Privacy policy

Last updated 14 October 2026.

Foothold helps you learn AI skills through learning paths built from YouTube lessons. It is run by Sebastian William Clark, an independent developer based in the United Kingdom, who is responsible for your data. This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have. Questions: support@getafoothold.ai.

What we collect

• Your account. Your email address. If you sign in with Google, Google shares your name, email address and profile picture with us (Google's basic profile, nothing more). We never ask for access to your YouTube account, Gmail, Drive or any other Google data.
• Your profile. The name and role you give us (for example “Marketer”).
• What you want to learn. The goals you type or dictate, your answers to Foothold's questions and its chat, your level and weekly time, and the paths we build for you.
• Files you add, such as a project brief or a screenshot. They are read once to build your path and are not stored; we keep only a short summary of what Foothold understood and the file names.
• Your progress. Which lessons you've watched or skipped, your notes, check-in answers and any certificates you create.
• Payments. Whether you subscribe to Pro. Card details go straight to Stripe; we never see or store them.
• Technical information. Our hosting provider keeps short-lived server logs (such as IP address and browser type) to run the service securely.

How we use it

To build and save your learning paths, show your progress, write check-ins and certificates, send you sign-in links, send weekly reminders if you have them switched on (you can turn them off on your Account page), handle Pro subscriptions, and keep Foothold secure. We don't sell your data, show ads, or use your data for advertising.

AI. Your goals, chat messages, any files you add, and the titles and descriptions of candidate lessons are sent to Anthropic's Claude API to plan your path, judge how well each lesson fits, and write check-ins. Under Anthropic's commercial terms, data sent through its API isn't used to train its models.

Dictation uses your browser's own speech recognition. In Chrome and Edge your voice is processed by Google or Microsoft; in Safari, by Apple. Foothold never receives audio, only the text that appears in the box.

YouTube API Services

Foothold uses YouTube API Services to find lessons and show information about them. By using Foothold you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. Google's handling of data is described in the Google Privacy Policy.

• We use the YouTube API to read public information about videos and channels: titles, descriptions, thumbnails, channel names, lengths, languages, made-for-kids status and view counts. We don't access your YouTube account or any YouTube data about you.
• Video information we store is refreshed or deleted within 30 days. Search results are kept for up to 7 days so a repeated topic doesn't search again.
• Videos play in YouTube's embedded player, in its privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), and never start on their own. When you play a video, YouTube (Google) provides it and may collect information as described in the Google Privacy Policy.

Cookies and storage on your device

Foothold uses essential cookies to keep you signed in. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies. The YouTube player is third-party content: when you play a video it may store cookies or similar information on your device, under Google's policies.

Who we share it with

Only the services that run Foothold for us, and only what each needs:

• Supabase: accounts and database.
• Vercel: hosting.
• Anthropic: the Claude API, as described above.
• Google: the YouTube API, the YouTube player, sign in with Google, and the Gmail account that sends Foothold's emails.
• Stripe: payments.

If you join a team, its owner can see your email address and your progress (lessons watched) on the paths they share with you. They can't see your notes, your check-in answers or your other paths. A certificate is visible to anyone you give its link to. These providers may process data outside your country; we rely on their standard contractual safeguards.

How long we keep it

Your account data stays until you delete your account. YouTube video information is refreshed or deleted within 30 days. Files you add are never stored. Server logs are kept for a short time by our hosting provider.

Your choices and rights

• Delete everything yourself, at any time, from your Account page. This deletes your account, paths, notes, check-ins and certificates straight away and cancels any subscription.
• Remove Foothold's access to your Google account at myaccount.google.com/permissions.
• Ask us to see, correct, export or delete your data, or object to how we use it, by emailing support@getafoothold.ai. We reply within 7 days. If you're in the UK or EU you can also complain to your data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office).

Children

Foothold isn't meant for anyone under 16, and we don't knowingly collect their data.

Changes

If we change this policy we'll update the date above, and email you first about any important change.