MoodMusic Privacy Policy
Last updated: August 16, 2026
Overview
MoodMusic is a music recommendation app that suggests songs, albums, and artists based on your mood. We are committed to protecting your privacy and being transparent about how data is handled.
Account and Authentication
MoodMusic offers optional account creation via:
- Email and password — your email and display name are stored in Firebase.
- Sign in with Apple — we receive only the information you choose to share (name and email). Apple's "Hide My Email" is fully supported.
- Google Sign-In — we receive your name and email from your Google account.
You can use the core features (mood chat and song recommendations) without creating an account. An account enables saving favorites and chat history.
Data We Collect (With an Account)
Profile information: Display name and email address, stored in Google Firebase Firestore.
Favorites: Songs, albums, and artists you save as favorites, stored in Firestore linked to your user ID.
Chat history: Your mood conversations and the AI's responses, stored in Firestore linked to your user ID.
Reflections: If you choose to answer the optional "how do you feel now?" prompt after listening to a set, your response is stored in Firestore linked to your user ID so the app can learn which music settles you.
Preferences: Dark mode setting and favorites toggle, stored locally on your device.
Data We Process (Not Stored)
Mood input: When you describe your mood, your text is sent to the Claude AI API (via our server-side proxy) to generate personalized music recommendations. Mood text is not stored on our servers after processing.
Song searches: Song titles and artist names are sent to the Deezer API to retrieve album art, preview audio, and track metadata. No personal data is included in these requests.
Spotify links: Track ISRCs and artist names may be sent to the MusicBrainz API to resolve Spotify deep links. No personal data is included.
YouTube video lookup: When YouTube playback is enabled in Settings, song titles and artist names are sent to the YouTube Data API. See the dedicated YouTube section below for full details.
YouTube API Services — Use, Processing, and Sharing
This section describes in detail how MoodMusic uses, processes, and shares information when you use YouTube playback. By using YouTube features in MoodMusic, you also agree to the YouTube Terms of Service and to Google's Privacy Policy.
How we use YouTube API Services
MoodMusic accesses the YouTube Data API v3 for one purpose only: to find the YouTube video that corresponds to a song the AI music counselor has recommended to you. We call exactly one endpoint, https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search, with the song's title and artist as the query. From the response, we use only the 11-character video identifier (videoId). This videoId is then passed to the official YouTube IFrame embed player so the video can play inside MoodMusic.
What information we send to YouTube/Google
- The song title and artist name returned by our AI recommendation (e.g. "Happy Pharrell Williams official audio"). These are not personal data — they are public song metadata derived from the AI's response.
- Standard request metadata (your device's IP address, User-Agent, and the iOS Bundle ID header) sent automatically by the iOS networking stack to the Google API endpoint.
- A server-managed API key restricted to the MoodMusic iOS app.
We do not send your name, email, user ID, mood text, conversation contents, or any other personally identifying information to YouTube or Google as part of YouTube API requests.
What information we receive from YouTube/Google
- The 11-character
videoId for the top matching video.
- Other fields returned by the API (video title, thumbnail URL, channel name, description, publishedAt, etc.) are discarded immediately and never stored.
How we process YouTube data
The videoId is used to construct an embed URL of the form https://www.youtube.com/embed/<videoId>. This URL is loaded inside the app via the official YouTube IFrame embed player (an Apple WKWebView/SafariViewController). Video playback, ads, captions, and all other media controls are handled directly by YouTube's player — MoodMusic does not modify, intercept, download, or rehost any YouTube content. We do not generate analytics, reports, or aggregated data from YouTube responses.
How long YouTube data is stored
If you are signed into a MoodMusic account, the videoId is stored alongside the corresponding chat message in your private Firestore record so revisiting a past conversation can replay the same video without re-querying the API. We do not store any other field from the YouTube API response. The videoId is a permanent public identifier — the live video metadata (title, thumbnail, view count, availability) is fetched fresh from YouTube every time you open the player. If a video is removed or made private by its uploader, YouTube's player itself will display the appropriate message inline.
If you delete a chat, the associated videoId is removed within 24 hours. If you delete your account, all videoId values along with all your other data are removed within 24 hours.
Sharing of YouTube data with third parties
We do not share, sell, license, or transfer YouTube API data to any third party. We do not use YouTube data for advertising, profiling, or analytics. The only "sharing" that occurs is the inherent client-server communication between your device and YouTube/Google when the embed player loads — that interaction is governed by Google's and YouTube's own policies.
Your controls
- Disable YouTube usage: In MoodMusic Settings → Streaming Service, switch from "YouTube Videos" to "Spotify Previews". After this, no YouTube API calls are made and no
videoId is stored for new recommendations.
- Revoke stored video links: Delete a chat session in Chat History to remove its stored
videoId values. Delete your account to remove all of them.
- YouTube account controls: If you happen to be signed into YouTube on your device, your normal YouTube privacy settings (managed at myaccount.google.com) apply to the embed player session.
Location (Optional)
MoodMusic can recommend music from your local scene ("Explore Local" and local-artist verification). This feature is optional and only works if you grant location permission:
- Approximate only — the app requests kilometer-level ("while using") accuracy and immediately converts your coordinates into a city/region/country name on-device. Precise coordinates never leave your device.
- How the place name is used — the city/region name is included in the recommendation request sent to the Claude AI API (via our server-side proxy) and is used to check artist origins against the MusicBrainz database (artist names only are sent to MusicBrainz).
- Storage — if you are signed in, the place name may appear in your saved chat history in Firestore, linked to your user ID, like any other conversation content. We do not maintain a separate log of your locations.
- Permission — iOS asks for your permission before any location access. Declining simply disables local recommendations; everything else works. You can revoke access anytime in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services.
Apple Music Playback (Optional)
If you select Apple Music as your streaming service in Settings, song playback is handled by Apple's MusicKit framework:
- The app checks your Apple Music subscription status on-device to enable full-song playback for subscribers.
- Apple Music catalog song identifiers may be stored with your favorites and chat history so songs can be replayed later.
- Playback through Apple Music is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy and your Apple Media Services agreement. MoodMusic does not receive your Apple ID or listening history.
Calm Sessions and Health
Calm sessions are guided breathing sessions with music. If you use them, here is exactly what happens to the data involved.
- Heart rate and heart-rate variability stay on your device. If you wear an Apple Watch during a session, MoodMusic reads your heart rate and (when your watch logs one) your heart-rate variability from Apple Health. On your iPhone, these readings guide the session itself — the live heart-rate display and, when adaptive audio is enabled, gently adjusting how the soundscape sounds. That adjustment happens entirely on your device. These readings are stored only on your iPhone, in the app's own private storage. They are never uploaded to our servers, never sent to any third party, and never included in any request MoodMusic makes over the network. They are deleted when you delete the app, and when you delete your MoodMusic account.
- What MoodMusic writes to Health. With your permission, MoodMusic saves each breathing session to Apple Health as Mindful Minutes, and (on iOS 18 and later) records how you felt after the session as a State of Mind entry, based on the rating you gave. Both are written to your own Health store on your device and are governed by Apple's Health privacy protections. MoodMusic never reads these entries back. You can revoke this at any time in the Health app under Sharing → Apps → MoodMusic.
- What is sent to our server for a 15-minute session's opening music (a feature that may be switched off in your version of the app — when it is off, no such request is made at all). To choose the opening music for a 15-minute session, MoodMusic sends to its own proxy server the following: the length of the session; the stress rating you set on the slider (a number from 0 to 100); the optional mood note you typed or dictated; the titles and artists of up to 15 songs you have saved as favourites; up to 10 short taste tags (words like "indie" or "ambient", drawn from the mood and genre choices you have made in the app); the time of day (morning, afternoon, evening or night); and which kind of playback your current streaming setting can deliver (full Apple Music songs, 30-second previews, or neither) — the setting itself, not any account details. That request is used once, to generate the session's music, and is not stored and not logged on our servers. Your heart rate, your heart-rate variability, your session history, your name, your email and your Health data are never part of it. Five-minute sessions make no such request at all.
- The stress check on the home screen, and "Talk it through". The Heal home has an optional stress slider. Tapping "Talk it through" opens a short conversation — at most six exchanges. Each time you send a message, MoodMusic sends to its own proxy server: the number you set on that slider (0–100, and nothing at all if you never touched it), the hour of day on your device, the words you type or dictate in that conversation (each message up to 200 characters — the one you just sent and at most the five before it), which exchange you are on, and identifiers for the lines the app itself has already shown you. Nothing else — not your session history, not your ratings from past sessions, not your heart rate or heart-rate variability, not your favourites, not your name or email. The reply is a choice from fixed lists the app already knows: every word you read on that screen is written by the app, not generated. Those requests are used once and are not stored and not logged on our servers. If you start a session from this conversation, the first message you sent in it travels with you as that session's mood note (see above). Beyond that, the conversation itself is never saved — closing the sheet ends it.
- Session records. If you are signed in, each session's date, length, stress ratings and the list of tracks it played are saved to your private Firestore record so your history and streak work across devices — with the heart-rate and HRV values removed. Signed out, the same record stays on the device only.
Calm sessions are a relaxation aid, not a medical device or treatment.
Voice Input
MoodMusic offers optional voice input so you can describe your mood by speaking instead of typing:
- Microphone access — when you tap the microphone button, the app records audio from your device's microphone. Recording stops when you tap again or after a period of silence.
- Speech recognition — your audio is transcribed to text using Apple's Speech Recognition framework. Depending on your device and iOS settings, transcription may happen on-device or be sent to Apple's servers for processing. See Apple's Privacy Policy for details on how Apple handles speech data.
- Not stored by MoodMusic — raw microphone audio is never saved. The app only keeps the transcribed text, which is then treated the same as any mood text you type.
- Permission required — iOS will ask for your permission the first time you use voice input. You can revoke access anytime in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone (and Speech Recognition).
Data We Do NOT Collect
- No precise location data (only an approximate city/region name, and only if you opt in — see "Location" above)
- No heart rate, heart-rate variability, or any other health data — those readings stay on your device (see "Calm Sessions and Health")
- No analytics or tracking
- No advertising identifiers
- No cookies
- No data shared with advertisers
Account Deletion
You can delete your account at any time from the Profile screen in the app. Account deletion permanently removes all your data from our servers, including:
- Your profile information (name, email)
- All saved favorites (songs, albums, artists)
- All chat history and messages
- Your Firebase authentication account
This action is irreversible.
Third-Party Services
MoodMusic uses the following third-party services, each governed by their own privacy policies:
Data Security
All network communication uses HTTPS encryption. Authentication is handled by Firebase Auth with industry-standard security practices.
Children's Privacy
MoodMusic does not knowingly collect any personal information from children under 13.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated date.
Contact
If you have questions about this privacy policy, please contact us at: moodmusic.app@gmail.com