Privacy Policy
Last updated: January 26, 2026
StalkView ("we," "us," or "our") runs the website at stalkview.pages.dev (the "Site") together with the free tools it hosts for looking at public Instagram stories, highlights, posts, and profile details without signing in or connecting an Instagram account (the "Service"). We built this page so you know exactly what gets recorded when you drop by, why, and what control you keep over it.
1. The Short Version
- Nothing to sign up for. The Service works straight away, with no registration and no sign-in step.
- Your Instagram login stays yours. We don't request, receive, or keep any Instagram username or password belonging to you.
- We keep it light. What we see is limited to routine technical signals — things like an IP address, the browser in use, and which pages loaded — captured by our logs and analytics.
- Cookies are in play. A mix of our own and partner cookies supports measurement and ads, and your browser lets you decide how they behave.
- Ads come from Google. Google AdSense powers the advertising here and, depending on your preferences, may show either tailored or generic ads.
- We're not in the data-selling business. Your personal information is never sold or traded to anyone.
- Short shelf life. Raw server logs are held no more than 90 days, and analytics records expire on Google's standard schedule.
- You have options. Where local law grants them, you can ask to see, fix, or remove data that relates to you.
2. The Information That Reaches Us
2.1 Details You Type In
Because there is no sign-up, the one thing you hand over on purpose is the Instagram username you drop into the search field to pull up a public profile. Those lookups are not filed away or tied back to who you are.
Should you email us, your address and whatever you write arrive with the message. That's used only to write back to you, and it never gets folded into any mailing or marketing list.
2.2 Signals Gathered in the Background
As pages load, our own servers and the outside tools we rely on may register a handful of technical details on their own, such as:
- Your IP address (which some services shorten or mask)
- Which browser and version you're running
- The operating system on your device
- The referring link that sent you our way
- Which pages you opened and roughly how long you lingered
- Whether you're on a phone, tablet, or computer
- Screen size and preferred language
Server logs and the analytics tools covered in Section 4 are what capture these details, and we read them only as pooled totals to see how the Site is being used and where it can get better.
2.3 Cookies and Related Trackers
Cookies are tiny files your browser tucks away on your device. The ones in use here fall into three groups:
- Necessary ones: the bare minimum the Site needs to work properly, for instance holding on to your chosen theme.
- Measurement ones: placed by Google Analytics so we can read overall traffic trends and browsing patterns as combined figures.
- Ad ones: dropped by Google AdSense and its partners to deliver ads and gauge how they perform, sometimes drawing on activity across other sites to tailor what you see.
Your browser settings let you allow, block, or clear cookies at will, though switching them off can leave parts of the Site working less smoothly. Section 9.1 walks through the specifics.
3. Why We Use What We Collect
The details described above serve these ends:
- Running the Service: taking the usernames you look up and using them to fetch and show the matching public content.
- Making it better: studying pooled usage figures to learn how visitors move through the Site, spot problems, and refine things.
- Keeping things safe: watching for misuse, spam, and unauthorized activity so the Site and the people on it stay protected.
- Showing ads: running Google AdSense placements, which is what keeps the Service free to use.
- Replying to you: when you reach out, your address and note are what let us answer.
4. Ads and Measurement Partners
4.1 Google Analytics
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is our tool for pulling together and reading combined data on how people use the Site. It can set first-party cookies to follow interactions, and the figures it records cover pages opened, how long a visit lasts, bounce rate, a rough location worked out from the IP, and device or browser details. Google may handle all of this on servers in the United States or elsewhere. Their explanation of how the data is used lives at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on lets you step out of this tracking entirely.
4.2 Google AdSense
The ads you see on the Site are delivered through Google AdSense, which can rely on cookies and web beacons to choose ads based on where you've been on this Site and others. Those advertising cookies are what let Google and its partners match ads to your browsing history. To turn off tailored ads, head to Google's Ads Settings at adssettings.google.com; you can also switch off personalized advertising from a range of other vendors over at aboutads.info.
5. How Long Things Stick Around
Anything we hold is kept no longer than the reasons in this policy call for:
- Server logs: kept for a maximum of 90 days before they clear out on their own.
- Analytics data: held for whatever Google Analytics sets as its default window (14 months for GA4 at present), then dropped automatically.
- Email threads: kept only as long as it takes to settle your question, and generally not past 12 months.
- Lookups: the Instagram usernames you search are never saved on any lasting basis.
6. When Information Gets Shared
Your personal information is never sold, rented, or bartered. It leaves our hands only in a few narrow situations:
- Providers we rely on: data flows to Google (Analytics and AdSense) as already noted; they act on our behalf and answer to their own privacy terms.
- Legal obligations: we may hand over information where a law, regulation, court process, or official request compels it.
- Safeguarding people and property: we may share it to uphold our Terms of Service or to defend the rights, privacy, safety, or property of us, our visitors, or the public.
- A change of hands: if StalkView is ever merged, bought, or has its assets sold, your information could move along with the deal. Any shift in ownership or in how your personal information is used will be flagged clearly on the Site.
7. Sending Data Across Borders
The machines we run, and the outside providers we lean on such as Google, may sit in countries other than yours. Using the Site means you accept that your information can travel to places whose data-protection rules differ from those where you live. Wherever it ends up being handled, we take sensible measures to keep it secure and to treat it in line with this policy.
8. Security
We put sensible technical and organizational safeguards in place to shield the information we hold from prying access, tampering, leaks, or loss. Among them:
- HTTPS encryption on everything that passes between your browser and our servers
- Routine patching and security updates across the systems we run
- Restrictions that limit who can reach server logs and analytics records
That said, no way of moving data over the internet or storing it electronically is ever completely foolproof. We do our best with reasonable, industry-standard methods, but total security is something no one can promise.
9. The Control You Have
9.1 Cookies
Nearly every browser hands you cookie controls in its settings. As a rule you can tell yours to:
- Turn every cookie away
- Allow only cookies set by the site itself
- Wipe cookies each time you shut the browser
- Prompt you before any cookie is stored
Your browser's help pages spell out the exact steps for each of these. Bear in mind that shutting cookies off completely can stop certain parts of the Site from behaving as they should.
9.2 Email
If you've written to us and later want that exchange erased, just email the address in Section 13 and we'll remove your messages within a reasonable stretch of time.
Where you live can grant you extra rights over your personal data — this is true, for example, in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or California. Those can include seeing your data, correcting it, deleting it, curbing how it's processed, taking it with you, and objecting to its processing. Reach out through the details in Section 13 to act on any of them.
10. Minimum Age and Younger Users
The Service isn't meant for anyone under 13, or under whatever higher age of digital consent applies where you are. We don't knowingly gather personal information from children. Parents or guardians who suspect a child has sent us such information should write to the address in Section 13, and we'll move to delete it.
11. Instagram and Other Outside Sites
What the Service shows is public content pulled from Instagram. We have no affiliation with Instagram or Meta Platforms, Inc., and neither company backs or sponsors us. The only material we reach is what Instagram users have chosen to make public.
You may also run into links pointing to other websites. Their content and how they handle privacy are outside our control, so it's worth reading the privacy policy of any such site before you use it.
12. Updates to This Policy
This policy can change now and then. Whenever it does, the "Last updated" date near the top will move to match, so checking back occasionally is a good way to stay current on how your information is looked after. Carrying on with the Site after a revision means you accept the updated version.
13. Reaching Us
Got a question, a worry, or a request tied to this policy or how we handle data? Get in touch here:
Email: support [at] stalkview [dot] com
You can count on us to do our best to reply before too long.