Privacy policy

The short version: how long gifts are kept

Requesting an already expired link may trigger immediate cleanup. You may also request early deletion; after we verify that you are the purchaser or authorized gift creator, we target removal of active gift content within 7 days.

What we collect

Gift content may include recipient and sender names, occasion, messages, photos, voice notes, captions, uploaded tickets or PDFs, links, gift codes and the style you choose. In the current builder, the finished gift payload is encrypted in your browser before upload, and our servers store the encrypted payload rather than those readable fields. We still process optional reply messages and email addresses, checkout status and, for gift-credit packs, the email supplied to Stripe and the private credit-pass record.

If you ask us to save the idea for later, we collect your email address and the time you opted in so we can send occasional Pop the Gift ideas and updates. If you join the ambassador program, we collect your name, email address, social handle, primary platform, content categories, acceptance of the Ambassador Terms, verification status, promotional-send balance, referral clicks, qualifying orders and pending commission. We use a hashed combination of limited device and network signals to prevent duplicate introductory-credit claims.

Previously saved recipient replays remain on the browser that saved them. Gift codes, final-gift links and final attachments are excluded from those local copies. Clearing that browser’s site data removes them.

If you choose to create a sender account, we store your email, gift history, sender and recipient names you provided, notification preference, and the thank-you messages recipients choose to send. Sign-in links are emailed to you and expire after 15 minutes.

Our hosting, security and payment providers may process limited device, network, fraud-prevention and transaction information needed to operate and protect the service. Pop the Gift does not receive or store your full payment-card number.

First-party product analytics

We use privacy-limited, first-party analytics to understand which pages bring people to Pop the Gift and where the create, checkout and gift-play experiences need improvement. These records may include an anonymous browser identifier, a 30-minute session identifier, page path, referring website domain, campaign tags, broad device category, country code and product events such as starting the builder, previewing, beginning checkout, opening a gift, popping a bubble or reaching the final reveal.

Analytics records do not include gift messages, names, photos, voice notes, uploaded files, gift codes, full IP addresses or full browser user-agent strings. Anonymous analytics events are retained for up to 13 months. You can reset the browser identifiers by clearing site data for Pop the Gift.

When you arrive through an ambassador link, Pop the Gift stores the referral code in a first-party cookie for up to 30 days so the follower discount and any eligible commission can be attributed at checkout.

How we use it

• To save and deliver the gift link you purchased.
• To play uploaded photos, voice notes and final-gift files for the intended recipient.
• To complete payments, restore purchased credits and prevent abuse.
• To measure marketing campaigns, conversion and product performance.
• To send requested Pop the Gift ideas and updates to people who opt in.
• To operate the ambassador program, apply follower discounts, prevent self-referrals and calculate pending commissions.
• To provide support, investigate technical failures and meet legal obligations.

We do not sell gift content or use private gift messages, photos or voice notes for advertising.

Optional AI writing assistance

If you choose “Yes, help me write it,” the written answers you enter, the recipient and sender names, the occasion and your selected tone are sent securely to OpenAI to create an editable story-arc draft. This feature is optional; choosing to write the bubbles yourself does not send writing-assistant answers to OpenAI.

Photos, voice recordings, uploaded tickets, gift codes and payment information are not sent to the writing assistant. Pop the Gift requests that the AI response not be stored by the model provider. Review every generated line before publishing because AI-generated writing can be inaccurate. If writing help is unavailable or reaches its usage limit, your answers remain in the builder for manual editing.

Encryption and link privacy

New gifts made with the current builder use a fresh AES-256-GCM key generated in the sender’s browser. The gift is encrypted before upload. The decryption key is placed after the # in the complete gift link, a URL fragment that is not included in the request sent to our gift-storage API. Pop the Gift stores the encrypted gift payload, its initialization value and operational metadata such as status and expiration.

For an optional sender account, we also save a separately encrypted backup of each gift key after the sender signs in and saves or imports the gift. The backup uses a separate server-held key, so our service can technically recover a saved gift key to restore its private link on another device. Account access is required to request that link. Gift keys are not included in thank-you notification emails.

The complete link acts as the access key. Anyone who receives it can decrypt and open the gift, so send it only to the intended recipient and do not post it publicly. This design does not prevent a recipient from saving, recording or forwarding content they can view, and it is not a substitute for transferring tickets through the official ticket provider or sending high-value gift-card credentials through a separately authenticated channel.

Gifts created through an older version of the service may remain in the prior unlisted-link format until they expire or are deleted. Media responses for those legacy gifts are marked private and no-store to discourage browser and intermediary caching.

Other retention periods

• Purchased gift credits: they do not expire.
• Payment and tax records: may be retained for up to 7 years.
• Support and abuse-prevention records: may be retained for up to 3 years.
• Ambassador and commission records: while the account is active and afterward as needed for payment, tax, fraud-prevention and legal records.
• Provider backups and security logs: may remain until overwritten under the provider’s normal backup or security schedule.

When retention periods conflict with a legal hold, fraud investigation or mandatory recordkeeping rule, we may keep the minimum necessary record for the required period.

Service providers and transfers

We use service providers for website hosting, file storage, database services, email delivery, optional AI writing assistance and payment processing, including OpenAI for AI-assisted drafts and Stripe for checkout and promotion codes. They process information under their own terms and privacy commitments. Information may be processed in the United States and other locations where those providers operate.

Your choices

You may unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time and may ask us to delete an email saved through the “save this idea” form. You may also ask to access, correct or delete information connected to a gift you purchased. To protect gift content, we may ask for the checkout receipt, gift link, payment email or another reasonable proof of ownership. Email hello@popthegift.com with “Pop the Gift privacy request” in the subject line.

Children and changes

Pop the Gift is not directed to children under 13, and purchasers must be at least 18 or the age of majority where they live. We may update this policy as the service changes. Material changes will be posted here with a new effective date.