Privacy Policy

Who runs Chord Lens

Chord Lens is an independent project, not affiliated with any video platform. For any question about this policy or your data, write to [email protected].

Your account

You sign in with Google. We ask Google only for your basic profile, and we receive:

• your name, email address (and whether Google has verified it) and profile picture;
• your Google account ID, which is how we recognise you next time.

We store those with the date your account was created and the time you last signed in. Chord Lens never sees your Google password, and it gets no access to your watch history, your email or any other Google service.

Each time your sign-in is renewed, which is about every 15 minutes while you use Chord Lens, we keep a session record: a scrambled (hashed) copy of the sign-in token, when it was issued and when it expires, and your IP address and browser at that moment. Earlier session records are kept too. The website keeps you signed in with two cookies, cl_access (15 minutes) and cl_refresh (30 days), plus a short-lived cookie that protects the sign-in itself. They are needed for sign-in and are used for nothing else. The extension keeps its sign-in tokens in its own storage instead.

Signing out ends the current session on that device and clears its sign-in cookies or tokens. Your other devices stay signed in. Signing out does not delete your account, your history or earlier session records.

Revoking access. You can remove Chord Lens from your Google account on Google's security settings page. That withdraws the permission you gave Chord Lens; it does not delete what we already hold. To ask about deleting that, write to us (see Your choices).

Charts and your history

When you ask for a chart, in the extension or the Studio, we send our server the video identifier. The server makes the chart, or reuses one it already has. Charts are stored by video, and everyone who opens the same video gets the same chart.

Every chart request is recorded with:

• the video identifier and the time;
• your IP address and browser (its user-agent string), and which site or app the request came from;
• a request ID, and whether a chart was served and how it was made;
• your account, if you are signed in.

The first request that causes a video to be analysed is also kept with that video's chart, with the same details. We use these records to run the service, stop abuse and understand how Chord Lens is used. The Studio's History page shows you the charts you looked up while signed in, and only you can see your own list.

Audio

To make a chart, our server analyses the audio of the song you chose, then deletes that audio as soon as the chart is made. It keeps the chart, not the audio. Some charts come from other sources, and for those no audio is analysed at all.

Splitting a song into stems, and changing its key or tempo in the Studio, run in your browser. To do that, our server prepares the song's audio, sends it to you, and deletes its own copy once it has been sent. The extension's Stems tab works the same way; changing a key or tempo in the extension sends no audio. We record each of these requests with the song's video identifier, the time, your IP address and browser, and your account if you are signed in.

Chord Lens never uses your microphone and never captures your screen.

Files you upload

In the Studio you can open an audio file from your computer. To find its chords, the file is sent to our server, which deletes it as soon as it has read the chords. We do not keep the file or its name. We record that an upload was charted, whether it worked and how long it took, with your account, IP address and browser.

The chart that comes back is kept in your browser, not on our server. Splitting an uploaded file happens on your device, as below.

Splitting stems

Splitting a song into drums, bass, vocals and the rest is done on your own device, using your browser and your graphics hardware (WebGPU). No audio is sent to us to do it.

In the Studio, the stems and the song's original audio are saved in your browser's storage on this computer, for the account that made them, until you delete them. Signing out does not delete them; they are shown only to the same account when it signs in again on this browser. They never go to our server, and we cannot see them. Clearing your browser's site data for this site removes them.

If you're signed in, the Studio keeps a list of which songs each of your devices has stored (titles, sizes, dates), so you can see them from your other devices. The audio itself never leaves your device. With the list we keep a name for each device (such as “Mac · Chrome”), its browser and system (such as “Chrome 141 · macOS”), when it was last used, and a random ID the browser keeps for it. We do not record a title for files you uploaded.

In the extension, stems aren't saved.

Studio activity

The Studio sends us a record of what happens in it, so we can see which features are used and where things go wrong. Each record holds:

• what happened, such as opened a song, split finished, changed key or saved a loop, and when;
• the song's video identifier, or, for an uploaded file, an ID worked out from the file's contents (a fingerprint, not its name), and small details such as the new key, how many stems, or how long something took;
• your account if you are signed in, or else a random ID this browser keeps; a random ID for the visit; and your IP address and browser.

They never include lyrics, chords, file names or text you type. Where you name something, such as a loop, a section or a folder, only the name's length is sent. These records are read only by the Chord Lens team, for our own reports. They are not shared with anyone and are never sold.

In your browser

The website and the Studio keep some things in your browser's local storage so they are where you left them: the theme, the sidebar and your layouts; display settings such as key, capo and Simplify; recent songs, loops, library folders and tags; the random browser ID above; whether you allowed Microsoft Clarity; a random ID for this device (for the list of stored songs above); and the stems and upload charts described above. The extension keeps its settings, the key and speed you chose for recent videos, loops you saved, a list of videos it found no chords in, and the two random IDs described under The extension. None of this is sent to us except as described on this page.

To remove it, clear this site's data in your browser, or uninstall the extension from chrome://extensions.

The extension

The extension runs only on video pages. When you press Chords, or ask for lyrics or stems, it sends our server the video identifier, a key that identifies the Chord Lens extension (the same for everyone), and, if you have signed in, a token for your account. Like any request on the internet, it also reaches us with your IP address and browser, and it is recorded as described above.

Signing in to the extension is optional. A paid plan needs an account, so signing in is how the extension knows your plan. Changing a song's key or tempo happens in your browser, and no audio is sent to do it. The change itself is recorded, as below. The extension never touches your microphone, your screen, other websites, or your account on the video site.

Install ID. The first time the extension splits a song or checks how many splits you have left today, it makes a random ID for this install and keeps it in its own storage. It sends that ID with every split and every check, signed in or out. Signing out doesn't remove it and switching accounts doesn't change it; uninstalling the extension deletes it. We use it only to count daily splits per device as well as per account, so signing out doesn't reset the count. For each counted split we keep the ID, the day and a random ID for the split, and delete them two days after the day of the split. It is never written to our logs and never sent with activity records.

Feedback. When you send feedback from the extension, with Send feedback or the rating prompt, we receive your message, your account's email address so we can reply, any images you attach, and the technical details if you leave them on. The team reads it. The rating prompt sends only your message and the stars you picked.

Extension activity

When you use Chord Lens on a video page, the extension records which features you use, such as opening chords, changing the key or starting a stem split, so we can improve them and fix what goes wrong. Each record holds the feature, the video identifier when there is one, the time, and your IP address and browser. If you are signed in, it is linked to your account. If you are signed out, it is linked to a random ID the extension keeps, which is never sent while you are signed in, so what you do signed out is never joined to your account.

Once a UTC day, and when it is installed or updated, the extension also sends a check-in with its version and whether you are signed in, so we can count active installs. It is sent whether or not you use Chord Lens that day. The Mac app, and the Studio added to a phone's home screen, send the same check-in with their version and whether you are signed in, once a UTC day when opened and on their first launch or a new version; the Studio in a browser tab does not. If you remove the extension, Chrome opens a short page on chordlens.app that records the removal with the same random ID (or your account, if you were signed in) and the version, and lets you say why if you want. Records carry a few small details, such as a new key, a count or a length, and any rating you give with its stars. They never contain audio, chords, lyrics, song titles or anything you type: a loop or section name counts only by its length. A failed split sends a short cause code and error message, unless the message holds a web address or an ID. Records are sent in small batches and dropped if they can't be sent. Only the Chord Lens team reads them; they are not shared and never sold. There is no setting to turn them off; disabling or uninstalling the extension stops them.

Services we use

• Google signs you in (your name, email address, profile picture and Google account ID), and Google Analytics counts visits to this website, the Studio and our Chrome Web Store listing. Google's Google Privacy Policy applies. Analytics sets its own cookies and receives your IP address, from which it works out a rough location. What comes back to us is aggregate: how many visits, which pages, roughly which country, what kind of device, and which site referred you. To stay out of it, use Google's browser opt-out add-on or a content blocker; Chord Lens works the same either way. The extension sends nothing to Google Analytics.
• Microsoft Clarity shows us how visitors use this website's public pages (the home page, tools, guides, download, privacy and terms; never the Studio, song pages or sign-in), so we can make them clearer. It records clicks, taps, scrolling, mouse movement and which pages you visit, as heatmaps and replays of a visit, with the page's text and anything you type hidden. It also receives your IP address, browser, device, screen size and rough location. Clarity sets its own cookies (such as _clck and _clsk) to tell one visit from the next. If your browser's time zone is in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, it runs only after you choose Allow on the banner; elsewhere it runs unless you turn it off, and it never runs while your browser sends Global Privacy Control. You can turn it off or on at any time under Your choices. Microsoft's Privacy Statement applies, and Clarity's data page says what it collects.
• Stripe handles payment if you buy Premium or Pro. You pay on Stripe's page, not ours: your card details go to Stripe and never reach Chord Lens. Stripe receives your email address so it can send receipts. We keep a Stripe customer ID with your account, which plan you are on, when it renews or ends, and a record of each payment and refund (amount, date, status). Your receipt is from Chord Lens, and the charge appears as CHORDLENS on your card statement.
• Hostinger hosts our server and database, on a virtual private server we run.
• Cloudflare delivers this website and our server's answers, and sees each request to do that.

Each has its own privacy policy governing the data it processes.

Server logs

Like every web server, ours keep access logs: IP address, time, the page or address requested, the response and the browser. They exist to keep the service running and stop abuse, and they are deleted after 14 days.

How long we keep things

We don't delete records on a schedule, and there is no set time limit. That covers your account; your plan and payment records; your chart history, audio requests, Studio and extension activity and session records; the details kept with a chart you were the first to request (your IP address, browser and account); and records of requests made while signed out. The extension's install ID is the exception: what we keep against it is deleted two days after the day of each split. Charts are kept by video, because they describe a song, not you. What is in your browser stays until you delete it.

Sharing

We do not sell, rent or trade your data, and we don't share it with advertisers or data brokers. Besides us, it is handled only by the services listed above, including the company named under Stripe that bills for Chord Lens, and only for the reasons given there. We would disclose data only if the law required us to.

Legal bases for processing (EEA / UK)

Where the EU or UK GDPR applies, we rely on the following legal bases:

• Performance of a contract: providing the service and processing purchases. That covers your account, your usage (charts, audio requests and your history) and billing through Stripe.
• Legitimate interests: keeping the service secure and stopping abuse (the access logs and request limits), and improving it through the Studio and extension activity records described above, weighed against your rights.
• Consent: where we need it for analytics cookies or similar technologies, such as Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity. You can withdraw it at any time: for Clarity with the switch under Your choices, for Google Analytics with Google's opt-out add-on or a content blocker.
• Legal obligation: keeping payment and refund records where the law requires us to keep them.

International data transfers

Freedom! Family Limited is based in Hong Kong, and our service providers (Google, Microsoft, Stripe, Hostinger and Cloudflare, listed above) may process data in various countries, including outside the EEA and the UK. Where personal data is transferred internationally, we rely on appropriate safeguards, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or the equivalent safeguards offered by those providers.

Your choices

• See your history on the Studio's History page.
• Ask about deleting your data. Email [email protected] from the address on your account to ask about deleting your account and data, or about what we hold about you, and we'll respond.
• Revoke Google access on Google's security settings page.
• Session recording (Microsoft Clarity) on this website's public pages, in this browser: Off
• Clear what is in your browser by deleting stems in the Studio, clearing this site's data, or uninstalling the extension.

Children

Chord Lens is not directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect data from them. If you believe a child under 13 has signed in, write to us and we'll respond.

Changes to this policy

If what Chord Lens collects changes, this page changes with it, and the date at the top is updated. Material changes will also be noted in the extension's Chrome Web Store listing.

Contact