Privacy Policy

Information we handle

AU Studio stores information needed to provide your writing workspace, publish the stories you choose to share, and support reading:

• Google sign-in: Google provides your name, email address, Google account identifier, and profile image URL when you sign in. We use these details to create or access your account and display your profile. Your email and avatar come from Google; your profile name can be edited in AU Studio. Your account display name appears as the creator name on your public story pages. Google sign-in does not give AU Studio access to your Gmail messages or Google Drive files, and AU Studio does not store Google OAuth access or refresh tokens for sign-in.
• Workspace content: projects and their descriptions/settings, characters, fictional social accounts, scenes, chats and other scene content, and related comments, stories, reactions, and settings you create.
• Uploaded media: image files and related metadata such as filename, file type, file size, and image dimensions. Media may be attached to your projects or reused in your scenes.
• Story publication: story titles, categories, tags, synopses, covers, selected Character introductions, episode structure, and copies of the selected scene content and media are stored for previews and published releases.
• Reading and library: we store the episode version you read, your progress and path through its scenes and choices, and reading activity and completion times. Signed-in progress is associated with your AU Studio account. Guest progress uses a hashed identifier linked to your browser session. When signed in, we also store which stories you like or save to your library.
• Session and security data: the application uses an HTTP-only session cookie and an XSRF-TOKEN cookie for request verification. Session state supports sign-in and normal navigation; the XSRF token is not an authentication credential. The session system may process technical request data such as IP address and browser user agent as part of maintaining sessions.
• Analytics: Google Analytics is enabled but loads only if you opt in through the cookie consent controls. If enabled, it receives fixed page categories and virtual page addresses, sign-in, project/scene form opening, submission and validation failure categories, successful project/character/scene creation, learning article interactions, onboarding completion, successful PNG exports, and Support page or prompt interactions, along with limited technical browser information. AU Studio does not track payment completion or send payment details, chat messages, scene content, private project text, OAuth tokens, session IDs, secrets, or record identifiers as analytics event data.

How we use information

We use account information to authenticate you and show your profile; workspace data and media to save, display, and export the content you create; and publication data to provide previews and the stories you explicitly publish. Reading records let you continue or revisit an episode, follow story choices, and see your progress. Likes and saved stories support story counts and your personal library. Session data keeps sign-in, guest reading, and security features working; analytics data, when enabled and accepted, helps us understand use of the service.

Operational monitoring

When operational monitoring is active, download attempts report their format, processing stage, approximate progress, elapsed time, output size and a fixed error category. These records identify the account and project/scene IDs, but contain no message text, media, output file, filename, page URL, IP address or browser identity. Images and videos are still generated on your device. A download-started status does not confirm that a file was saved. Download records are removed when the account is deleted.

Once operational monitoring is activated, AU Studio records the first and latest signed-in page visit per account per day, using WITA. The latest visit is refreshed at most every five minutes. Separately authorized monitoring operators can see names, email addresses, registration dates, project names/statuses and creation dates, project/scene/character counts, recent access times, and manually measured storage usage. This permission does not grant access to private writing content or media.

These server-side operational records do not include IP addresses, browser user agents, page URLs, written content, tokens, or session payloads and are not sent to Google Analytics. They remain while the account exists and are deleted with the account. Anonymous daily counts of registrations, newly created projects, and active users may remain after deletion. Google Analytics continues to require its separate consent choice.

Storage and service providers

Account, project, and scene information is stored by the database and file-storage services configured for the AU Studio deployment. Google provides OAuth sign-in and, when Analytics is enabled and you opt in, Google Analytics. These providers handle information under their own terms and privacy notices. AU Studio does not ask Google to connect to your real social media accounts.

Voluntary support links on the Support page open an external payment provider. AU Studio does not receive or store your card details, payment credentials, or transaction information. The provider handles payment under its own terms and privacy notice. Supporting AU Studio does not unlock or change access to any feature.

Private drafts and public stories

Your source projects, editors, draft scenes, and original uploaded media remain in your private workspace. Preparing a private preview does not publish it. When you explicitly publish an episode, AU Studio makes the selected story information, Character introductions and fictional profiles, episode content, and copied publication media available to readers without requiring an account. Your creator display name and aggregate reader and like counts appear on public story pages. Published stories can appear in the public catalog and search engines and can be shared by link. Review the content and Character details you select before publishing.

Publishing saves a separate version of your selected content. Editing the source draft does not automatically update that version. Publishing an updated episode gives new reading sessions the current release; existing reading sessions retain their original release. Returning an episode to Draft disables its public reading and publication-media access while it is inactive, but retains release copies and reading history. Publishing it again restores availability. Previous episode releases and their copied media are retained until the author's account is deleted; unpublishing does not erase them. AU Studio cannot recall copies other people have already downloaded or shared elsewhere.

Reader access and retention

You can read published stories without signing in. Guest progress is available through the browser session in which it was created; losing or clearing that session removes your ability to resume it, but does not itself delete the server-side reading record. Guest progress is not automatically transferred to your account when you sign in. Signed-in reading history is linked to your account, and liking or saving a story requires sign-in. Your library and individual reading history are not public lists.

Reading records are retained to support progress and story reader counts. Deleting your account removes your account-linked reading records, likes, and saved-story entries. Deleting an author's account also removes reading records for that author's episode releases. Public story counts may change as a result.

Account deletion

You can permanently delete your AU Studio account from Settings → Account → Delete Account after signing in and explicitly confirming the action. Deletion removes your AU Studio account information and associated workspace data, including projects, characters, fictional social accounts, scenes and their content, uploaded media, episode releases and their copied media, and account-linked reading and library data stored by AU Studio. It does not delete your Google account, remove profile images hosted by Google, or control exports and other copies already downloaded or shared outside AU Studio. See the Account Deletion page for details.

Contact

For privacy or data requests, contact deukaefied@gmail.com.