Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 15, 2026

This Privacy Policy describes how Kari.fm (“Kari”, “we”) handles information when you use the Kari apps, website, and Home Host / join features.

Information we process

• Account data — email and profile details when you create a Kari account (via Appwrite Auth).
• Host sessions — session metadata, join codes, queue/request state, and participant display names.
• Guest join — display name, song requests, and credentials needed to prove you joined a session.
• Technical logs — operational diagnostics (for example error codes and timing), which are not intended to store raw search query strings in long-lived logs.

Web join song search

During Home Host web join, Kari may discover karaoke videos using Google Programmable Search (embedded in your browser) and/or YouTube API Services (via Kari’s servers). Which path is used depends on Kari’s configuration and availability; both are discovery only. Song requests always go through Kari’s host-command queue authority.

When Programmable Search is used, your search query is sent to Google in the browser (engine id cx is public client configuration, not a secret). Google may set cookies or show ads according to the Search Element tier. See Google’s Privacy Policy.

YouTube API Services

Kari uses YouTube API Services so guests can search for karaoke videos (when that discovery path is active) and so hosts can resolve video metadata for the queue after a song is requested.

When you use YouTube-powered search or request features, Kari’s servers call Google’s YouTube Data API with Kari’s API credentials. Search queries and selected video IDs are processed to return results and enqueue songs. Kari does not expose the YouTube API key to browsers or mobile clients.

Use of YouTube API Services is also subject to Google’s Privacy Policy and the YouTube Terms of Service.

Home Host’s YouTube-backed workflow is intended only for private, personal, non-commercial gatherings. See our Terms of Service.

Caching and rate limits

To protect quota and reduce duplicate API calls, Kari may temporarily cache sanitized search result display data and video metadata (typically for about 15 minutes). Rate-limit counters may store hashed identifiers (not raw IP addresses as document IDs).

Sharing

We use Appwrite (cloud database and functions) to operate the Service. We do not sell your personal information. We may disclose information if required by law or to protect the Service and users.

Retention

Session and request data are retained while a host session is active and for a limited period afterward for reliability and support. Short-lived caches expire automatically.

Contact

Privacy questions: hello@kari.fm.