The short version. The app is a subscription with a 7-day free trial, billed by Apple or Google; we never see your payment details. The web player is free. You don't need an account. We don't sell your data, we don't run advertising, and we don't build profiles for anyone else. We store the things the app needs to work — your favourites, your queue, where you got to in an episode — against an anonymous device identifier. If you choose to sign in, we also keep your email address. We count how the app is used and record crashes, which you can turn off. If you're signed in, deleting your account from inside the app deletes all of it, analytics included; if you're not, email us and we'll delete it for you.
Contents
1. Who we are
varostream ("varostream", "we", "us") is operated by Streamr LLC, a Washington limited liability company, 18730 Fales Rd, Snohomish, WA 98296, USA. We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. If you have any question about it, write to support@varostream.com.
2. What we collect
Information you give us by using the app
- Your library. Stations, podcasts and episodes you favourite, the presets and packs you build, and the items in your Up Next queue.
- Playback state. Recently played items, resume positions in episodes, and playback preferences such as speed.
- Listening history. What you played and when, which powers Recently Played, your listening Insights, and the "what was that song?" track history.
- Your settings. App language, content languages, theme, alarms, sleep-mode configuration and notification preferences.
- Your email address, if you sign in. Signing in is optional. It lets your library follow you to a new phone and to the web player. We email you a six-digit code to confirm the address; there is no password.
- Things you name or add. The titles you give your packs (a pack you share is visible to anyone with its link) and the addresses of podcast feeds you add yourself.
- Searches. What you search for is used to answer that search. Searches are also counted, without being linked to you or your device, to show trending searches to everyone.
Information collected automatically
- An anonymous device identifier. When you first open the app it generates a random identifier and issues a token for it. This is how your library follows you between sessions. It is not your name, email, phone number, advertising ID or Apple/Google account.
- Basic technical data needed to serve requests: device platform and app version, and the IP address your requests arrive from, which our web server logs. Those logs do not record your location or what you searched for.
- Usage analytics (optional). Which features are used, for example that a station was played, an alarm was saved or a search returned results, with the ids of the stations and episodes involved. Never what you typed, and never a recording of your screen. It is tied to your account number, not your name or email. Turn it off in Settings → Privacy → Share usage data.
- Crash reports (optional). If the app hits an error, the error message and stack trace, with your device model and system version, so we can fix it. The same setting turns these off.
- Subscription status. Whether you have an active free trial or subscription, when it renews or ends, and the app store's record of the purchase, so the app knows to unlock itself and can restore your subscription on a new phone. It is tied to your account number. Apple or Google take the payment: we never see your card or bank details.
Information we do not collect
We do not ask for your name, phone number, date of birth, contacts, photos or calendar, and the app never uses your microphone. We collect no advertising identifier. There are no passwords, so we have none to lose.
3. Why we collect it
We process the data above to provide the service you asked for — syncing your library across launches and devices, resuming episodes where you left off, firing your alarms on time, showing your listening insights, and keeping the catalogue healthy by detecting streams and feeds that have gone dead. We use usage analytics and crash reports to find out which features work and to fix what breaks. Our legal bases, where the GDPR applies, are performance of a contract (providing the app you asked for) and our legitimate interests in keeping the service working, secure and accurate. You can object to analytics at any time by turning it off in the app.
4. Device permissions
- Location (optional). Only used for the "near you" row on the Discover tab. Your device sends its position to find stations nearby, at that moment; we do not store it, log it or keep a location history, and we never track your location in the background. Deny it and everything else in the app still works. The near-you row simply disappears.
- Camera (optional). Only used to scan the code shown when you link the web player to your phone. The image stays on your device.
- Speech recognition (optional, iPhone). Keeps a podcast transcript in step with the episode you're playing. It listens to the episode's audio, never your microphone, and runs entirely on your device; nothing it hears is sent to us or anyone else.
- Notifications (optional). Required for alarms, show reminders and bedtime prompts to reach you. Alarm content is prepared on your device.
- Local network / casting (optional). Used to find AirPlay, Chromecast and Sonos targets when you open the output picker.
5. What we never do
- We do not sell or rent personal information to anyone, for any purpose.
- We do not serve advertising in the app, and we embed no advertising SDKs or cross-app trackers.
- We do not share your listening history with broadcasters, podcast publishers, data brokers or ad networks.
- We do not use your data to train third-party advertising or profiling models.
6. Who we share data with
Only the parties needed to run the service:
- Apple and Google, which sell and bill the subscription through the App Store and Google Play. They take your payment under their own terms and privacy policies, and tell us only whether your subscription is active.
- RevenueCat, which checks your purchase with Apple or Google and tells the app whether your trial or subscription is active (United States). It receives your account number and the store's purchase records, never your payment details.
- Our hosting provider, Amazon Web Services, which runs our servers and stores our backups in the United States.
- PostHog, which processes our usage analytics and crash reports (United States). It receives no location lookup from us, and when you delete your account we ask it to delete your analytics too.
- Resend, which delivers the sign-in code email. It receives your email address and the code.
- Expo, Apple and Google, which deliver push notifications, if you turn them on. They receive your device's push token and the text of the notification.
- AudD, which identifies a song when you ask "what was that song?". Our server sends it a few seconds of the station's own broadcast, never audio from your device and nothing about you.
- Each of these processes the data only to provide its service to us, under contract, and may not use it for its own purposes.
- Music metadata lookups. When the track-history feature identifies a song, we query public catalogue services (the iTunes Search API, Spotify and LRCLIB) for the artwork, lyrics, genre and a link. Those requests contain the song and artist name — never your device identifier or any information about you.
- Radio stations and podcast hosts. When you play something, your device connects directly to that broadcaster's or host's server, exactly as a browser would. Their own logging is governed by their privacy policies, not ours.
- Legal requirements. We may disclose information if we are legally compelled to, or to protect the rights and safety of our users or ourselves.
7. How long we keep it
Library, settings and listening history are kept until you delete your account, so that your app keeps working, and you can clear listening history at any time from within the app. Sign-in codes are deleted a day after they expire. Our web server keeps its logs for up to 90 days. Usage analytics and crash reports are kept by PostHog until you delete your account; the events themselves are removed in PostHog's next weekly deletion run. Purchase records are kept by RevenueCat, and by Apple or Google, for as long as they are needed for billing, tax and restoring your subscription.
8. Your rights and choices
Inside the app you can clear your track history, empty your queue, remove favourites and packs, turn off notifications, turn off usage analytics and crash reports (Settings → Privacy), and revoke the location permission at the OS level. If you signed in, Settings → Account → Delete account deletes your account and everything saved to it, including your analytics. Deleting the app removes the local copy of everything. Deleting the app or your account does not cancel a subscription: cancel it in your App Store or Google Play subscription settings.
Depending on where you live — including the EU/UK under the GDPR and California under the CCPA — you may also have the right to access, correct, export or delete the information we hold, and to object to certain processing. To exercise any of these, email support@varostream.com. Because we deliberately don't know who you are, we will ask you for the device identifier shown in the app's Settings screen so we can locate the right records. We will not discriminate against you for making a request. If you are in the EU or UK and are unhappy with our response, you may complain to your local data protection authority.
9. Children
varostream is not directed at children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your country), and we do not knowingly collect information from them. The catalogue contains live radio and podcasts from third parties, which may include content intended for adults. If you believe a child has provided us with information, contact us and we will delete it.
10. International transfers
Our infrastructure, and our analytics provider, are in the United States. If you use the app from elsewhere, your data will be transferred there. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.
11. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top of this page, and for material changes we will notify you in the app before the change takes effect.
12. Contact
Questions, requests or complaints: support@varostream.com, or by post at Streamr LLC, 18730 Fales Rd, Snohomish, WA 98296, USA.