Privacy policy

This policy covers https://readaloud.online and every language version of it. It is written to be read, not to be survived.

The short version

What we store, and where

Your script, your chosen voice, your theme and your last mode are kept in your browser's localStorage. That is storage on your own computer. We cannot read it, it is never transmitted, and it does not follow you to another device or browser.

You can switch this off at any time with the saving to this browser control in the footer of the tool. Turning it off deletes what is already stored. Clearing your browser data removes it too.

We hold no accounts and no user database, because there is nothing to hold one in.

Dictation sends audio to your browser's maker

When you use dictation, your browser transcribes speech using the Web Speech Recognition API. In Chrome and Edge that works by streaming microphone audio to Google's or Microsoft's own servers. This is how those browsers implement the feature; it is not a choice Aloud makes, and we never receive the audio or the transcript. Their handling of that audio is governed by their privacy policies, not ours.

Nothing is recorded while dictation is off, and the microphone is released the moment you stop. Do not dictate confidential material.

Hosting and server logs

The site is served by Vercel. Like any web host, Vercel records ordinary request data such as IP address, time, page requested and user agent, in order to deliver the site and defend it from abuse. We do not combine those logs with anything else, and we cannot connect them to a person.

Fonts and third parties

The typefaces are served from this site itself rather than from Google Fonts, so loading a page does not disclose your IP address to a font provider. Aside from hosting, the analytics described below, advertising where enabled, and the browser's own speech services, the site makes no third-party requests.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to count visits and see which pages and languages are actually used. It records page views, approximate location derived from your IP address, device type and referring site. It never receives the text you type, paste or dictate, because that text never leaves your browser.

Google Analytics sets cookies to recognise a returning visit, and IP addresses are truncated before storage. What we see are counts, not people: we cannot identify you from any of it.

You can opt out of Google Analytics on every site with Google's browser add-on, or by declining in the consent prompt where one is shown.

Advertising and cookies

Aloud sets no cookies of its own. Google Analytics does, and Google AdSense does where advertising is enabled. Both are described here.

If advertising is enabled on this site, it is served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners may then set cookies or read device identifiers to serve and measure ads, including personalised ads where you have consented. Google's use of advertising cookies is described in its advertising policies, and you can review or change your ad settings at My Ad Center.

Advertising never has access to the text you type, paste or dictate. That text stays in your browser.

If you are in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland

If you are in one of those regions, analytics and advertising storage is switched off before the page loads and stays off unless you consent. This is enforced in the page itself using Google's consent mode, not merely promised. Where a consent prompt is shown you can change or withdraw that choice at any time from the privacy link it leaves on the page.

You have the right to ask what personal data we hold, to have it corrected or erased, to object to processing and to complain to your data protection authority. In practice we hold almost nothing: the honest answer to a data request is usually that the only data about you is in your own browser, where you can delete it yourself.

Children

Aloud is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

Changes

If this policy changes materially, the effective date at the top changes with it.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or a data request: support@readaloud.online.