Shopwatchr
Privacy & cookies
Last updated 20 October 2026
Shopwatchr sends you restock alerts for products you choose. This policy explains what personal data we hold, why, who helps us run the service, how long we keep things, and your rights. We've tried to keep it short and exact.
Who we are
Shopwatchr (shopwatchr.com) is a Retro32 service. Retro32 is the "controller" of your personal data under UK data protection law. Contact us about anything in this policy at [email protected].
What we hold, and why
| Data | Why | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Your email address | Your login, account emails (confirmation, password reset) and, if you choose, alerts | Contract |
| Your password | Signing in. Stored only as a one-way hash - we can never see or recover it | Contract |
| Your watches: product links, the variants you pick, names you give them, check settings | Running the checks and sending your alerts | Contract |
| Your notification settings: extra email addresses, push topics and any access tokens | Delivering alerts where you asked | Contract |
| Your activity log (stock changes, alerts sent, errors) | So you can see what happened, and for support | Contract |
| Copies of the emails we send you | Delivery, retries and troubleshooting | Legitimate interests |
| Security records: keyed hashes of the IP address and email used to sign in, sign up or reset a password | Stopping password guessing and abuse | Legitimate interests |
| Plan, sign-up date, last sign-in, time zone, theme | Running your account | Contract |
If you add someone else's email address as a recipient, we email them once to ask if they want alerts, and send nothing more unless they confirm. Please only add addresses you're allowed to.
How we protect it
- Your email addresses, watch names, push topics, tokens and activity log are encrypted with a key unique to your account. The key that unlocks those keys is kept separately from the database.
- Passwords are hashed with bcrypt. Sign-in and sign-up are rate-limited and protected by Cloudflare's bot check.
- Everything travels over HTTPS. Our server has no open web ports - it's reachable only through Cloudflare.
- Product links aren't encrypted: they're public shop pages, shared by everyone who watches the same product. They don't identify you on their own.
Who helps us run Shopwatchr
We don't sell your data or use it for advertising. These providers process it on our behalf, only to run the service:
| Provider | What for | What they see |
|---|---|---|
| IONOS (UK data centre) | The server and database | Everything we hold, stored encrypted as described above |
| Cloudflare | Delivering the website securely, bot protection on sign-in forms | Your IP address and browser details when you visit |
| Microsoft (Microsoft 365) | Sending emails from [email protected] | The emails we send you and your address |
| ntfy.sh and Apple (iPhones only) | Waking the ntfy app on an iPhone for push alerts | Only a signal that a new message is waiting on our push server - not the message itself. On Android the app connects to our push server directly. |
If you add your own ntfy server, your alerts go to that server and its operator's policy applies. When we check a product, the shop sees a request from our server - it receives none of your personal data.
Some of these providers may process data outside the UK. Where they do, it's covered by UK adequacy regulations or approved contract terms.
Paid plans aren't available yet. When they are, card payments will be handled by Stripe and we'll update this policy first - we will never see or store your card details.
How long we keep it
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Your account, watches and notification settings | Until you delete your account |
| Activity log entries | 12 months |
| Copies of emails we've sent you | 30 days |
| Security records (hashed IPs and emails) | 30 days |
| Used or expired confirmation and reset links | 30 days |
| Server logs (which products were checked, delivery errors) | 30 days |
| Encrypted backups | 14 days - so after you delete your account, backup copies are gone within 14 days |
Your rights
You can:
- Get a copy of your data any time: Account → Download all my data.
- Correct it in your account, or ask us to.
- Delete your account and everything in it: Account → Delete my account.
- Stop alert emails to any address with the one-click unsubscribe link in each alert.
- Object to or ask us to restrict how we use your data.
Email [email protected] for anything else; we'll reply within a month. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
We don't make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you. Shopwatchr isn't intended for children under 13.
Cookies
We only use cookies that are needed to make the site work, so we don't need to ask for consent and there's no cookie banner. There are no analytics, advertising or tracking cookies.
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| sw_session | Shopwatchr | Keeps you signed in and carries a security token that protects your forms | 30 days |
| theme | Shopwatchr | Remembers light or dark mode if you switch it while signed out | 1 year |
| __cf_bm, cf_clearance | Cloudflare | Telling people from bots, protecting the sign-in forms | Up to 30 minutes / 1 year |
Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll email account holders before it takes effect.