Privacy policy: Podium

This privacy policy applies to the iOS app Podium. The controller is Samuel Mellert; address and contact details are in the legal notice.

Your subscriptions with their feed addresses, the episodes with their descriptions, playback positions, inbox, queue and settings such as the speed per podcast are stored by Podium on your device only, as are downloaded episodes and cover images. There is no syncing through iCloud. Apart from the downloads, this data is part of your device or iCloud backup like other app data. When you unsubscribe, Podium removes the podcast and its episodes from the library; everything is removed when you delete the app.

Podium loads podcast feeds, episodes, chapters and images directly from the servers listed in each feed, that is from the podcasters or their hosting services: when you subscribe to a podcast, view a search result or import an OPML file, when your subscriptions are refreshed (on opening the app and in the background), and when you play or download an episode. To find chapter marks, Podium also reads the beginning of the audio file when you play an episode without downloading it.

These servers receive your IP address, the time, the requested address and technical details; Podium requests feeds with the identifier “Podium/1.0 (iOS; private podcast player)”. Many podcasts have their downloads counted by measurement or advertising services through the episode addresses. Podium uses the addresses as they appear in the feed. These providers are responsible for their own processing; I do not receive the data.

Because many podcasts still offer their feeds without encryption (http), Podium allows such connections. Their content can be read in transit.

When you search the directory, Podium sends your search term, while you type, together with your device’s region to Apple’s podcast search (iTunes Search API); the covers in the results also come from Apple. These requests go directly from your device to Apple; I do not receive the data. Apple’s privacy policy applies to its processing.

Podium creates notifications about new episodes on the device, only for podcasts where you turned on the bell; there is no push server. When you open “Add by URL”, Podium looks at the clipboard and fills in a copied web address. The clipboard content does not leave your device.

Podium has no user account and no server of its own, contains no advertising and no analytics or tracking tools, and transfers no data to me or to third parties, apart from the requests to podcast servers and the search requests to Apple described above.

The app is distributed through Apple’s App Store; test versions through TestFlight. Apple itself is responsible for downloads, purchases and updates, and Apple’s privacy policy applies.

If you have agreed in your iPhone’s settings to share analytics with app developers, Apple provides me with aggregated usage statistics and crash reports. They contain nothing that would allow me to identify you. If you take part in a TestFlight test, I see the name and email address you were invited with and the feedback you send through TestFlight.

Apple’s privacy policy

Your rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, data portability and objection, and your right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, are described in the privacy section of the legal notice. For questions about privacy, an email to mail@samuel-mellert.de is enough.