Privacy Policy
IPTV Player · last updated
1. Summary
IPTV Player (“the app”) is a media player for live TV streams. You add your own M3U/M3U8 playlists, or load a bundled list of free public channels published by their broadcasters. The app is published by Cool App Helpdesk.
- The developer collects no personal data. There are no user accounts and no developer-operated servers.
- The app includes the Google Mobile Ads (AdMob) SDK. Ads are dormant until 1 September 2027 — before that date the SDK is never initialised, loads nothing, and makes no network calls. From that date onward the app shows ads (never on the player screen), and Google receives your device’s advertising ID. See section 5.
- There are no analytics, crash-reporting, social or attribution SDKs.
- Your playlists, favorites and viewing history stay on your device.
- The app provides no TV content of its own. Streams come directly from the servers named in the playlists you add.
2. Data we collect
None. The developer does not receive personal data, device identifiers, IP addresses, usage analytics or the list of channels you watch. Nothing you do in the app is reported to us.
Advertising. Once ads activate on 1 September 2027, Google’s AdMob SDK collects your device’s advertising ID and coarse ad-interaction data to serve and measure ads. This goes to Google, not to the developer, and is governed by Google’s privacy policy. In the EEA, UK and Switzerland the app asks for your consent first (Google’s User Messaging Platform). You can reset or delete the advertising ID in Android Settings → Privacy → Ads. Before that date the SDK is inert and no advertising ID is read.
3. Data stored on your device
| Item | Where | Sent off device? |
|---|---|---|
| Playlists you add (name, URL) and their channels | Local Room database | Never |
| Favorite channels | Local Room database | Never |
| Play counts and last-played time | Local Room database | Never |
| Stream status (working / not working) and when it was checked | Local Room database | Never |
| TV guide (EPG) entries | Local Room database | Never |
| Theme and auto-refresh settings | App-private preferences / DataStore | Never |
| Channel logo images | App cache | Never |
Playlist files you open from your device are read once through the Android file picker and copied into the database; the app gets no general access to your files.
4. Permissions used
| Permission | Reason | When asked |
|---|---|---|
INTERNET | Download playlists and play streams from the URLs you add. | Auto-granted (normal permission) |
ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE | Only refresh playlists in the background when a network is available. | Auto-granted (normal permission) |
FOREGROUND_SERVICE, FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK | Keep playing when you leave the app or lock the screen. | Auto-granted on install |
POST_NOTIFICATIONS (Android 13+) | Show the playback notification with play/pause controls. | Managed in Android Settings |
com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID | Let the AdMob SDK read the device advertising ID to serve and measure ads, from 1 September 2027. Reset or delete it in Android Settings → Privacy → Ads. | Auto-granted (normal permission) |
WAKE_LOCK, RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED | Added by Android’s WorkManager library to run the periodic playlist refresh and keep it scheduled after a reboot. | Auto-granted (normal permission) |
The manifest also carries DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION, an internal AndroidX signature permission that lets the app talk only to its own components. It grants no access to anything on your device.
5. Network activity and third parties
IPTV Player connects only to:
- Playlist URLs you add — fetched when you import a playlist and, if auto-refresh is on, periodically afterwards (default every 24 hours; you can change or turn this off in Settings).
- Stream URLs — the servers listed in your playlists, or the broadcasters of the bundled free channels. The app also makes a short request to a stream to check whether it is online. These servers see your IP address like any website does; their content and privacy practices are controlled by them, not by the developer.
- Channel logo images — loaded from the image URLs given in the playlist.
- Google Mobile Ads (AdMob) — From 1 September 2027 the app requests ads from Google’s ad servers (and, in the EEA, UK and Switzerland, Google’s consent service). Google receives the advertising ID, coarse device and network information, and ad interaction events. Before that date the SDK is never initialised and contacts nothing.
The app makes no other network connections. Apart from the AdMob SDK described above, its libraries (Media3 ExoPlayer, OkHttp, Coil, Room, WorkManager) work only within the scope above and do not send data to the developer or to third parties.
Content. IPTV Player is a player only. It does not host, sell or link to any channel. You are responsible for making sure you have the right to watch the streams in the playlists you add. The bundled channels are free, publicly available streams published by their broadcasters.
6. Children’s privacy
IPTV Player is a general-audience app and is not directed at children under 13. The developer collects no personal information from any user, whatever their age, and the app has no in-app purchases. From 1 September 2027 it displays ads served by Google AdMob; these are not personalised for users Google identifies as children, and where the EU consent framework applies the app presents a consent prompt before any personalised ad is served.
7. Data retention and deletion
The developer holds no data about you, so there is nothing to delete on our side. To remove everything the app stored, use Settings → Reset all data in the app, clear its storage in Android Settings → Apps → IPTV Player → Storage → Clear storage, or uninstall it.
8. Security
All app data lives in the app’s private storage, protected by Android’s application sandbox. Many IPTV providers only offer plain HTTP streams, so the app allows unencrypted connections to the servers you add; use HTTPS playlist and stream URLs where your provider offers them. The app is distributed through Google Play, which verifies the developer signing key on every update.
9. Changes to this policy
If any material aspect of how the app handles data changes, this page will be updated and the “last updated” date above will change.
10. Contact
Questions or feedback? Email coolapphelpdesk@gmail.com.