Privacy Policy

PullVids ("we," "us," or "our") is an independent, web-based YouTube video download tool. We operate this website solely to allow users to save publicly available YouTube videos to their personal devices for offline viewing.

We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to YouTube, Google LLC, or Alphabet Inc. "YouTube" is a registered trademark of Google LLC.

For all privacy-related questions, contact us through our contact page.

• Contact form submissions: When you contact us, we collect your name, email address, and message content solely to respond to your enquiry. We do not add you to any mailing list or marketing database.
• YouTube URLs: When you submit a video URL, it is processed by our backend server in memory to retrieve video metadata and a download link. URLs are not permanently logged or written to disk on our servers.

• Server access logs: Our web server records standard access data including your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URL, pages visited, and timestamps. These logs are retained for up to 30 days for security and diagnostic purposes only, then permanently deleted.
• Analytics data: We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use PullVids. Data is anonymized and aggregated and includes pages viewed, session duration, device type, and general geographic region. It does not identify you personally.
• Advertising data: Google AdSense places cookies on your device to serve relevant advertisements. See Section 5 for full details and opt-out options.

• We do not collect your name or email unless you contact us voluntarily.
• We do not store, cache, or log the video files you download. Videos transfer directly from YouTube's CDN to your browser.
• We do not track which specific YouTube videos you choose to download.
• We do not collect payment information. PullVids is completely free with no paid tiers.
• We do not build personal user profiles, maintain user accounts, or remember you between sessions.
• We do not access your YouTube account, Google account, watch history, subscriptions, or any personal Google data.

We use collected information for the following specific purposes only:

• To operate the service: Processing submitted YouTube URLs to retrieve video metadata and provide download links for your browser.
• To respond to you: Using contact form data to reply to your support requests, bug reports, and general enquiries.
• To improve the service: Using anonymized and aggregated analytics data to understand which features are used, where errors occur, and where the experience can be improved.
• To maintain security: Using server logs to detect and prevent abuse, bot traffic, rate-limit violations, and unauthorized access attempts.
• To display advertising: Allowing Google AdSense to serve advertisements on our pages. Ad revenue is the only income that allows us to provide PullVids completely free of charge.
• To comply with legal obligations: Retaining minimum necessary records to respond to valid legal requests, court orders, or DMCA takedown notices as required by applicable law.

We do not use your data for automated decision-making, algorithmic profiling, or any purpose not listed above.

We use cookies and similar technologies on our website. A cookie is a small text file that a website stores on your device to remember information between visits.

• Theme preference (localStorage): We store your dark/light mode preference in your browser's localStorage. This value never leaves your device and is essential for the site to behave as you expect between visits.
• Cookie consent status (localStorage): We store your cookie consent decision so we do not show the consent banner on every page load. This value never leaves your device.

• Google Analytics: Collects anonymized usage data to help us understand how visitors use PullVids. You can opt out by installing the "Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on".
• Google AdSense: Serves personalized or non-personalized advertisements based on your browsing activity. See Section 5 for full opt-out instructions.

PullVids uses Google AdSense to display advertisements. Google, as a third-party advertising vendor, uses cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our website and other websites across the internet.

Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your browsing history across websites that participate in Google's advertising network. Google's collection and use of data through AdSense is governed solely by the Google Privacy Policy. We do not share personal information with Google beyond what is set automatically through their advertising technologies.

• Opt out of personalized advertising at Google Ads Settings.
• Opt out of third-party vendor personalized advertising at aboutads.info.
• Disable advertising cookies entirely through your browser settings at any time.
• If you are in the European Economic Area, manage your consent preferences through the cookie consent banner at the bottom of this page.

We do not control which specific ads Google displays on our pages, and we do not sell user data to Google or any third party. Ad revenue is our only source of income and what makes PullVids free.

When you use PullVids to download a YouTube video, our backend server accesses publicly available information on YouTube's platform. This interaction is subject to the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy.

We access only publicly available video metadata - the title, thumbnail, duration, view count, and available quality formats for the URL you submit. We never access your YouTube account, watch history, liked videos, playlists, subscriptions, or any Google account data. You are never required to log in to YouTube or Google to use PullVids.

PullVids does not use the official YouTube Data API. Our backend retrieves video information using yt-dlp, an open-source tool that accesses YouTube's publicly available data in the same manner a standard web browser would.

We do not sell, rent, trade, or share your personal information with third parties for their own commercial purposes. We share data only in these limited and specific circumstances:

• Service providers: Google Analytics and Google AdSense receive usage and advertising data automatically through their own tracking technologies operating under their respective policies. We do not separately transfer personal data to them.
• Legal obligations: We may disclose information if required by law, court order, subpoena, or government authority, or when we genuinely believe disclosure is necessary to protect the rights or safety of PullVids, its users, or others.
• DMCA compliance: If we receive a valid DMCA takedown notice, we may retain limited records of the notification and our response to document our legal compliance.
• Business transfer: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, user data may transfer to the acquiring entity. We will post a prominent notice on our website before any such transfer and explain your available options.

• Server access logs: Retained for up to 30 days, then automatically and permanently deleted.
• YouTube URLs submitted: Processed in server memory only to fulfill your request. Not permanently logged, stored, or written to disk on our servers.
• Contact form submissions: Retained only as long as needed to resolve your enquiry, deleted within 12 months of your most recent communication with us.
• Google Analytics data: Retained per Google's standard settings (26 months by default). Deletion can be requested through Google Ads Settings.
• Google AdSense cookies: Set and managed entirely by Google. Refer to the Google Privacy Policy for their specific retention periods and cookie lifespans.
• Browser localStorage: Your theme preference and cookie consent status are stored locally in your browser until you manually clear your browser data or storage.

If you are located in the EEA or UK, the General Data Protection Regulation grants you the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access: Request a copy of all personal data we hold about you, together with information about how we process it.
• Right to rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.
• Right to erasure: Request deletion of your personal data, subject to any legal retention obligations we must fulfill.
• Right to restrict processing: Request that we limit how we use your data in specific circumstances, for example while we verify a correction you have requested.
• Right to data portability: Receive the personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
• Right to object: Object to our processing of your data where we rely on legitimate interests as our legal basis, or object to processing for direct marketing purposes at any time.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where our processing is based on your consent, withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

The California Consumer Privacy Act grants you the following rights:

• Right to know: Request disclosure of the categories and specific pieces of personal information we collect about you, and how we use and share it.
• Right to delete: Request deletion of your personal information we have collected, subject to legal exceptions.
• Right to opt out of sale: We do not sell personal information. No action is required on your part to opt out.
• Right to non-discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any CCPA rights.

To exercise any of the rights above, contact us through our contact page. We will verify your identity and respond within 30 days. Complex requests may require up to 60 days with prior notice.

PullVids is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, contact us immediately at privacy@pullvids.com and we will delete that information as quickly as possible.

We comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If we discover we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 13 without verifiable parental consent, we will delete that information promptly.

Users between the ages of 13 and 18 should use PullVids only with the knowledge and consent of a parent or legal guardian.

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. Our security measures include:

• HTTPS encryption for all data transmitted between your browser and our servers - every connection is TLS encrypted
• Server-side rate limiting per IP address to prevent abuse, automated scraping, and denial-of-service attempts
• Weekly rotation of server user-agents and session cookies to reduce our backend fingerprinting risk
• Regular software updates, dependency audits, and security reviews of our codebase and infrastructure
• Strict access controls limiting which personnel can view server logs, error reports, or contact form submissions
• No video content is ever stored on our servers - videos travel from YouTube's CDN directly to your device, eliminating an entire category of data breach risk

No method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we use commercially reasonable security measures, we cannot guarantee absolute security. In the event of a data breach that materially affects your rights, we will notify affected users and relevant supervisory authorities within legally mandated timeframes.

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we update this policy, we revise the "Last updated" date shown at the top of this page.

For material changes that significantly affect how we collect or use your data, we will take additional steps to inform you - such as placing a prominent notice on our homepage - prior to the changes taking effect.

Your continued use of PullVids after any changes constitutes your acknowledgment and acceptance of those changes. If you do not agree with an updated Privacy Policy, you should stop using the service.

Questions about this Privacy Policy? Contact us here or email us at contact@pullvids.com.