Privacy policy
This English translation is for your convenience. The German text is the binding version. Read it in German
This page explains which personal data MyChristmasStar processes, why, on what legal basis, who receives it and how long we keep it. In short: we only collect what we need for your star or ornament, to keep your account safe and for simple usage statistics. We use no advertising or tracking cookies, no third-party analytics, and we never sell data.
1. Controller
[missing: name]
[missing: strasse]
[missing: ort]
Deutschland
Email: [missing: email]
We are not required to appoint a data protection officer (§ 38 BDSG). For any privacy question, write to the email address above.
2. Visiting the website
Delivery through Cloudflare
Our website runs on our own server in Germany. All connections pass encrypted through the network of Cloudflare (Cloudflare, Inc., 101 Townsend St., San Francisco, CA 94107, USA). Cloudflare connects you to our server, protects it from attacks and delivers the pages. On our behalf it processes your IP address and the technical details of your request (address requested, time, browser identification). From the IP address Cloudflare also derives roughly which country, region and city the request comes from, and passes only these place names on to us (see sections 3 and 7).
The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR: our legitimate interest in a secure and reliable website. We have a data processing agreement with Cloudflare (Art. 28 GDPR). Cloudflare is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (adequacy decision of the European Commission, Art. 45 GDPR); the EU Standard Contractual Clauses apply in addition. More: cloudflare.com/privacypolicy.
No server log files with IP addresses
Our own server keeps no access logs with IP addresses. To fend off abuse (for example sign-in codes requested in bulk) we count requests per IP address briefly in memory; the count lapses after an hour at most and is never stored. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (protection against abuse).
Fonts
All fonts are served from our own server. Visiting the website opens no connection to Google or any other font provider.
3. Account and sign-in
Your account needs only your email address. You sign in
- with a one-time code: we email you a six-digit code. It works once, for 15 minutes; we store only a check value (hash) of it.
- or with Google: Google (Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) confirms your email address to us. Google's privacy policy applies in addition: policies.google.com/privacy.
After signing in you stay signed in for 30 days (cookie, see section 8). The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (providing your account at your request).
Sign-in record
Each time you sign in we store:
- your email address, date and time, and how you signed in (code or Google),
- the type of device (phone, tablet or computer), browser and operating system, read from the identification your browser sends (we don't keep the full text),
- your approximate location (country, region, city) as derived by Cloudflare from your IP address, never more precise than the city,
- your language setting,
- the website that sent you to us (only its name, e.g. "instagram.com", or "direct") and campaign tags in the link (utm_source, utm_campaign),
- your shortened IP address (IPv4 without the last number, e.g. 203.0.113.0; IPv6 only the first 48 bits). We don't store the full IP address.
Purposes: keeping accounts secure (spotting unusual sign-ins, investigating abuse) and statistics on how, with what and from where our service is used, so that we can improve it. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest is secure accounts and a service that suits its users. We evaluate the data internally only and build no advertising profiles.
How long: we delete the shortened IP address after 14 days and the rest of the sign-in record after 12 months. After that we keep only anonymous monthly totals (for example "120 sign-ins, 70 of them from a phone") that can't be linked to anyone. If you delete your account, we delete your sign-in record with it straight away.
You can object to the sign-in record at any time (Art. 21 GDPR, see section 11). A short email is enough.
4. Your stars, ornaments and photos
When you design a star or an ornament, we store your photos, your choices and arrangement, captions and settings in your account. Only you can see them, and the people you explicitly share a project with. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
Your photos often show other people. Please only upload photos you may use and that the people in them agree to (see the terms for your photos). We don't analyse the content of your photos, publish them, use them for advertising or pass them on.
First draft: finding where the faces are
When you ask for a "first draft", a program on our own server looks for the places in your photos where faces and people are, so they don't end up in a fold. It only finds where a face is in the picture; it doesn't recognise who it is, doesn't compare faces and creates no biometric features for identification. The results (positions in the picture) stay in your project and are deleted with the photo. No data goes to anyone else for this. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
Sharing
When you share a project with someone, we store their email address and the role you give them, and send them an email with the link. They then sign in themselves. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (your request) and, for the invited person, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in delivering the invitation). You can stop sharing at any time.
How long
Your projects and photos are stored until you delete them. You can delete single photos, a project, all photos or your whole account at any time. For a request (section 5) we keep a copy of the ordered star so that we can make it. If you delete your photos or your account, we remove the photos from that copy too once the request is finished; in any case we delete them 6 months after the request was finished.
5. Requests, orders and shipping
When you request a star or an ornament we process your name, your email address, for a printed kit your delivery address and country, optionally your phone number and your notes, plus the ordered project and its progress. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (contract and steps before a contract).
- Shipping: we pass your name and address to the carrier (for example Deutsche Post or DHL).
- Bookkeeping list: every request and every status change goes into our bookkeeping list (date, order number, status, product, name, email address, project name, amount). We keep a copy of this list in Google Sheets (Google Ireland Limited, address above).
- Payment (once we offer paid files): payments are handled by Stripe (Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd., 1 Grand Canal Street Lower, Dublin 2, Ireland). You enter your payment details directly with Stripe; we never receive them, only the confirmation of payment. Stripe's privacy policy: stripe.com/privacy.
How long: we keep order and accounting records as long as commercial and tax law requires (§ 257 HGB, § 147 AO; usually 6 to 10 years). The legal basis for that is Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR.
6. Emails from us
We only send emails that belong to your use of the service: sign-in codes, confirmations and news about your request, invitations to shared projects. There is no newsletter. We send them through MyChristmasStar's mailbox at [missing: mail_dienst]. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
7. Statistics without cookies, and error reports
To see how our website is found and used, we count page views anonymously: per day, the number of views per page, the website someone came from (only its name, e.g. "instagram.com"), campaign tags in the link (utm_source, utm_campaign), the country, the type of device, the browser and the language. We store neither the IP address nor any identifier, set no cookie and recognise nobody again. Only totals are kept.
For every visit to the home page that is actually shown in a browser we also store an entry with the time, approximate location (country, region, city, derived by Cloudflare from the IP address), type of device, browser, the website you came from, and whether a sign-in followed from that visit (only yes or no, not who). To match the two, the open page gets a random number that lives only in that page (not in a cookie or browser storage) and is sent shortly after the page is shown and when you sign in; we delete it from the entry after one day. No IP address is stored. We delete the entries after 12 months; after that only monthly totals remain.
If a program error happens in your browser on our website, the page reports the error message and the place in our program to us, with nothing about you. On the server we likewise count failed uploads, drafts and print files, and how long drafts take.
The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR: our legitimate interest in improving our service, fixing errors and seeing which regions visitors come from and how many sign in. The totals no longer contain personal data; we keep them indefinitely.
8. Cookies and storage on your device
We store only what the features you use need (§ 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG). No consent is required for this, which is why there is no cookie banner.
- ps_session (cookie, 30 days): keeps you signed in.
- ps_handover (cookie, 15 minutes): only while signing in with Google, so the sign-in arrives in your browser.
- lang (cookie, 1 year): the language you chose.
- Settings in browser storage (localStorage, entries "ms.…"): view settings you choose yourself, for example whether you have seen the how-to video or how large a preview is. They never leave your device; you can delete them in your browser at any time.
9. Recipients and transfers outside the EU
Only we, as the operator, see your data. Apart from us, only the service providers named above receive data, each only as far as necessary: Cloudflare (delivery, section 2), Google (Google sign-in and the bookkeeping list, sections 3 and 5), our email service (section 6), the carrier, and Stripe once payments are offered (section 5). Where a provider processes data in the USA, the transfer is based on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (Art. 45 GDPR) and in addition on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46 GDPR).
10. Overview: how long we keep what
- Projects, photos, account: until you delete them.
- Sign-in record: shortened IP address 14 days, the rest 12 months, then only anonymous monthly totals.
- Sign-in code: until used, 15 minutes at most. Session: 30 days or until you sign out.
- Requests and bookkeeping: for the statutory periods (usually 6 to 10 years).
- Home page visit entries: 12 months (the random number 1 day), then only monthly totals.
- Anonymous page views and error counts: indefinitely (no personal data).
11. Your rights
You have the right to
- access your data (Art. 15 GDPR). You can get a copy of all data about your account yourself at any time: menu "Account" → "Download my data".
- rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17; you can delete your account yourself at any time) and restriction of processing (Art. 18),
- data portability (Art. 20): the "Download my data" file is machine-readable (JSON),
- object (Art. 21): where we process data on the basis of legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR), you can object at any time on grounds relating to your particular situation. We then stop processing that data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds.
- lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR). The authority responsible for us is: Die Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und für das Recht auf Akteneinsicht Brandenburg, Stahnsdorfer Damm 77, 14532 Kleinmachnow, https://www.lda.brandenburg.de.
Just write to [missing: email]. We answer within one month.
12. Whether you have to provide data, no automated decisions
Without an email address we can't give you an account, and without name and address we can't send you anything. Beyond that you are not obliged to give us any data. We make no automated decisions within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR and create no profiles.
13. Security
All connections are encrypted (HTTPS). Your account can only be reached through your email address or your Google account, with no password that could be stolen. Our server is protected against unauthorised access, and only the operator has access to the data.
14. Changes
When our service or the law changes, we update this privacy policy. The version published here applies.
Last updated: 27 October 2026