Privacy

Playing keeps everything on your device

Playing needs no account. Your playing, progress, settings, songs and recordings stay in your browser, on your device (IndexedDB and localStorage), and are not sent to a server unless you choose to: publish a song, keep an online copy of your data, or keep a recording online (described below). Clearing the browser’s site data deletes what is on your device.

Microphone and camera

The microphone and the camera are used only on your device, while you record or tune. Audio and video leave your device only if you choose to share a file yourself, or to keep a recording online with your account from the Takes screen: it is then stored privately for you, and no other player can open it. Nothing is uploaded otherwise.

No advertising, no tracking

Plonk has no advertising, no analytics or tracking scripts and no third-party cookies. It keeps a few values in your browser, such as your theme, your language, whether hints were shown and a name you typed for challenges. If you sign in, a sign-in token is kept in your browser so you stay signed in; signing out removes it.

An optional account

An account is optional. It is needed only to publish songs, to like songs and to keep an online copy of your data. You can sign up with an email address and a password, or with GitHub or Google where offered.

An account stores your email address, your name and picture (as you gave them, or as your GitHub or Google account provides them), a hashed password where one is used, the access tokens of a GitHub or Google sign-in where you use one, and your sign-in sessions with the IP address and browser details they were created from. If you keep recordings online, each recording and a few facts about it (the song, the instrument, its length and when it was made) are stored with your account.

What a signed-in player can put on the server

A signed-in player can put these on the server:

• Songs you publish. They are public: anyone can see them, with the name of your account as author, and anyone can report them.
• Likes.
• One online copy of your data: the songs you wrote, your progress and your preferences, never your recordings (those are kept separately, and only if you choose, as described above). Only your account can read it, and you can delete it in Settings.

Reports

A report of a song stores the song and the reason.

Links you share

A challenge link contains a score and an optional name you typed. It is just a link: nothing is stored on a server.

A shared song link keeps the song inside the address, after the # sign, which is never sent to a server.

Hosting

The website is served by Vercel and the account service runs on Cloudflare. As with any web host, they see technical data, such as the IP address, when a page is loaded. The account service also counts requests per network address, not per account, to slow down abuse.

Deleting your data

• Data on your device: clear the browser’s site data.
• The online copy: delete it in Settings.
• Your account: delete it in Settings. This removes your online copy, the recordings you kept online, your likes, the songs you published and your sign-in from the server; data on your device stays until you clear it. For anything else, write to the contact address on this page.

Children

Plonk is a family-friendly toy. It does not ask for your age and asks for no personal data to play.