Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

MakeBead is a free online tool for converting images into bead patterns (Perler, Hama, Artkal, cross stitch, pixel art, and more) and a community gallery where users can publish, like, favorite, and remix patterns. The site is operated as an independent project. Questions about this policy:contact@makebead.com.

2. Your images stay on your device

MakeBead's image-to-pattern conversion runs entirely in your browser. Images you upload to the converter are processed locally — they are never sent to or stored on our servers. When you close the tab, the source image is gone from our side as well. (Note: if you choose to savethe resulting bead pattern to your account, publish it to the public gallery, or create a share link, that pattern data — never the source image — is stored on our servers. Share links live in temporary storage for 30 days, are reachable only by their random URL, and are not indexed by search engines. See §9.)

Photos of finished pieces you post on a pattern page ("I made one") are the one exception: they are uploaded and stored on our servers (Cloudflare R2) so that other people can see them. Your browser shrinks the photo and strips its metadata — including any location your phone embedded — before it is sent, so only the resized image is stored. A posted photo stays until you remove it from the pattern page, it is declined or removed in review, or your account is deleted.

3. Information we collect

We collect a minimal amount of data, only to keep the site running:

• Account information (only if you sign in): your email address, your display name and avatar from your OAuth provider (e.g. Google), the username you choose, and any profile fields you fill in (bio, social handles).
• Anonymous usage analytics via Google Analytics (page views, country, device type, referrer). We do not link analytics to your account.
• Server logs from Cloudflare, which may include IP address, user agent, and request timestamps. Used for security and abuse prevention.
• Local storage in your browser to save your in-progress pattern, crafting tracker state, and UI preferences. This data never leaves your device.
• Email content you choose to send us via the feedback form or directly tocontact@makebead.com.

4. Cookies and tracking

MakeBead uses cookies for the following purposes:

• Authentication session cookie (only after you sign in) — an HttpOnly cookie issued by our auth library (Better Auth) to keep you logged in across visits. Cleared when you sign out.
• Cloudflare Turnstile — sets short-lived cookies during the bot-detection challenge that runs on sign-in.
• Google Analytics — to understand aggregate site usage. You can opt out with theGoogle Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
• Google AdSense — MakeBead shows ads served by Google. Google and its certified ad partners may set advertising cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) to serve and measure ads, and — only where you have consented — to personalize them. You can opt out of personalized advertising inGoogle Ads Settingsor viaaboutads.info. Seehow Google uses data from partner sites.

For visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and other regions with comparable consent requirements, MakeBead shows a cookie banner before any analytics or advertising cookies are set. Until you accept, Google Consent Mode v2 keeps analytics_storage,ad_storage, ad_user_data, andad_personalization set to denied — ads shown in that state are non-personalized. You can review or withdraw your choice at any time via theCookie Settings link in the page footer.

MakeBead does not request or collect precise device location. To choose the right consent defaults for your region, our server reads the two-letter country code that Cloudflare attaches to each request; that code is used only for this purpose and is not stored.

5. Data sharing

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. Limited data is processed by these third parties on our behalf:

• Cloudflare — hosting (Workers + Pages), our database (D1), file storage (KV / R2), CAPTCHA (Turnstile), and outbound email (Email Sending). Cloudflare may process your IP, request metadata, and account/email content to deliver these services.
• Google — Analytics, advertising (AdSense) and OAuth sign-in (only if you choose Google to log in). Google receives your sign-in identity per their policy; ad-serving data is covered by the Google AdSense bullet in §4 above.
• SeeAPI (GROWCRAFT PTE. LTD., Singapore) — an automated image check on patterns you publish (see §8). It receives the picture of the published pattern and nothing else: not your name, email or account.

6. Your rights

Depending on your location, you may have the right to access, correct, export, or delete personal data we hold about you. To exercise these:

• Anonymous use (no account) — most data lives in your browser's local storage; clearing it removes everything we have.
• Signed-in account — delete it yourself from Settings. Your published patterns come down from the gallery immediately, and the account and everything in it is erased 30 days later; a link in the confirmation email cancels it at any point in between. You can also emailcontact@makebead.comfrom the address on file and we will do it for you within 30 days — use that route if you can no longer sign in. Individual patterns can be unpublished or deleted from the My Patterns page.

7. Children's privacy

MakeBead is a creative tool used by all ages. Account creation is intended for users 13 and older (US COPPA threshold). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has created an account or provided personal information, contactcontact@makebead.comand we will delete it.

8. Patterns you save and publish

When you save a pattern to your account or publish it to the gallery, the following is stored on our database (Cloudflare D1):

• The grid data (color IDs per cell), bead style, and palette.
• Title, description, and tags you supply.
• Visibility (private, unlisted, or public), like and view counts, and your authorship.

Private patterns are visible only to you.Public patterns appear in the gallery, on your public profile (/u/<username>), in search results, and may be indexed by search engines. The grid data is open: anyone visiting a public pattern URL can remix it in the designer.

When you publish a pattern, or save a new version of one that is public, a picture of it is sent to an automated image check (SeeAPI, §5) — the same picture anyone can already see in the gallery. If the check flags it, the pattern is taken out of the gallery until a person at MakeBead has looked at it; you can still see it, and it comes back if it is fine. The check's result is stored with the pattern for moderation and is not shown publicly.

Reports you file against other patterns are stored to allow moderation review. After your account is deleted, your reports are anonymized but the underlying flag remains.

9. Hosting and Cloudflare services

MakeBead runs on Cloudflare's developer platform. Specifically:

• Cloudflare Workers / Pages — application hosting and global CDN.
• Cloudflare D1 — SQLite-compatible database for accounts, patterns, likes, favorites, reports.
• Cloudflare KV — short-lived storage for temporary share links.
• Cloudflare Turnstile — bot detection (CAPTCHA replacement) on sign-in and publish.
• Cloudflare Email Sending — transactional email (magic-link sign-in).

Data residency follows Cloudflare's regional placement (APAC for our database). Cloudflare's privacy practices apply to data they process on our behalf — seeCloudflare's privacy policy.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the latest revision. Material changes (new categories of data, new third parties) will be announced on the site. Continued use of MakeBead after changes means you accept the updated policy.

11. Contact

Questions about this privacy policy? Email contact@makebead.comor use the contact page.