Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 16, 2026

The short version: You can use Ostrall without an account. There are no ads and no advertising trackers; we count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics and Google Analytics (which sets its own cookies, explained below). We record what is searched and how results are rated so Ostrall can get better, but we do not collect names, emails or IP addresses, and we never sell anything about you. If you choose to sign in with Google so your searches and Favs follow you, we keep only an anonymous account ID, your saved searches and the products you save to Favs, and you can delete them at any time.

Who we are

Ostrall ("we", "us", "our") is a shopping search service operated by Jarta Labs LLC, based in Utah, USA. This policy explains what information is collected when you use ostrall.com, how it is used, and the choices you have.

What we collect

To improve our search results, the site records these actions:

Visits: that a page was opened, and which kind (the home page, results or a product page), so we can count visits that don't search.
Searches: the text you type into the search box, or say into it with the microphone button. Speech is turned into text by your own browser (in Chrome by Google, in Safari by Apple); Ostrall only receives the words, the same as a typed search, and never your voice. A search that at least two different visitors have made in the last 90 days may be shown to others as a suggestion while they type; a search only you made is never shown to anyone else. Your own recent searches are suggested only to you.
Clicks: which product or store you open from the results, and where it was in the list.
Steps toward a product: the choices you make between searching and opening a store, such as answering "What kind?", picking a model, year or type under "Narrow by", choosing a budget, adding a must-have, opening a product's specs, tapping "Show more" or saving a Fav. We use these to cut the number of searches and taps it takes to find what you want.
Ratings: when you answer "Did these match what you searched for?" or rate a result up or down, the reason you pick (for example "wrong price range"), what you tell us you were looking for if you pick "The one I wanted isn't here" and choose to type it, what you write if you pick "Something else", and which listing it was (its title, store, price and position). With each rating we also record three signals that tell a person from a bot: whether your browser marked the click as a real one, how long after the results appeared you rated, and whether there was any real tap, click or key press on the page. They don't identify you.
A session code: a random code your browser makes each time it loads the page, so actions from one visit can be grouped together. It is not stored on your device, it changes on every visit, and it is not linked to who you are.

We do not ask for, and do not store, your name, email address, phone number, location, IP address or payment details (except the short-lived scrambled form described under "Protecting against abuse"). Because search text is whatever you type, please don't put personal details such as names, addresses or account numbers into the search box.

These learning records are never linked to an account, even if you are signed in.

If you hide a store from your results (the × in the Stores row), or a product is removed after you vote it down and say why, that choice is saved only in your own browser so it applies to your later searches. It is never sent to us. Clearing your browser's site data brings hidden stores and products back.

Your recent searches

To help you get back to a search, the home page shows your recent searches. If you are not signed in, they are kept only in your browser's own storage on this device and are never sent to us. "Clear" next to them removes them, and so does clearing your browser's site data.

Signing in with Google (optional)

You don't need an account to use Ostrall. If you choose "Sign in with Google", your recent searches and Favs are saved so you can see them on any device. For this:

We ask Google only to confirm who is signing in (the "openid" permission). Google does not give us your name, email address or photo, and we do not ask for them.
Google gives us an account ID that it creates for our site. We store only a scrambled (hashed) form of that ID, so we can recognise you the next time you sign in.
We store your saved searches: the last 20 you made while signed in, plus any already on your device when you signed in.
We store your Favs: the products you tap the heart on (up to 100). For each one we keep the store, product name, link, picture, the price and stock when you saved it, the search that found it, and the price and stock you last saw, so we can tell you when the price changes or it is back in stock. We check this against prices we already have from everyone's searches; watching a Fav sends nothing about you to anyone.
When you tap the X on one of our hand-picked products, we store which product it was, so we don't show it to you again. If you are not signed in, this lasts only until you leave the page and is not sent to us.

Signing in happens on Google's own pages and is covered by Google's privacy policy.

How we use it

We use this information only to make Ostrall better at understanding what shoppers are looking for. That includes finding searches we answered badly, learning which follow-up questions help, and improving how results are ranked. It is reviewed by automated checks and by people. An improvement it leads to, such as "people searching X usually mean Y", may be built into the site for everyone. We do not use it to build a profile of you, and we do not use it for advertising.

Cookies and tracking

Ostrall uses no advertising tools. The only outside scripts on the page are Cloudflare Web Analytics and Google Analytics, both described below. We set our own cookies only if you sign in, and only these two, both strictly necessary:

os_oauth: a temporary security code used while you sign in with Google. It expires after 10 minutes.
os_session: keeps you signed in for up to 180 days or until you sign out. It holds a random code; we store only a scrambled (hashed) form of it.

Neither of these is used for tracking or advertising. If you pick a country with the flags at the bottom of each page, we also set os_country, which remembers only that choice ("us" or "au") for a year, so you are not sent back to the other country's site. Your first visit to the home page goes to the site for the country your connection comes from (the US or Australia); the cookie is never set unless you choose. Recent searches for signed-out visitors are kept in your browser's local storage, as described above, not in a cookie.

Google Analytics sets its own cookies on ostrall.com, named _ga and _ga_ followed by a code. They hold a random ID so Google can count returning visitors and visits, and last up to 2 years unless you clear them. They are not linked to your Ostrall account.

Visit statistics

To understand how many people use Ostrall and how quickly pages load, we use Cloudflare Web Analytics. It loads a small script from Cloudflare that reports page views: the page address, the site that referred you, your browser and device type, your country and page-load timings. Cloudflare says this tool does not use cookies or local storage and does not track you across other websites. We see these figures only as totals, not as a record of any one person's visit. Cloudflare's handling of this data is covered by Cloudflare's privacy policy.

We also use Google Analytics to see how people find and use Ostrall. It loads a script from Google that reports the pages you visit, the site that referred you, your browser and device type, your approximate location (city or region, worked out from your connection), how long you stay, and the words you search on Ostrall. Google says Google Analytics does not log or store IP addresses. We have turned off Google's advertising features for Ostrall: no Google signals, no ad personalisation and no links to any ads account. We see these figures as reports, not as a record of any one person. Google's handling of this data is covered by Google's privacy policy and how Google uses information from sites that use its services. You can block Google Analytics with your browser's privacy settings or Google's opt-out add-on; Ostrall works the same without it.

Our hosting provider

The site is served by Cloudflare. Like any web host, Cloudflare processes technical data such as IP addresses and request details to deliver the site and protect it from attacks. That processing is governed by Cloudflare's privacy policy. We do not copy that data into our own records.

Our price data provider

To show current prices, our server sends the product being searched for (for example "noise cancelling headphones") to a shopping-data provider, SerpApi, which returns current retailer listings. Only the search words are sent. Your browser never contacts the provider, and nothing about you, such as your IP address or session code, goes with the request. Results are kept in our database for up to 90 days: prices are only shown while they are recent (up to 7 days old), and older listings are kept only so we can test improvements to ranking against real results. They contain store listings, never anything about you. When you open a product, our server also asks SerpApi for that product's page at the store, sending only the product's ID (nothing about you); the store link is saved for up to 30 days so the next click doesn't need it again.

To understand what a new search is for (which questions to ask, and how to sort the results), our server also sends the search words, and only the search words, to Anthropic, whose Claude model returns a plan for that kind of search. Nothing about you goes with it. The plan is kept in our database for up to 30 days so the same search doesn't need it again.

Protecting against abuse

Ratings shape how Ostrall answers everyone, so we keep them honest. We only accept them from the Ostrall page itself, count each rating once per visit, limit how many any one visitor can send in an hour, and leave out every rating from a visit that looks automated (for example, ratings made by a script, faster than a person could read the results, or in floods). The hourly limit uses the same short-lived scrambled code described below.

Each new price lookup costs us money, so automated traffic is limited. When a search needs a fresh lookup, we count it against a scrambled code made from your IP address, the current hour or day, and a secret key that only our server knows. The code can't be turned back into your IP address. It is used only to stop one visitor from making more than a set number of new lookups, and it is deleted within a day. Searches answered from our saved results are not counted.

Retailer sites

When you follow a link from Ostrall to a retailer, you leave our site. The retailer's own privacy policy and cookies apply there, including to anything you buy. Some links may in future identify Ostrall as the referrer; see our Affiliate Disclosure.

Sharing

We do not sell or share this information with third parties for their own use. We may disclose it if required by law or valid legal process, or to protect the rights or safety of our users or the public.

How long we keep it

We keep event records for up to 24 months, then delete them or reduce them to totals that cannot be tied to any visit.

If you sign in, your saved searches and Favs are kept until you remove them or delete your account. An account that is not used for 24 months is deleted automatically, along with its saved searches and Favs. Sign-in sessions end after 180 days.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct or delete personal information about you. California residents have the right to know what we collect and to request deletion. We do not sell or share personal information. If you don't sign in, Ostrall collects nothing that identifies you, and the session code changes on every visit, so there is no record we could link back to you. If you do sign in, you control everything stored with your account on the Ostrall home page: you can see your saved searches, "Clear" erases them, and "Delete account" permanently removes the account and every saved search at once. Ostrall does not offer a way to contact us.

Security

The site is served only over encrypted HTTPS connections, and our records are stored in a private database. Sign-in cookies can't be read by scripts on the page, and we store only scrambled (hashed) forms of account IDs and sign-in codes. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we limit what we collect in the first place.

Children

Ostrall is a general shopping tool and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to this policy

If we change how Ostrall handles information, for example by adding accounts, we will update this page and change the "Last updated" date above before the change takes effect.