Privacy policy

Last updated: 5 November 2026. Draft: this will be reviewed before Scene launches.

Version: 2026-10-27

Scene is an app for rating, ranking, and sharing movies and TV shows with people you choose. This policy explains what Scene keeps about you, who can see it, and how to get it or delete it.

What Scene keeps

Your account. A sign-in identity from our sign-in provider, Clerk (through Apple, Google, or your email address), your account's status, and dates such as when you joined. Clerk holds your email address; Scene's own database doesn't.
Your profile. Your name, username, short bio, and whether your profile is public or private.
What you add. Titles on your Watchlist and Watched list, the episodes you mark watched, your ratings and rankings, the comparisons you made, notes and tags, lists, comments (and the people you mention in them), gems (reactions to Feed cards), badges, the streaming services you pick (My services), and titles you send friends with your notes.
Your connections. Who you follow, who follows you, follow requests, blocks, couches, and the invites you send or used.
Reports. Reports you file, and reports others file about you.
Your device. A notification token for your device if you turn notifications on. The app sends your time zone with each request so your weekly streak follows your calendar. Scene keeps your time zone so reminders arrive in your evening; it's deleted with your account, and in Download my data. It also sends your phone's region (a country, such as US), for where to watch; Scene keeps the country so it can tell you when a Watchlist title arrives on your services.
News about your titles. Alerts Scene made for you about new seasons, new episodes, releases, and titles arriving on your services.
Rate reminders. If Rate reminders are on, once a day around 6 PM your time Scene suggests a well-known title you've probably seen, chosen from your own library and ratings, and keeps which title it suggested and when, so it never asks about the same one twice. Kept a year, deleted with your account, and in Download my data.
Verification. If Scene verifies your account (for critics, filmmakers, and publications, by invitation), it keeps the links and notes used to confirm who you are and why you're notable, and who decided. Scene doesn't collect ID documents or face data.
Members' episode figures. Scene works out, once a day, members' average rating of each episode of a TV show, from members who've rated enough of it. They're shown without names, from at least 5 people, with approximate counts.
Members' scores. Once a day, Scene works out members' average score for each title, from everyone who rated it, private profiles included (unless you've turned In sync off), counting only scores already shown to the member who gave them (10 rated of that kind). It's shown as a whole number, without names, only once 50 or more members rated a title, with the count rounded down (such as 50+), and it changes only after several ratings change, so no one's rating can be worked out from it.
Predictions. Scores Scene predicts for you from your ratings and from members whose taste is like yours. Scene also uses the predictions you were shown and the scores you later gave, and your ratings, without your name, to measure how accurate its predictions are and to test changes to them. Staff see only totals across members, never yours on its own or which titles.
Your agreement to the terms. Which version of the terms and this policy you agreed to, when, and that you confirmed you're 13 or older. Deleted with your account, and in Download my data.
The days you use Scene. The dates (in UTC) you used the app, and when you were last active, so Scene can count its active members and how many keep using it, without naming anyone. Kept 400 days, deleted with your account, and in Download my data.
Discover's suggestions. The titles Discover showed you, and when, so Scene can tell whether its suggestions help (for example whether you saved or rated them later). Kept 180 days, deleted with your account, and in Download my data. Couch mode is counted only as daily totals, without your name, your couch, or any title.
Titles you mark Not interested. The titles you hid from Discover or couch picks, until you show them again. They also rank lower, without naming you, on couches you host or joined, and so, a little, do other titles from the same decade as several you hid. That decade also lowers your own predicted scores a little, which only you see. Deleted with your account, and in Download my data.
Titles you ask Scene to add. What you typed, the type, year, and note you gave, and whether staff added the title. Only you and Scene's staff see it. Deleted with your account, and in Download my data.
If you ask for an invite on the website. Your email address and when you asked, and nothing else. Scene uses it only to send you an invite and doesn't share it. It's deleted once Scene sends you an invite, or after 12 months, whichever comes first; email privacy@usescene.app to have it deleted sooner. It isn't linked to any Scene account, so deleting an account or Download my data doesn't include it. Only Scene's staff see it.
The website. usescene.app sets no cookies. It counts page views and clicks (such as which button, and whether on a phone or a computer) as anonymous daily totals, with nothing that identifies you or your device. Kept 400 days.
Request records. For each request to Scene's server: the kind of request, whether it worked, and how long it took. They never say who made it or include what you typed. Kept 14 days.

Scene doesn't sell your data, show ads, or track you across other apps.

Who can see it

Scene is private by default, with a few things on unless you turn them off.

Your profile is private unless you make it public. Only people you approve can then see your ratings, rankings, lists, badges, and Feed cards.
On by default (Settings → Privacy): people who follow you see which episodes of a show you loved (in its turning points), others can find you in search, your ratings appear in your followers' Feed, you see how in sync your taste is with people who allow it (In sync), people who can see your badges also see the streak badges you've earned (4, 12, 26, or 52 weeks in a row of rating something), and people who can see your badges also see your Top % (where your number of rated titles places you among Scene's members, worked out once a day), and while your profile is public, you appear on leaderboards by your number of rated titles (a private profile never does). If you'd already kept your ratings out of the Feed, streak badges and leaderboards start off.
Some things are only ever yours: your Watched titles you haven't rated, your Watchlist, tags, notes marked Only me, lists marked Only me, your predictions, your current weekly streak, your ranking history (how your taste changed), your services, region, and time zone, alerts about your titles, your notifications and reminders, rate reminders (the titles and when), and settings.
Comments you write on a card are seen by everyone who can see that card, even if your own profile is private, except people you've blocked or who've blocked you. A reply to a comment is seen only by people who can also see that comment (you always see your own).
A title you send a friend, and its note, is seen only by that friend, until they remove it, you unsend it, or either of you blocks the other.
Blocking someone hides you from each other.
Scene staff can open your account to help you or to moderate: your profile, account status, the email address and sign-in method you use (which Scene's staff tools read from Clerk), and counts of what you've added, never your notes, ratings, or messages. Each time they open it, or change something, it's recorded with the reason.

Who helps run Scene

Scene uses these services to run, and they process data only to provide them:

Clerk: sign-in, through Apple and Google if you choose them.
Supabase: the database.
Vercel: the app's server.
Apple: push notifications.
TMDB: movie and TV show information, images, and where to watch (from JustWatch). When you search, Scene's server sends TMDB the words you typed, never anything that identifies you; where-to-watch links open TMDB's pages.

How long it's kept

While your account is open, Scene keeps what you've added.
When you delete your account, it's scheduled for deletion 30 days later; you can cancel by signing in during that time. Your personal data is deleted on or after that day, within 7 days. For 7 more days your profile shows "This account was deleted" to people who followed you. A comment of yours that others replied to, deleted by you or with your account, shows "Comment deleted" so their replies keep their place; nothing of yours stays in it.
Reports are kept as moderation records. While the reported member has an account, a report keeps a copy of the reported note or comment; once an account is deleted, its reports keep only bare IDs, without the reported text or the words you wrote in them.
An invite request from the website is deleted once Scene sends you an invite, or after 12 months.
Backups and logs held by our hosting providers age out on their own schedules.

Your choices and rights

Download your data: Settings → Your data → Download my data gives you a file of everything that's yours (your email address is held by Clerk; ask us for it).
Delete your account: Settings → Account → Delete account.
Control what others see: Settings → Privacy, and each note and list has its own switch.
Notifications: Settings → Notifications, or your iPhone's Settings.

Children

Scene isn't for children under 13, or under the minimum age where you live, and doesn't knowingly keep data about them. If you believe a child has an account, contact us and we'll delete it.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, Scene will tell you in the app before the change applies.

Contact

Scene, support@usescene.app.