Privacy Policy
Last Updated: October 26, 2026
Your privacy matters to us. This Privacy Policy explains what information is processed when you use the Radio applications (the “App”), where that processing occurs, and the choices available to you.
1. Information We Process
Information you do not need to provide
Radio does not require registration. We do not ask for your name, phone number, postal address, password, payment information, or precise location.
Information stored on your device
The App stores the following information locally so its features can work:
- favorite stations and recently played stations;
- appearance, autoplay, shake-to-shuffle, and other App preferences;
- cached station-directory information; and
- local records used to display your station votes.
Listening leaderboards
While this feature is enabled, Radio on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch automatically reports a random app-installation identifier, a temporary playback-session identifier, the public directory station identifier and a bounded public station snapshot (name, public stream and artwork addresses, country, language, tags, stream format, and bitrate), playing or stopped state, cumulative listening duration, and timing and sequence information. Reports normally occur every 30 seconds during playback and when playback starts or ends. We use them to estimate active devices and rank stations by listening duration. They do not identify unique people across devices.
These reports do not include audio, captions, song recognition results, private or imported stream URLs, stream credentials, your library, or your account details. Custom stations and older Watch snapshots without explicit public-directory provenance are excluded. There is no individual leaderboard participation setting in this version; stopping playback stops ongoing listening reports. We can disable the feature remotely.
Optional listener map
On iPhone and iPad, opening the listener map requests When In Use location permission with reduced accuracy by default. The permission prompt explains that granting access also enables “Show me on the map,” so other listeners can see your approximate location and current public station while you listen. You can turn sharing off at any time; reopening the map or granting permission again does not override a saved opt-out. You can browse and play stations without granting permission or sharing your location. The App reduces coordinates to a roughly 28 km grid before sending them, even if precise location permission is available. We do not send precise coordinates or infer map positions from IP addresses.
Location is refreshed only while the App is in the foreground. A location expires after 15 minutes and cannot be renewed by playback heartbeats alone. The public map also requires a playing report within the last 90 seconds. Pausing, stopping, or withdrawing sharing removes the server presentation when the update arrives; other devices may retain an already loaded snapshot until its short expiry. Network failures can delay withdrawal. We retain only the latest coarse location, not a movement history. Expired coordinates are removed by bounded hourly maintenance; a location-free revision record is kept briefly to reject delayed sharing requests. Map responses contain a temporary presentation identifier, approximate coordinates, and public station information, never the installation identifier or IP address. Turning off map sharing does not disable ordinary leaderboard statistics.
Network information
When the App connects to a station directory, a radio stream, station artwork, Apple services, or another linked service, that provider may receive technical information normally sent with an internet request, such as your IP address, request time, and basic connection or device information. Our listening statistics service is hosted by Cloudflare. Our application database does not store IP addresses or full request headers; Cloudflare processes network requests under its own service and privacy terms.
2. How Information Is Used
Information stored by the App is used only to provide its features, including remembering favorites and settings, displaying listening history, loading station lists more quickly, playing audio, and showing playback controls.
Listening measurements are used for live device counts, station listening totals, and rank changes. Public leaderboards expose station-level aggregates and public station information, not installation or session identifiers. We cache the public station information to display and play leaderboard entries without an additional directory lookup. We do not use these measurements for advertising.
Search terms, the country or genre you select, and station vote actions are sent to the station-directory provider only when needed to return results or complete the requested action.
3. Third-Party Services
Radio relies on independent services to provide requested content and functionality:
- Cloudflare hosts the listening statistics service and processes its network requests.
- Radio Browser supplies station-directory data, search results, and station voting.
- Radio stations and stream hosts deliver the live audio streams and related artwork or websites you choose to access.
- Apple ShazamKit processes audio information when you explicitly start song recognition.
- Apple services may be opened for recognized music, App Store version checks, reviews, or other system features you request.
These providers operate independently and process information under their own terms and privacy policies. You should review their policies if you want more detail about their practices.
5. Storage and Retention
Favorites, listening history, preferences, and cached directory data remain on your device until they are changed by you, replaced by newer data, or removed when you delete the App. Radio does not currently synchronize this information to an account or cloud service.
The listening service keeps only the latest playback state per installation, rather than a full sequence of playback reports. While reporting is enabled, scheduled cleanup removes installation-to-station records that have been inactive for over 24 hours; cleanup normally runs hourly and may take longer when there is a backlog. Station duration aggregates are kept for approximately 90 days, and public station snapshots for approximately 91 days after their last retention update, with the same scheduled cleanup. Turning the feature off clears installation-to-station records, live map sharing state and live rank snapshots, cancels cleanup, and retains existing station-only duration aggregates and public station snapshots until service resumes or they are explicitly removed.
6. Children’s Privacy
Radio is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Radio stations and linked services may offer content outside our control, so parental supervision is recommended.
7. Your Choices and Privacy Rights
You can remove favorites in the App, change App preferences at any time, stop playback to end ongoing listening reports, choose not to use song recognition, and delete locally stored App information by deleting the App from your device.
Requests concerning information processed by a radio station, Radio Browser, Apple, or another provider should be directed to that provider.
8. Security
We limit the information handled by Radio and keep App preferences and library data on your device. No method of electronic processing or transmission is completely secure, and third-party services remain responsible for the security of their own systems.
9. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy when the App, its services, or legal requirements change. The revised policy will be posted with a new “Last Updated” date. Continued use of the App after an update means the revised policy applies to your future use.
10. Contact Us
If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please use the developer support contact shown on Radio’s App Store product page.