Privacy Policy

Reel: Video Player · Effective November 8, 2026

Reel is a video player for media you already have. It has no account, no advertising, no analytics and no crash reporting, and its developer runs no server. The developer doesn't collect, see or sell any information about you or what you watch.

What stays on your devices

Your sources, settings, watch progress, playlists and downloads are stored on your device. Passwords, tokens and keys for the services you add are kept in the system keychain.

If you're signed in to iCloud, Reel keeps your watch progress, playlists and the list of your sources in your private iCloud database, and your settings in iCloud key-value storage, so they appear on your other devices. Sign-ins to file shares and cloud drives sync through iCloud Keychain when you use it. Apple stores this data under its own privacy policy; the developer has no access to it.

What Reel sends, and when

Reel connects only to services you add or turn on, and sends each one only what it needs:

• Your media servers, file shares and cloud drives (for example Jellyfin, Emby, Plex, SMB or WebDAV): your sign-in, and requests for your libraries and videos. Media servers also receive your playback progress, as their own apps send it. Plex receives a random identifier for this installation and your device's name.
• The Movie Database (TMDB), for videos on file shares and folders: the titles and years Reel reads from file names, and your language, to find posters and descriptions.
• OpenSubtitles, only when you search for subtitles: your language, the title or its database identifiers, and a fingerprint calculated from the video file.
• Trakt, only after you sign in: what you watch and how far you got.
• YouTube, only when you play a trailer: the trailer plays in YouTube's privacy-enhanced embedded player, which receives your IP address.
• Apple: iCloud as described above, and AirPlay and SharePlay when you use them.

Each of these services handles the data under its own privacy policy.

Local network

Reel asks for access to your local network to find and play from media servers, file shares and Cast devices on it. It doesn't send information about your network anywhere else.

Children

Reel doesn't knowingly collect information from anyone, including children. Parental controls in Settings can hide films and shows above an age rating, and whole sources.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date. Questions: linyoutian.loyot@gmail.com.