Questions are welcome at [email protected].