KINDRED
Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated September 14, 2026
The short version: Kindred doesn't have accounts, doesn't ask for passwords, and doesn't sell your data. Voting and favoriting happen locally in your browser. The only thing tied to a real identity is an optional email address if you choose to leave one with feedback.

What Kindred is

Kindred (kindred-stories.com) is a free, independent website that helps readers find books, anime, and manga/manhwa/webtoons by the tropes they love. This policy explains what information the site collects when you visit, why, and what choices you have.

Information we collect

Nothing you have to give us. There's no account creation, no login, and no password anywhere on Kindred. You can browse, search, and use every core feature of the site without providing any personal information.

Local browser data. When you favorite a title, vote on a trope match, or set a display name for a comment, that information is saved in your browser's local storage and sent, without any name attached, to our database so it can be counted and shown to other visitors. This includes:

This local data lives in your browser only — we don't tie it to your identity, your IP address, or any account, because there isn't one. If you clear your browser's site data or switch devices, it starts fresh. Because votes and favorites aren't tied to a verified identity, someone could clear their storage and vote again; we accept that tradeoff to keep the site open and account-free.

Comments. If you leave a comment on a title, the comment text and the display name you chose are visible to other visitors. Don't include anything in a comment you wouldn't want public.

Feedback form. If you use the feedback form at the bottom of the site, we collect the message you write and, only if you choose to enter one, your email address. This goes to a private inbox we use to read suggestions and, if you left an email and asked a question, reply to you. It is never shown publicly and is not used for marketing.

Analytics. We use Google Analytics (GA4) to understand how people use the site in aggregate — things like which titles get opened, how search is used, and how many people complete the "Start Here" flow. Google Analytics uses cookies and collects standard technical information such as your approximate location (city/country level, derived from IP address), browser and device type, and pages visited. We don't use this data to identify you personally, and we don't combine it with the feedback form's email addresses. You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, or by using your browser's tracking-protection or ad-blocking settings.

How the community data is stored

Favorites, votes, and comments are stored in a shared database (we use Supabase) so that everyone visiting the site sees the same live counts and discussion. By design, this data is not gated behind a login — it's meant to be an open, communal layer on top of the catalog, the same way an anonymous public forum works. We take reasonable steps to keep the underlying systems secure, but because there's no account system, we can't offer account-level protections like two-factor authentication or password resets, because there's nothing to protect with a password in the first place.

Cookies and similar technology

Kindred itself doesn't set marketing or tracking cookies. Google Analytics sets its own cookies to distinguish visitors and sessions, as described above. Your browser's local storage (not a cookie, but a similar browser-side technology) is what powers favorites, votes, and preferences as described above.

Third parties

We use a small number of outside services to run the site:

We link out to third-party sites — retailers, streaming services, Goodreads, MyAnimeList, and similar — so you can read, watch, or buy a title. Once you click through, you're on that site and subject to its own privacy policy; we don't control what happens there.

Affiliate links. Kindred participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. This means outbound links to Amazon, Audible, and Prime Video (for example, "Buy the book," "Find on Audible," or "Find on Prime Video") are affiliate links, and Kindred earns a small commission on qualifying purchases and free-trial sign-ups made through them, at no extra cost to you. This is disclosed on the page next to those links and in the site footer. It does not change anything described above about what personal data we collect — Amazon's (and Audible's, and Prime Video's) own privacy policy governs what happens once you leave kindred-stories.com.

Children's privacy

Kindred is not directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Because there's no account system and no age gate, we have no way of verifying a visitor's age; if you believe a child has submitted personal information (for example, an email address through the feedback form), contact us using the address below and we'll remove it.

Your choices

Changes to this policy

If Kindred's data practices change in a meaningful way — for example, if a new affiliate program is added, or if an account system is ever introduced — we'll update this page and change the "last updated" date above. We won't retroactively use data in a way that's materially different from what was disclosed when it was collected.

Contact

Questions about this policy or a request about your data can go through the feedback form on the homepage.