Privacy Policy
In short: HideBin encrypts your photos and videos in your browser before they are stored. We never receive your media, your passphrase or your recovery key, and we can't see or recover them. If you turn on Google Drive sync, only encrypted files go to your own Drive. If you allow usage statistics, Google Analytics counts visits to the opening screens and nothing from inside your vault.
Who we are
HideBin (“HideBin”, “we”, “us”) is an encrypted photo and video gallery that runs in your web browser at hidebin.com. This policy explains what information the app handles and where it goes.
Your photos, videos and passphrase
- Everything you add to HideBin is encrypted on your device (AES-256-GCM, with a key derived from your passphrase using Argon2id) before it is stored anywhere. File names, album names and dates are encrypted too.
- Your encrypted vault is kept in your browser's private storage on your device (the Origin Private File System) and, if you choose, in your Google Drive.
- Your passphrase, your recovery key and the passphrases of private albums never leave your device. HideBin has no server that receives them, and we have no copy of them.
- Because we never hold your keys, we cannot view your media and cannot recover your vault if you lose both your passphrase and your recovery key.
Google Drive (optional)
If you connect Google Drive, HideBin uses Google Sign-In to ask for permission to your Drive with the drive.file scope. This scope only lets the app see and manage files that HideBin itself creates; it cannot read any other file in your Drive.
- What we access: a folder named “HideBin” that the app creates in your Drive, and the encrypted files inside it.
- How we use it: only to store your encrypted vault and keep it in sync between your devices. The files are encrypted before upload, so Google and anyone with access to your Drive see only randomly named encrypted files and their sizes.
- Where the access token goes: the token Google issues is held in your browser's memory for the session and used only to call the Google Drive API directly from your browser. It is never sent to us or anyone else, and it is revoked when you disconnect Drive in the app.
- Revoking access: disconnect Drive in HideBin, or remove HideBin at myaccount.google.com/permissions.
HideBin's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We do not use Google user data for advertising, do not sell it, do not transfer it to anyone, and do not use it to train AI or machine-learning models.
Usage statistics (optional)
HideBin asks whether you want to share usage statistics. Nothing is sent unless you choose Allow, and you can turn it off at any time in Settings.
- What is counted: visits to the screens shown before a vault is unlocked (welcome, create, recovery key, unlock), and the events “vault created” and “vault unlocked” (with whether a passphrase or recovery key was used).
- What comes with each count: a random identifier stored in your browser, a session counter, the screen's name, your browser language and screen size, and the site you came from on your first visit. Google Analytics also receives your IP address and browser user agent, as with any website request. Ads personalisation is switched off for these hits.
- What is never sent: anything from inside your vault: your media, file or album names, how many items you have, your Drive use, or anything you do once the vault is open. Statistics stop as soon as a vault is unlocked.
- No Google Analytics script is loaded into the page; the app sends these counts itself to Google Analytics. Google processes them under the Google Privacy Policy.
Information stored in your browser
HideBin uses no cookies. It keeps a few settings in your browser's local storage, such as your display preferences, which one-time hints you've seen, your usage-statistics choice and its random identifier. None of these contain your media or keys. Erasing the vault from a device removes them.
Hosting
The app's files are served by Google's Firebase Hosting. Like any web host, it processes your IP address and request details to deliver the site. HideBin has no backend of its own: no account system, database or server that stores your information.
Sharing
We do not sell, rent or share your information. The only third party involved is Google, as described above, and only for the features you turn on: Drive sync and usage statistics.
Keeping and deleting your data
- Erase vault from this device (Settings) deletes the vault and HideBin's settings from that browser. Clearing your browser's site data does the same.
- Erase vault everywhere (Settings) also permanently deletes the HideBin folder from your Google Drive.
- Usage statistics already sent are kept by Google Analytics for the retention period set in our Analytics property, and are not linked to your identity or your vault.
Security
HideBin is designed so that storage, including Google Drive, never sees your content unencrypted. No system is perfectly secure: someone with control of your device, a malicious browser extension, or your passphrase could access your vault. Keep your passphrase and recovery key private.
Children
HideBin is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.
Your rights
Your media and keys are only ever on your devices and in your own Drive, so you can view, export or delete them yourself at any time. For questions about usage statistics, or to exercise any privacy rights you have under local law, contact us below.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top of this page. Significant changes will be noted in the app.
Contact
Questions about this policy: circus.software@gmail.com.