Privacy, plainly

Handle Scout checks whether an exact public profile can be found for the username you enter. Basic checks do not require an account. You can sign in with Google or create an account using your email address and password.

What the checker sends

When you run a check, the submitted handle is sent to the public lookup interfaces of GitHub, GitLab, DEV Community, X, YouTube, and Twitch so they can return a result. Other social profile cards are links only; when you click one, your browser visits that platform directly and its privacy policies and terms apply.

What Handle Scout stores

Handle Scout does not write searches to a database or keep a search history. If you create an account, we store your email and display name, plus either your Google account ID or a salted password hash in Cloudflare D1. Verification and password-reset tokens are stored as hashes and expire after 30 minutes. A hashed session token keeps you signed in; sessions expire after 30 days. Google access tokens are not stored. Email registration and password-reset messages are sent through our configured transactional email provider. The expanded-check request opens an email draft; it is only sent if you choose to send it. The checker also uses the connecting IP address in short-lived, in-memory throttling; that rate-limit state expires after about one minute. Google, our email provider, and the hosting provider may process routine request metadata to operate and protect their services.

Contact

For privacy questions or feedback, email samuel.productlab@gmail.com.