Privacy Policy
Niche Radar ("the application") is a free, open-source research tool for YouTube creators, developed by Pavel (GitHub: Inqard; "the developer") and published at github.com/Inqard/niche-radar. It is a command-line program that each creator runs on their own computer with their own Google Cloud project and API key. There is no hosted service, no user account, no sign-in, and the developer does not receive any data from other people who run the application. This policy describes what the application does with YouTube data wherever it runs, and the developer's own use of it.
1. Use of YouTube API Services
The application uses YouTube API Services to retrieve publicly available information from YouTube. Anyone who runs the application is bound by the YouTube Terms of Service and, as the operator of their own API project, by the YouTube API Services Terms of Service. Google's handling of data is described in the Google Privacy Policy.
2. What data is accessed
Only data that YouTube makes publicly available ("non-authorized data"), namely:
- video metadata: title, description, tags, publication date, duration, category, topic categories, "made for kids" status, paid-promotion status;
- public video statistics: view count, like count, comment count;
- channel metadata: title, creation date, country, uploads playlist, and public statistics (subscriber count, total views, video count);
- public channel sections (featured channels) and public subscription lists;
- "most popular" video charts by region and category.
The application does not request access to any YouTube account, does not use OAuth, and never accesses private or "authorized" data. It does not download, cache or store audiovisual content.
3. How the data is used
Retrieved data is grouped into topics and summarized (totals, growth over the last weeks, number of channels per topic) to produce research reports that the creator running the application uses to decide which videos to create. Reports stay on that creator's computer; they are not published, sold, licensed or distributed by the application, and the data is not used to gain insights into YouTube's business, revenue or usage. Figures taken from YouTube are shown as returned by the API; the application's own indices are labelled as its own calculations.
4. Storage and retention
- Data is stored in a local database on the computer of the creator who runs the application; it is not uploaded to any server and never reaches the developer.
- Public statistics are retained for at most 30 days. A daily routine deletes statistics older than 30 days and deletes any video or channel record that has not been refreshed from the API within 30 days.
- If YouTube approves the developer's request to store statistics for a longer period (YouTube API Services Developer Policies, Section III.L), retention will be extended only to the approved period and only for the approved purpose, and this policy will be updated accordingly.
5. Sharing with third parties
The application does not sell, rent or share API data with third parties and sends it to no server. One optional step exists: to give topic groups readable names, a creator may export a small file with video titles and aggregate counts (no personal data, no account data) and ask an AI assistant to name the topics; that is the creator's choice, happens outside the application, and the assistant's provider processes the text under its own privacy policy. The application serves no advertising and uses no analytics or tracking.
6. Personal information
The application collects no personal information from anyone: it has no accounts, no sign-in, no telemetry, and the developer receives nothing from people who run it. Public channel names and video titles retrieved from the API are used solely as described above and are deleted under the retention rule in Section 4. This website is static and sets no cookies.
7. Your rights and revocation
Because the application never requests access to a Google account, there is no authorization to revoke. If you believe a copy of the application run by the developer has stored information about your channel and you wish it deleted, contact the developer (Section 10); such records are in any case deleted automatically within 30 days. Google account permissions in general can be managed at https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions.
8. Children
The application and this website are not directed to children and do not knowingly collect information from children.
9. Changes
Changes to this policy will be posted on this page with a new "last updated" date.
10. Contact
Pavel (independent developer, GitHub: Inqard) · Inqardwastaken@gmail.com · github.com/Inqard/niche-radar/issues