Cut Time LLC (“Cut Time,” “we,” “us”) provides passive time tracking software for video editors and post-production studios. This policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, and what controls you have.
1. What we collect
Cut Time collects the following data to provide its service:
- Account information: email address, password (or Google sign-in identifier when you authenticate via Google), display name, avatar, bio, social links, and specialties
- Signup context: the browser and device type you signed up from (user agent), and, if you arrived from an ad or a shared link, campaign attribution (UTM parameters, the referring page, and the page you landed on). We use this to understand which marketing works; it is stored with your account.
- Time tracking data: project name, application name (e.g. DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Final Cut Pro), active minutes, idle minutes, session counts, and a timestamped log of transitions between active, idle, away, and asleep states (see “How idle time works” below)
- Idle detection data: keyboard and mouse inactivity status, used only to classify time as active or idle
- Approximate location: city, country, and approximate coordinates derived from your IP address (never GPS or device location), updated at most once every 24 hours, used to display your presence on the world map
- Device information: tracker app version, operating system, editing software version, a hardware device identifier, and your computer's name (hostname), used to associate each tracker install with your account and to support one-computer-per-account controls. We keep when each computer was first and last seen; you can view and remove your computers under Profile → Tracker
- Tracker health data: sent with each check-in so we can detect a stalled or broken tracker — for example the time since the tracker last recorded activity and counters for detection issues
- Diagnostic data: tracker error reports (error type, message, stack trace, app version) sent automatically when the tracker hits a problem — including on the next launch after a hard crash. Reports include the most recent tracker log lines to make bugs diagnosable, and those lines can include the names of projects and libraries the tracker recently detected. They never include file contents
- Contact and sales inquiries: if you submit our contact form, we keep the details you provide (name, email, studio, team size, phone if given) along with the submitting IP address and browser info for spam prevention
- Locally stored preferences: break reminder settings and display preferences are stored in your browser (localStorage), not on our servers (see “Local storage” below)
2. How idle time works
The Cut Time tracker classifies your editing time into two states:
- Active - your editing software (DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, After Effects, or Final Cut Pro) is in focus and you have used your keyboard or mouse within the last 5 minutes
- Idle - your editing software is open but there has been no keyboard or mouse activity for 5 or more minutes, or the editor window is not in the foreground
True idle time is capped at 30 minutes per gap. This prevents inflated numbers from situations like leaving a project open overnight. After 30 continuous minutes of inactivity, the tracker stops counting until activity resumes.
To detect which project you are working on, the tracker reads the name of the project file reported by your editing application. As part of tracking, only the project's name leaves your machine — never its contents. File paths are not part of tracking data, though a rare diagnostic error report can contain one if an error message includes it.
We do not record keystrokes, take screenshots, capture screen content, or access the contents of your files. The tracker only knows the project name as reported by the application and whether you are active or idle. Idle detection uses the operating system's “time since last input” timer, which reveals nothing about what you typed or clicked.
3. What studios see
If you belong to a studio or organization workspace, the studio admin can see:
- Project names (for projects visible to that workspace)
- Active and idle time per project, including the activity timeline described above
- When you started and stopped editing for the day
- Your online status (active, idle, or offline)
Studios do not see:
- Your rates or earnings
- Projects you have marked as personal or hidden from that workspace
- Other workspaces or organizations you belong to
You control which projects are visible to which organizations. You can hide any project from any workspace at any time.
4. Data sharing between workspaces
- Editors can belong to multiple workspaces simultaneously
- Time data is copied to each workspace the editor belongs to, filtered by that workspace's visibility settings
- Freelancers can share individual projects via a link - the recipient sees only that project's data
- Editors can hide projects from specific organizations at any time
5. Community and public features
Some features show your information to other Cut Time users or publicly. In short:
- Community features inside the product — such as the leaderboard, seasons, contests, and the world map — can show your display name (or gamertag, if you set one), avatar, tracked-hours totals, online status, and approximate map location to other signed-in Cut Time users
- Your public profile and portfolio pages are off by default and visible only if you enable them
- If you submit a product review, your name, review, and total tracked hours may be displayed publicly, including on our website and marketing; you can request removal at any time
- Project names you mark personal or hide from a workspace stay hidden from that workspace
6. What we don't collect
Cut Time is designed to be the least invasive time tracker possible. We do not collect:
- Screen recordings or screenshots
- Keystroke logs
- File contents, media, timelines, or project data
- Browsing history
- Audio or video recordings
- GPS or precise device location (the world map uses an approximate position derived from your IP address)
7. Local storage
Certain preferences are stored in your browser's localStorage rather than on our servers. These include break reminder settings, display preferences, hidden project selections, and client notes. Clearing your browser data will remove these preferences. With one exception, they are not transmitted to Cut Time or any third party: the campaign attribution described in “What we collect” is captured in localStorage when you first visit the site and sent to us once if you sign up.
8. Advertising, analytics, and cookies
We advertise Cut Time on platforms including Google, Meta, and Reddit. To measure whether those ads lead to signups, the cut-time.io website loads two measurement scripts: the Google Ads tag and the Meta Pixel. These set third-party cookies and send Google and Meta the pages you visit on cut-time.io and a conversion event when you create an account (including which plan you chose). Google and Meta process this data under their own privacy policies and may associate it with your accounts on their platforms.
What we never share with advertising platforms: your tracked time, project names, activity logs, rates, earnings, location, or anything else collected by the tracker. Advertising measurement is limited to website visits and signup events.
Your choices:
- Browser tracking protection and content blockers stop these scripts entirely; the site works fine without them
- Opt out of ad personalization at Google Ads Settings and in your Meta ad preferences
- Industry-wide opt-outs are available at aboutads.info
Beyond ad measurement, we run no analytics or tracking scripts on the site other than Sentry error monitoring (the third-party services section).
9. Data retention
- Time tracking data is retained indefinitely while your account is active
- You can request deletion of all your data at any time by contacting us; we process verified requests within 30 days
- Deactivated editor accounts retain historical data for studio reporting purposes but stop collecting new data
10. Third-party services
We use the following third-party services to operate Cut Time:
- Supabase - database hosting and authentication (hosted on AWS)
- Google - optional sign-in via Google OAuth, and Google Ads conversion measurement on the website (the advertising section)
- Meta - advertising measurement on the website via the Meta Pixel (the advertising section)
- Lemon Squeezy - payment processing (we do not store credit card information)
- Vercel - web application hosting
- Resend - email delivery (account verification, invites, timesheet requests, reminders, and other notifications)
- ipapi.co - converting IP addresses to approximate city, country, and coordinates for the world map (not retained by ipapi)
- Sentry - error monitoring for the web app and tracker; we scrub invite codes, credentials, and auth tokens from error payloads before they are sent
- Anthropic - automated processing of publicly listed editing contests for the contests feature; it is not given your personal data
- Reddit - a source of those public contest listings, and an ad platform we buy ads on; it is not given your personal data
We do not sell your personal data. We never share tracker data (your time, projects, activity, rates, or location) with advertisers; advertising measurement is limited to the website events described in the advertising section.
11. Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- Access - request a copy of the data we hold about you
- Deletion - request that we delete your account and all associated data; we process verified requests within 30 days
- Data portability - export your time tracking data from your editor dashboard (CSV) and verified timesheet PDFs from any project; for a copy of any other personal data we hold, email us
- Restrict processing - request that we limit how we use your data
- Email preferences - every marketing or reminder email we send includes an unsubscribe link; one click stops all non-essential email to your address. Emails that are part of the service (invites you request, password resets, task notifications from teams you work with, billing) continue.
California residents (CCPA/CPRA): We do not sell personal information for money. Our use of advertising cookies (the advertising section) may be considered “sharing” under California law; you can opt out using the choices in the advertising section or by emailing us, and we will honor the request.
International transfers: Cut Time is operated from the United States and your data is processed and stored there by the providers listed above. Where required, transfers from the EEA/UK rely on safeguards such as the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses maintained by those providers.
Studio workspaces: for time data in a studio or organization workspace, the studio is the data controller and Cut Time processes that data on its behalf; contact your studio with requests about workspace data, and us for everything else. A data processing addendum for studios is available on request.
EU/UK residents (GDPR): Our legal bases are contract performance (providing the service you signed up for), legitimate interest (security, service communications, and error monitoring), and consent for advertising cookies where required, which you may withdraw at any time by blocking those cookies or using the opt-outs in the advertising section. You may exercise any of the rights above by contacting us.
12. Children
Cut Time is not intended for users under 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child under 16 has created an account, please contact us and we will delete it.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify users via email or an in-app notice. Continued use of the service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
14. Contact
For any privacy-related questions or to exercise your data rights, email [email protected] or write to Cut Time LLC, 30 N Gould St Ste N, Sheridan, WY 82801, United States. See also our Terms of Service.