VideoMelter

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-08-15

What VideoMelter does

VideoMelter is a study tool: you submit a YouTube video URL and it returns a transcript, and optionally an AI-generated summary, information file, or study document, of that video's spoken content. Some outputs can be emailed to an address you provide, where that feature is available.

Information we collect

Video URLs you submit — used to fetch the transcript.
Account email address — required to create an account, so we can identify it and, if you subscribe, so Stripe can bill it. Stored lowercased.
Password — if you sign up with email/password, your password is hashed (scrypt, with a unique random salt per account) before it's stored. We never store your password in plain text and cannot look it up or recover it — a forgotten password can only be reset, not retrieved.
Google account info — if you use "Continue with Google," we receive and store your Google-verified email address and a Google account identifier so we can match you to your account. We do not access or store your Google contacts, files, or other Google data.
Session cookie — a random token (its hash, not the raw value, is what we store server-side) that keeps you signed in.
IP address — collected briefly for rate-limiting and abuse prevention. An IP address can indicate your approximate location (for example, your city or region), not your precise location. See "How we use your information" below.
Payment info — if you subscribe to a paid plan, billing is handled entirely by Stripe's hosted checkout and billing portal. VideoMelter never sees or stores your card number — Stripe passes us only a customer/subscription reference and your plan status.
Recipient email (optional) — only if you ask for a result to be emailed to you or someone else. We do not use recipient email addresses for marketing and do not sell them.
Generated transcripts and study documents — the text output of the tool, associated with your account.
YouTube comment data (optional feature) — if you enable "What the Comments Say," public top-comment text for the video is retrieved via YouTube's official Data API and sent to an AI model to generate a short summary. Comment text is processed, not stored — it is used to produce the summary and then discarded; we do not keep a copy of the underlying comments.

How we use your information

Operating the service — processing the video URLs and instructions you submit, generating your transcripts and study documents, and managing your account and subscription.
Improving the service — we use submitted content (like video URLs and generated output) and usage data to understand how VideoMelter is used, fix problems, and build new features.
Recording IP addresses — for rate-limiting and abuse prevention. As noted above, an IP address can indicate your approximate location but not your precise location.
With your permission only — we do not currently use inferred interests (for example, topics of the videos you transcribe) to show you personalized offers or advertising, and we do not share or license your data with partners. If we ever introduce either of those, we'll only do so with your permission — for example, an opt-in setting you control — not simply because you kept using VideoMelter.

We do not sell your data to anyone.

Third-party service providers

Depending on which features you use, information may be sent to the following providers, solely to perform their part of generating your result or operating your account. Each provider processes data only as needed for the purpose below, per their own privacy policies:

Provider	Category of data	Purpose
Google	Video ID/URL; if you use "Continue with Google," your verified email and Google account ID; if you enable "What the Comments Say," the video's public comments	Retrieving transcript/caption data, optional Google sign-in, and the optional comments summary feature
Anthropic	Your transcript text and, for study documents, your own instructions	Generating the summary, information file, or study document you request
OpenAI	Audio derived from the video	Speech-to-text transcription, used only as an optional fallback
Resend	Recipient email address and the content being sent	Delivering an emailed result, or an account-related email such as a password reset, when this feature is available
Stripe	Account email and a billing/subscription reference	Payment processing — card numbers never reach our servers
Webshare	The video link	Network provider that routes caption requests

Foreign processing

The providers listed above may process information outside Canada, including in the United States. Information processed in those jurisdictions may become subject to the laws of that jurisdiction, including lawful access by courts or government authorities there.

Cookies & technical data

Session cookie — a random token that keeps you signed in. We store only its hash server-side, never the raw value. Resetting your password signs you out of every device and session tied to your account — it does not delete your history or any other data.
Minimal technical logs — timestamps, job status, and error messages for operating the service (e.g. diagnosing a failed fetch). IP addresses may appear in these logs briefly for rate-limiting/abuse prevention. We do not use logs for tracking or profiling.

Security

We take reasonable technical measures to protect your information, including:

Passwords are hashed (scrypt, with a unique random salt per account) — never stored in plain text.
Session tokens are stored as a hash, not the raw value.
Resetting your password invalidates every other active session on your account.
Data is encrypted in transit (TLS).
Card data is handled entirely by Stripe and never reaches our servers.
Access to production systems and data is limited to what's needed to operate the service.

Retention & deletion

We aim to keep personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy. VideoMelter is a new product, and we do not currently enforce fixed automatic deletion periods for job data — rather than promise a specific window we're not yet running, we're keeping this simple while the product is young. You can request deletion of your account and all associated data (transcripts, study documents, video URLs) at any time — see Contact below — and we will act on that request.

Temporary audio downloaded for the optional Whisper fallback — deleted immediately after transcription, whether it succeeds or fails.
Billing records — retained as required by Canadian tax law (currently 6 years).

Your privacy rights

This tool is operated from Ontario, Canada. Where PIPEDA applies, you have the right to ask what personal information we hold about you, request correction of information that's inaccurate or incomplete, and request its deletion. Where we rely on your consent to process personal information, you may withdraw that consent by contacting us; withdrawal may affect our ability to provide certain features.

We will respond to verified requests within a reasonable time and delete personal information we hold about you (e.g. your account, email address, and any jobs tied to it) on request, except where we're required to keep records for legal/security reasons.

Depending on where you live and how you use the service, other privacy laws besides PIPEDA may also apply.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as VideoMelter changes. Minor changes are reflected here with an updated "Last updated" date. A material change — including a new purpose for using your personal information — requires your fresh consent under PIPEDA; we'll ask for it before relying on that new purpose, not simply because you kept using VideoMelter.

Contact & Privacy Officer

Privacy Officer: support@videomelter.com — data requests, corrections, deletion, or consent-withdrawal requests can be sent here.

Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal information, contact us first at support@videomelter.com. If you're not satisfied with our response, you may also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.