Your privacy, in plain words
Updated
The short answer
We know next to nothing about you, and we like it that way. Nobody has an account on StoriesGlance, so nobody signs up or logs in, and there’s no file on you to keep. Our pages are plain static files, and we don’t keep a history of which handles get searched. There’s one exception, covered below. We don’t drop ad cookies or analytics cookies on you. If we ever do, we’ll change this page first and put a new date on it.
When a name ends up in the address
Here’s the one exception. Whether you search or open a link a friend shared, the username lands right in the page address (it reads like /?u= and then the name). Our hosting company and CDN see that address, same as any page request, and it can end up in their access logs.
What lives on your own device
There’s one small thing: the “recently viewed” names. Only your own browser holds them, tucked in its local storage, and none of it is ever sent our way. Tap Clear beside the list and they’re gone; wiping the site’s data in your browser does the same. They cover only what you looked at on this phone or computer, and no other device can peek at them. Using a private window? Then the list vanishes when the window closes.
Oh, and a service worker tucks a handful of our pages away on your device, so the site still opens when you’re offline. There are no usernames or profiles in there.
The route a lookup takes
Here’s the trip, start to finish. When you tap View, our CDN first runs a quick bot check you won’t normally notice (Cloudflare Turnstile); it glances at your IP address and a few browser signals, and only throws you a puzzle when something seems off. Then the name goes to our own site, which briefly tallies how hard any single IP address knocks, so nobody can hammer it, and hands the name on.
Next, our server checks with an outside data company, which grabs whatever that profile shares publicly from Instagram; our server passes the result back to the page you’re on. All the data company learns is the name typed in the box, and the request comes to it from our machine, never yours. It never gets your IP, never sees your browser info and can’t tell which site sent the request. We don’t get a say in how long it hangs on to its share.
Last leg: Instagram’s own photo servers hand the photos and videos to you with no stop on our side. They see your IP address, like any picture you load online, but aren’t told which site you’re on. Profile photos, the little circle covers and whatever you hit Save on are fetched by our server on your behalf. If you’d rather leave fewer traces, the same habits that protect you everywhere help here too: a VPN, say, or a browser that blocks trackers.
Who else is in the picture
- Hosting company: the firm whose machines keep our pages up.
- CDN: a layer in front of our pages that turns away abusive traffic and handles that quiet bot check every time you search, catching a glimpse of your IP and browser info as it does.
- Data provider: the company that fetches open profiles whenever our server asks, as covered above.
That’s the lot: no one else receives anything from us, and we never sell a thing.
Your rights
You can ask what we have on you, and we’ll correct or delete it. In practice we’ll tell you, in writing, that there’s nothing tied to you. If you want to ask, StoriesGlance is who you’re asking, at hello@storiesglance.com, and you’re always free to complain to the privacy watchdog in your country.
Questions
Email hello@storiesglance.com.