Privacy and your files
In short: the conversion tools available today process your files in your browser, and the contents of your files are not uploaded to our conversion service. We use your email address when you sign in, contact support or ask to receive optional emails. Google Analytics is switched off unless you accept it in the cookie banner. This page explains each use of personal data in detail.
Who is responsible for your data
ConvertMango is run by Good Online Commerce Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 09377032). Its registered office is Piccadilly Business Centre, Aldow Enteprise Park, Manchester, England, M12 6AE. Good Online Commerce Ltd is the controller of the personal data described here. To ask about your data or to use your rights, email [email protected].
Your files
The available “On your device” tools process file contents in your browser and do not upload those contents to our conversion service. Our separate account and quota service receives sign-in details and conversion-count information. If you accept analytics, the site also sends the usage information described below.
Tools for audio, video and some document conversions would need server processing. They are planned but not available, and no upload is possible at present. If we launch server processing we will publish what happens to uploaded files, including how long they are kept, before any file can be uploaded.
Email sign-in and your free conversions
The free allowance is five successful conversions per day, resetting at 00:00 UTC, and you do not need to sign in to use it (see the Terms for how the count works). Signing in is optional. If you choose to sign in, we send you a one-time sign-in link; there is no password. The link works once and expires after 15 minutes.
When you ask for a sign-in link we process your email address, the language of the page, the page you were on, whether you ticked the optional news box, and your device identifier. When you open the link we create or update your account record and sign you in with a session cookie. Each time a conversion you started while signed in succeeds, we add one to your count for the day. You never need to provide an email address to use the free daily allowance.
Device identifier and abuse prevention
When you press Convert, or ask for a sign-in link, your browser creates a random device identifier and keeps it in its local storage (the item is called cm_device). It is sent to our quota service, together with a keyed hash of your network address (never the address itself), so we can count the successful conversions made from this browser each day. If you sign in, conversions already made on the same browser that day still count towards your allowance. No file name or file content is ever sent. Opening a page does not create this identifier. It is not used for analytics or advertising.
To limit abuse of the free allowance, our quota service also keeps a keyed hash of your IP address, calculated with a secret key. We do not store your IP address in readable form in our database, although Cloudflare processes it to deliver the site (see below).
Optional news emails and the “Notify me” button
If you tick the optional box when you sign in, we add your email address and your language to a mailing list held by our email provider, Brevo (and record the date of your choice in our own database), and may send you tips and news about ConvertMango. This is based on your consent. You can withdraw consent at any time with the unsubscribe link in any such email or by emailing [email protected]. If you press “Notify me” after reaching your daily limit, we add your email address to a separate Brevo list so that we can tell you about future plan options. This is also based on your consent through that action.
Cookies, local storage and analytics
The cookie banner has two categories. Essential storage is always on: it is needed to provide the site (sign-in, enforcing the conversion allowance, remembering your privacy choice and temporarily handing your selected file between conversion pages). Analytics is off unless you switch it on, and you can choose Accept all, Reject all or Customise. Advertising: we show adverts supplied by Google AdSense on pages across the site, in clearly labelled boxes that are placed below the main content and the conversion controls. An advert never has to be clicked or watched to use a tool. Our pages load Google’s AdSense script. Google and its advertising partners may use cookies, device and cookie identifiers (such as cookie IDs and mobile advertising IDs), your IP address and information about your browser and the pages you view to show and measure adverts, to personalise them where you agree, and to detect fraud and abuse. For visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the script shows Google’s own consent message, where you can accept, manage or refuse the use of your data for advertising. You can reopen that message at any time with the “Advertising choices” link in the footer. Advertising choices are made in Google’s message, not in our cookie banner, and our Analytics choice does not apply to advertising. To learn how Google uses information from sites that use its services, see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services; Google’s Privacy Policy and its My Ad Center explain and let you manage personalised advertising. We do not treat any earlier choice as consent to advertising. The table lists what the site can store on your device.
| Item | Purpose | When it is set | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| cm_session cookie | Keeps you signed in | When you open a sign-in link | 30 days or until you sign out |
| cm_device (local storage) | Counts your first anonymous conversion and prevents abuse | When you press Convert or ask for a sign-in link | Until you clear your browser data |
| cm_consent3 (local storage; older versions cm_consent2) and cm_consent (cookie) | Remember your privacy choice about Analytics | When you choose Accept all, Reject all or Save choices | 6 months, then we ask again; or until you change your choice or clear your browser data |
| cm_flow (IndexedDB, in your browser) | The multi-page conversion flow temporarily stores the selected file and result in this browser’s IndexedDB so the next page can use them. They are not sent to our conversion service. | When you press Convert (the file) and when the conversion finishes (the result) | We clear the file as soon as the conversion has finished or failed. The result is kept so that you can download it, and is cleared when you choose Convert another file. Leftover entries older than one hour are checked for and removed when a conversion page or the progress or result page next opens in this browser; closing the site can delay that cleanup, so nothing is deleted at a fixed moment. You can remove them at any time by clearing this site’s browser data. |
| cm_lang_pref and cm_panel_tone (local storage) | If you choose a language or panel colour, we can remember that choice on this browser | Only when you use the language switcher or the colour picker | Until you clear your browser data |
| _ga and _ga_786LS42M11 cookies | Google Analytics measurement | Only after you choose Accept | Up to 13 months |
We use Google Analytics 4 to count visits, see which tools are used and improve the site. It is off by default. Your browser makes no request to Google Analytics, and no analytics cookie is set, unless you choose Accept in the cookie banner. If you choose Reject or make no choice, nothing is sent. If you accept, Google receives details such as the pages you visit, your approximate location, your device and browser type, and your IP address, which Google uses to provide the service. We switch off Google’s advertising and personalisation signals. File contents and file names are never sent to analytics.
You can change your choices at any time with the Cookie settings link in the footer. If you withdraw consent we stop sending measurements and remove the Google Analytics cookies. Our legal basis for analytics is your consent. The essential storage in the table (sign-in, device identifier for the conversion allowance, your privacy choice and the temporary file hand-off) is needed to provide the service you ask for. Your language and panel colour are saved only when you choose them, to remember that choice on this browser; you can remove them at any time by clearing this site’s browser data.
Why we use your data, and our legal bases
| What we do | Data | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Provide optional sign-in and the daily free allowance | Email address, sign-in and session records, conversion counts, device identifier | Performing the free service you ask for (contract) |
| Prevent abuse of the free allowance and keep the service secure | Device identifier, keyed hash of IP address, rate-limit records | Our legitimate interest in protecting the service from abuse |
| Send optional news and the “Notify me” message | Email address, language, date of consent | Your consent |
| Measure visits with Google Analytics | Online identifiers and usage data collected by Google Analytics | Your consent |
| Deliver and secure the website | IP address and request details processed by Cloudflare and our hosting provider | Our legitimate interest in running a secure website |
| Reply to your emails to [email protected] | Your email address and message | Our legitimate interest in answering you |
Who receives your data
- Cloudflare, Inc. provides our domain name service and website delivery and security, and runs the Cloudflare Worker and database that operate sign-in and the conversion count. Cloudflare Email Routing also forwards emails sent to [email protected] to a Gmail mailbox that we use.
- Hostinger provides the hosting from which the website files are served. It and Cloudflare keep their own technical logs of requests under their own policies.
- Brevo sends the sign-in emails and holds the optional mailing lists. Brevo is headquartered in France and keeps its own records of the emails it sends. Brevo’s privacy policy and data processing terms describe its own retention and sub-processors.
- Google provides Google Analytics, only if you accept analytics, and Gmail for support emails. Google also provides the Google AdSense tag and consent message described under cookies, which is loaded on pages of this site.
We do not sell personal data. We do not receive your files, so we cannot share or use them.
International transfers
Some of the providers we use process personal data outside the United Kingdom, including in the United States. When UK personal data goes to a country without a UK adequacy decision, the law requires a safeguard. Cloudflare, Hostinger and Brevo process personal data on our behalf as our processors; Google provides our support mailbox and, only if you accept analytics, Google Analytics. For each provider this is the safeguard it publishes. We do not claim that any of this data stays within the UK. To get more information about these safeguards or a copy of the relevant terms, email [email protected].
- Cloudflare (website delivery and security, DNS, email forwarding, and the Worker and database that run sign-in, quota and account services): Cloudflare runs a worldwide network, so code and data can be handled in any of its data centres, including outside the UK. For transfers from the UK to the United States, Cloudflare’s privacy policy says it relies on its certification under the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and, if that certification lapses, on standard contractual clauses; it uses standard contractual clauses for other international transfers from the UK. Its data processing addendum applies the EU standard contractual clauses as amended by the ICO’s UK Addendum. We have not limited our Cloudflare database to a particular country.
- Hostinger (hosting of the static website files): Hostinger says it runs data centres in several European countries and on other continents, and that its group companies and service providers may handle data in other countries. For transfers from the UK to countries without a UK adequacy decision, Hostinger’s data processing addendum applies the ICO’s International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses.
- Brevo (sign-in emails and, if you ask for them, optional emails): Brevo says it hosts its service with OVH in France and Google Cloud in Belgium, and uses Cloudflare as a content delivery network in the United States. Its terms say it protects data processed outside the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland with standard contractual clauses and supplementary measures, and that it may rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework for transfers to the United States.
- Google Analytics (only if you accept analytics): Google says its infrastructure is generally set up to serve traffic from the data centre closest to where it originates. For transfers of UK personal data to the United States, Google says it relies on its certification under the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.
- Google (support mailbox): emails sent to the support address are forwarded to a personal Google (Gmail) account that we use. Google says it may process data in any country where it or its sub-processors have facilities and, for transfers of UK personal data to the United States, that it relies on its certification under the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework; for other restricted transfers its standard contractual clauses apply. This applies to the mailbox only, not to analytics.
How long we keep data
We keep personal data only as long as it is needed for the purposes described above. Where a period is our own policy we say so. Where a provider’s published setting controls the period, we give the period the provider publishes rather than one of our own, and we say where a provider has not published one.
Periods set by us:
| Data | How long (expiry, or when it becomes eligible for deletion) |
|---|---|
| Account record (email address, sign-up date, language, news and notification choices) | Until you ask us to delete them. We do not currently delete accounts automatically. |
| Sign-in link records | The link expires after 15 minutes; the record becomes eligible for deletion about a day later. |
| Session records | The session expires after 30 days, or ends when you sign out; expired records are then eligible for deletion. |
| Daily conversion records (device identifier, keyed IP hash and, if signed in, the account; no file data) | Eligible for deletion about three days after the day they relate to. |
| Rate-limit counters (keyed IP hash or email address) | Eligible for deletion after about three days. |
| Conversion reservations used to give back a conversion that failed | Eligible for deletion after about two days. |
| Totals that do not identify you, such as the number of sign-ins in a month | Kept without a time limit. |
| Emails you send to [email protected] | Kept for 12 months, then moved to the mailbox Trash by a monthly routine. A message in Trash can be recovered for 30 days and is then permanently deleted by Google. |
Expired records become eligible for deletion at the times listed above. Cleanup is triggered by later requests to the quota service rather than by a scheduled job, so the actual deletion can occur later, particularly if the service is idle. Link and session validity still expires at the times stated. Copies of files or results you have downloaded are under your control, not ours.
Periods set by our providers, which we do not control:
- Cloudflare Workers logs: Cloudflare publishes 3 days for its Free plan, which is the plan we use. Cloudflare does not publish how long it keeps website traffic logs or the content of messages while it forwards them; its email forwarding activity log can be viewed for up to 30 days.
- Hostinger website backups (static website files only, not mailboxes): Hostinger publishes weekly backups kept for 6 weeks and, on plans that include them, daily backups kept for 7 days. It says copies may remain in its backup systems for a further limited period that it does not specify, and it does not publish how long it keeps website access logs.
- Brevo: we have set Brevo to delete the logs and previews of transactional emails (such as sign-in emails) after 1 month. Contacts on our optional mailing list are kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them. Brevo does not publish a backup period.
- Google support mailbox: a message deleted from Trash is permanently deleted, after which Google removes it from its own systems under its published deletion policy.
If you want to know more about how long a particular provider keeps your data, email [email protected].
Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, you have the right to be told how we use your personal data, to access a copy of it, to have it corrected, to have it erased, to restrict or object to our use of it, to receive it in a portable format, and to withdraw consent where we rely on consent (withdrawing does not affect earlier use). To use these rights, email [email protected]. We may need to confirm your identity first. If you ask us to delete your data we delete your account record, conversion counts, sign-in and session records and your Brevo contact record. Records that are kept only for a short time expire as described above, and Brevo’s record of emails already sent follows Brevo’s own retention settings.
Right to object: you can object to our use of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests. Contact the support address above and explain your situation. We will assess your objection under the applicable law. You can stop optional emails (news and “Notify me” messages) at any time, without giving a reason, using the unsubscribe link in any such email or by emailing [email protected].
We do not make decisions with legal or similarly significant effects about you using automated means. The automatic conversion count only affects how many free conversions you can make in a day.
Complaints
Please contact us first so we can try to put things right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
Children
ConvertMango is not designed for children. If you believe a child has given us an email address, please contact us so we can delete it.
Changes to this notice
If we change how we use personal data, for example by launching server conversions, we will update this page and its date before the change starts and, where we hold your email address and it is practicable, tell you.