Last updated: September 30, 2026
Short version: Cascade has no ads or analytics. Playback works without an account, and your listening total stays on your device. If you create an account, Cascade stores your email address and a running listening total for each device so your total can sync across devices.
You can play the waterfall, use timers, and keep a local listening total without an account. In that mode Cascade collects nothing and contacts no server about you. There is no analytics and no advertising. Your preferences and your listening time live only on your own device.
Your preferences — volume, timer choices, mute, and whether audio was playing — are saved locally on your own device (in your browser's local storage on the web, or in the app's local settings on native builds). This information never leaves your device.
Cascade keeps a running total of how long you've spent listening, so you can see it add up over time. This is turned on by default, and it is just one number — a cumulative count of audible playback. It is not a history: Cascade does not record the dates or times you listened, how long any individual session was, or anything about what you were doing. By default that number stays on your device like the rest of your settings, and you can turn the whole feature off in the app at any time.
If you want your listening total to follow you across devices — your phone, your laptop, the desktop app — you can create a Cascade account. You sign in with your email address: we send you a one-time sign-in link, and there is no password to store. The server then holds:
Cascade does not store individual playback sessions or a listening history. The service can see your running totals and the last time each device synced, but cannot reconstruct a session-by-session history. We do not sell or share this account data or use it for advertising.
You can sign out at any time, which stops syncing. Your local settings and listening total remain on your device. From your account you can also delete your listening data or delete the account entirely; deleting the account removes your email address, device totals, and active sessions from the server. You remain free to keep using Cascade without an account afterward.
The web app downloads only its own files — the application code and
the waterfall audio recording — from
cascade.stephens.page. The native Windows, Android, and Apple
builds play their bundled audio and integrate with your operating
system's media controls. None of these builds send telemetry or
advertising data. The only network calls Cascade makes about
you are the ones you trigger by creating and using an account: requesting
a sign-in link and syncing your listening total. If you never create an
account, none of those calls happen.
Cascade uses no cookies and no tracking technologies. The web app may cache its own files on your device (via a service worker) so it can run offline; this cache is never used to identify or track you.
Cascade is suitable for all ages. It does not knowingly collect personal information from children; the only personal information it can hold is an email address you provide when you choose to create an account.
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted on this page with a new date above.
Questions about this policy? Email jacob.stephens.701@gmail.com.