Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

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This policy explains what information iTakeApart.com collects when you use it, how it is used, who it is shared with and the choices and rights you have.

Who we are

iTakeApart.com ("iTakeApart", "we", "us") publishes interactive 3D teardowns and repair guides. For anything about this policy or your information, write to hello@itakeapart.com.

Information we collect

Log files. Like most websites, our web server records each request it receives: your IP address, browser type and version, the page you asked for, the page that linked to it, and the date and time. We use these logs to run the site, keep it secure, prevent abuse and fix errors. They are kept for a limited time and then deleted.

Settings kept in your browser. The teardowns remember the view you chose (Workbench, Drawing or Transparent) and the parts and tools you ticked in a guide's kit checklist in your browser's local storage, and whether you hid the surroundings during your visit in its session storage. These stay on your device; they are not sent to us, and you can clear them in your browser's settings at any time.

Error reports, if you send one. The Report it button on the player opens your own email app with a message to us that names the page, the step, the moment, the view and where the camera is, and copies the same text to your clipboard. Nothing reaches us unless you send that email yourself.

Messages you send us. If you email us, we receive your address and what you write, and use them only to answer you and to improve the teardowns.

You do not need an account to use iTakeApart, and we do not sell your personal information.

Cookies and web beacons

Cookies are small text files a website stores in your browser; web beacons (also called pixels or tags) are small images or scripts that record that a page or an ad was seen. iTakeApart itself does not set cookies to identify you. The analytics, advertising and affiliate partners described below may use cookies and web beacons on our pages to count visits, measure how ads perform and show ads. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the teardowns still work without them.

Analytics

We may use analytics services, such as Google Analytics, to understand in aggregate how visitors use the site: which pages are visited, for how long, and from what kind of device. These services collect that information through cookies and similar technologies under their own privacy policies. You can opt out of Google Analytics with Google's browser add-on.

Third-party advertising

When ads are shown on iTakeApart.com, they are served by third-party advertising partners, such as Google AdSense and other display ad networks. These partners may use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies to serve ads based on your visits to this and other websites, to limit how often you see an ad and to measure its performance. We do not control these cookies, and the partners' own privacy policies apply to them.

Where the law requires it, for example in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, we ask for your consent before personalised ads or analytics cookies are used, and you can change your choice at any time.

Shop links and affiliate disclosure

iTakeApart.com does not use affiliate links today. The links in a guide's kit checklist and scorecard open a search on a shop's website (Amazon) for the tool or part named, and the repair-shop links a map search (Google Maps) for repair shops near you; we earn nothing from them. We may add affiliate or referral links later; if we do, we may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through them, at no extra cost to you, and we will mark those links and update this policy, naming the programs we take part in.

A map search opens on Google's site, under Google's privacy policy; we do not check, recommend or vouch for the shops it shows.

If you follow such a link, the retailer may set a cookie to record that you came from iTakeApart, so a commission can be credited. What you buy and the price you pay are between you and the retailer, and their privacy policy applies on their site. Commissions would never decide what a teardown shows.

How we use information, and our legal bases

We use information to run and secure the site, to understand and improve the teardowns, to answer messages, and, once they are added, to support the site with ads and affiliate or referral links. Under the GDPR our legal bases are our legitimate interests in running a secure, working website, your consent where it is required (for personalised ads and analytics cookies), and our legal obligations.

Your rights (GDPR and CCPA)

In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland you have the right to access the personal information we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to its use, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

In California (CCPA, as amended by the CPRA) you have the right to know what personal information is collected about you and how it is used and shared, to have it deleted or corrected, to opt out of its sale or sharing for cross-context behavioural advertising, and not to be treated differently for using these rights. We do not sell personal information. If personalised ads are shown, you can opt out of that sharing through the links in Third-party advertising, through your browser's Global Privacy Control, or by writing to us.

To use any of these rights, email hello@itakeapart.com. We answer within the time the law sets, and may need to confirm who you are first.

Children

iTakeApart is not directed at children under 13 (under 16 in the EEA), and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you think a child has sent us personal information, write to us and we will delete it.

Guides embedded on other sites

A brand or a parts seller may show one of our guides on its own site. Inside the player the same applies as on iTakeApart.com; the rest of that page is covered by that site's own policy.

Security and transfers

The site is served only over encrypted HTTPS. Our server and some of our partners may be in countries other than yours; where information is transferred, it is protected as the law requires.

Links to other sites

Our teardowns link to repair guides, manufacturers' pages and, where shown, to shops. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices; please read their policies.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when the site changes, for example when advertising or new partners are added, and change the date at the top. Please check back from time to time.