Sprocket Player Privacy Policy

Sprocket Player is a media browser and player for Apple TV and iPad. This policy explains what the app stores, what it connects to, and what it never does.

The short version

• There is no Sprocket account and no Sprocket server. We do not receive your media, your library, or your viewing activity.
• The app connects only to the file shares and media servers you add, and to your Plex account if you use Plex. The one exception, cast photos, is described below.
• There is no advertising, no tracking and no usage analytics.
• Crash reports are off by default and are sent only if you turn them on.

What is stored on your device

Everything Sprocket Player remembers is kept on the device you use it on:

• Sign-in details. Passwords for your file shares and sign-in tokens for your media servers are stored in the system Keychain.
• Your library, as you left it. The list of sources you added, your settings, what you have watched and where you stopped.
• Thumbnails and details. Thumbnails, and the titles and descriptions shown in the library, are saved so the app doesn't have to fetch them again.

Saved thumbnails and library details are always encrypted on the device, using a key that never leaves it. If you protect a source with a PIN, that PIN becomes part of the key, so those items cannot be read without it.

What the app connects to

Sprocket Player connects to the places you tell it to. The one exception is cast photos, described below.

Your local network

With your permission, the app looks on your local network for file shares (SMB, NFS) and media servers (Plex, Jellyfin, Emby) so it can offer them to you, and connects to the ones you add. Your device will ask you to allow local network access the first time this is needed.

Your media servers

When you add a Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server, the app signs in to it and asks it for your library, artwork and video. Along with your sign-in, the server receives the app's name and version, a device label, and a random identifier created for this installation, so that the server can list Sprocket Player among your authorised devices. That identifier is not shared with anyone else.

Your server keeps its own records of what is requested from it, under its own settings and its own privacy terms. Sprocket Player keeps its own record of what you have watched on your device and does not read or change the watched status on your server. If you connect to a server outside your home network, that connection travels over the internet to that server.

Your Plex account

Plex sign-in is handled by Plex's own service at plex.tv, not by your server. If you use Plex, the app contacts plex.tv when you sign in with a code, when you choose which of your servers to add, and each time it connects to a server added that way, to look up the server's current address.

What Plex does with those requests is described in Plex's privacy policy. Jellyfin and Emby sign-in happens directly with your own server and involves no outside service. If you do not use Plex, the app never contacts plex.tv.

Setting up from your phone

On Apple TV you can scan a QR code to fill in a connection form on your phone. While that form is open, the Apple TV serves a single page to your local network. What you type is encrypted in your phone's browser with a key carried in the QR code, and is sent only to your Apple TV. The page stops being available as soon as the form closes. Nothing is sent outside your network.

Cast photos

Library files written by tools such as Kodi can include web addresses for photos of the cast. When you open the cast list for a movie or show on a file share, the app downloads those photos from the addresses in your files. The site that hosts them receives your device's internet address and the photos requested. The photos are held in memory only and are never saved to your device. If your files contain no such addresses, no request is made.

What the app does not do

Sprocket Player does not send the contents of your library to any online service to identify or look up your media. Posters and descriptions come from your own server or from files saved alongside your media. Features such as intro detection and thumbnail generation run entirely on your device.

Your photo library

If you allow it, Sprocket Player reads the photo library on your device to show your photos and videos. They are displayed on the device and are not copied or sent anywhere.

Crash reports

Crash reporting is off by default. Nothing is collected unless you turn on Share Crash Reports in Options, and you can turn it off again at any time.

If you turn it on, crash and hang reports are sent to Sentry, a crash-reporting service, and stored in the European Union. They are used only to find and fix bugs. A report contains:

• technical details of the failure, such as stack traces and the state of the app at that moment
• the device model, operating system version and app version

Reports are not linked to your identity and are not used for tracking. They contain no screenshots, no media files, no sign-in details and nothing from your photo library. The app does not record usage sessions or performance traces.

Children's privacy

Sprocket Player is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Contact

If you have questions about this policy, email support [at] sprocketplayer.com.

Changes to this policy

Updates to this policy will be posted at this address with a revised "Last updated" date.