privacy & support

Updated October 13, 2026

This policy covers the drift app and drift.lab44.dev, operated by Lab44 (Mike Helsel). For questions or requests, email mike@lab44.dev.

Listening does not require an account. Your library lives on your device. We do not sell your personal information or use it for targeted advertising.

privacy

your library and listening

drift stores your followed shows, queue, playback positions, settings, listening history, saved moments and notes, transcripts and downloaded audio locally. Listening statistics are calculated on your device. We do not automatically upload your library or listening history to Lab44.

Local audio processing and local transcription, where available and enabled, run on your device. Model downloads may contact the platform provider; drift does not send your audio to a cloud transcription service. Device backups, including backups you enable through Apple, are governed by your device settings and provider.

podcast services and network requests

Searching directories, loading charts, refreshing feeds, displaying artwork, streaming or downloading episodes, and fetching publisher transcripts contact the services that provide them. Those services receive your IP address and request information, such as a search query or the requested feed or episode. Publishers may use their own analytics or advertising in feeds and audio. Their privacy policies apply to those requests.

Reading feeds you follow, and full articles or article images you choose to load, are fetched directly from those sites by your device, without cookies. Highlights and notes you make stay on your device and in exports you create.

optional sign-in

If you choose to sign in, drift uses Google Firebase Authentication. Depending on the method you choose, this processes your email address, account identifier, authentication credentials and any name or profile image your sign-in provider shares. Firebase also processes technical information, including IP addresses and user-agent information, to operate and protect authentication. A password you create for drift is handled by Firebase; drift does not receive your Google or Apple password.

We use account information to sign you in, display your account and manage it. Signing in does not automatically back up or sync your library. You can sign out or delete your account from the app’s account screen; deletion may require a fresh sign-in. Deleting an account leaves your local library on your device. See Firebase’s privacy information and your chosen sign-in provider’s policy.

technical data and diagnostics

drift does not add a behavioral-analytics or advertising SDK. Firebase services used for optional sign-in and feedback process installation identifiers and technical diagnostics to operate and protect those services. Their SDK disclosures include analytics purposes. This is separate from your local listening statistics and from the diagnostics you can choose to attach to a feedback report.

the beta interest list

The website links to the App Store release and the optional TestFlight beta. If you previously joined our beta interest list, we stored your email address, a signup identifier, the signup time and the version of the consent wording. We use the list to contact you about drift beta testing. It is stored privately through our hosting service and is not published. Joining the list does not create an app account or enroll you in TestFlight.

We keep your signup while it is needed for beta testing, until you ask us to remove it, or until we close the list. Email us to leave the list at any time. Beta-list removal and app-account deletion are separate requests.

website hosting, support and testing

The website is hosted through OpenAI Sites and Cloudflare, including Cloudflare database storage for beta signups. Hosting providers process technical request data, such as IP addresses, browser information and access times, to deliver and secure the site. They may use operational cookies or logs. We have not added advertising cookies, tracking pixels or a third-party visitor-analytics tool.

If you email us, we receive your address and the message or attachments you choose to send, and use them to respond and resolve the issue. Please avoid sending passwords, private feed links or personal library exports unless needed for your request.

If you test drift through TestFlight, Apple collects beta usage and crash information and may share it and your submitted feedback with us. We use that information to investigate problems and improve drift. See Apple’s TestFlight privacy notice.

in-app feedback

When you send feedback from drift (help & support › send feedback, or from an experiment), drift stores your report in its feedback inbox on Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore, United States). The report holds the title and text you write, the kind of feedback, the experiment and variant it is about, drift’s version and build, whether drift came from TestFlight or the App Store, your platform, the time, and a Firebase user id. If you are signed in, that id is your account’s; if not, drift signs in anonymously just for feedback, and the id identifies nothing about you. If you turn on attach diagnostics, the report also holds your device model (for example iPhone17,2), your iOS version and recent drift log lines, with file paths, private parts of links, email addresses and credentials removed first. drift never attaches audio, your library, feed links or your email address. Your app cannot read reports back, including your own.

About every half hour, an automated job copies each new report into Lab44’s private GitHub repository, where the drift team reads it, and marks it filed. GitHub stores it under its own privacy statement. A report that cannot be sent yet waits on your iPhone until it can be, and you can remove it there. We keep feedback while it helps improve drift; email mike@lab44.dev to have a report deleted.

sharing, storage and retention

We use service providers for hosting, account authentication, email, beta distribution and in-app feedback. Information needed for those services may be processed in the United States or other countries where the providers operate. We may also disclose information when required by law or necessary to protect people and the service.

Local data remains until you remove it or delete the app’s data. Exports and device backups you create remain wherever you save them. Account information is retained until account deletion; providers may retain security logs or backup copies according to their own retention policies. We retain support correspondence and beta feedback only as needed to handle the issue, maintain the service or meet legal obligations. Deletion from provider backups may take additional time.

your choices and requests

You can listen without signing in, manage local listening-history tracking in settings, and export your library through drift’s free export tools. Remove downloads in the app or delete the app and its data through your device settings. Manage saved exports and device backups separately.

To request access, correction or deletion of personal information held by Lab44, withdraw beta-contact consent, or raise a privacy concern, email mike@lab44.dev. We may need to verify that a request relates to you. Depending on where you live, you may also have rights to restrict or object to processing, receive a portable copy, or complain to your local data-protection authority.

children and policy changes

drift is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. Contact us if you believe a child has provided personal information so we can address it.

We will update this page and its effective date when our practices change. Material changes will be explained here and, where appropriate, in the app or by email before new uses take effect.