Privacy policy

Effective 23 October 2026

xadcast is a podcast player that finds and skips the ads in episodes. It does that on your device: every episode is transcribed and checked for ads on your phone or tablet, and nothing you listen to is sent anywhere to be analysed. This policy covers the xadcast apps for Android and iOS and this website, xadcast.com. It says what leaves your device, who receives it, why, and for how long.

xadcast is made by Brewed Software LLC (“we”, “us”). You can reach us about anything in this policy at hello@xadcast.com.

What stays on your device

Downloaded episodes, transcripts and the ad markers the app finds are stored in the app’s own storage and are never sent to us or to anyone else. Your subscriptions, queue and playback positions are stored there too. They are sent to us only if you sign in and sync, as described under Your xadcast account.

One exception is your own device backup. If you use Android’s backup to your Google account, or iCloud or computer backup on iOS, your device includes the app’s library (subscriptions, positions and transcripts) in that backup. That backup belongs to you, and Google or Apple handle it under their own terms. Downloaded audio and the app’s speech and ad-detection models are left out of backups.

What leaves your device

Podcast publishers

To fetch a show’s feed, episodes and artwork, the app contacts the publisher and the services it names to deliver them, directly, as every podcast player does. Those services see the request, including your IP address and the app’s name and version, and handle it under their own policies, which we don’t control. Some publishers use these requests to measure audiences or choose which ads to insert into the audio. Where a publisher only offers an unencrypted address, the app tries the encrypted one first and uses the unencrypted one only if that fails.

The xadcast podcast catalogue

Search. When you search for a podcast, what you type is sent to the catalogue service we run, as you type, so it can suggest matches. We use it to answer the search and do not store or log it. Search is optional: you can always add a show by its feed address instead.

Adding a show. When you subscribe to a show, its public details (feed address, title, description, categories, publisher, website, artwork address and language) are sent to the catalogue so other listeners can find it. These are public facts about the show, not about you, and we keep them as part of the catalogue. To limit spam, we also store a short code calculated from the IP address that submitted the show. We keep it for 90 days after that address last submitted the show, then delete it. We don’t keep the IP address itself.

Catalogue requests carry no account, name, email or device identifier, even when you are signed in. Like any website, our service sees your IP address while it answers. Our server logs are kept for 30 days and do not record your IP address or your search.

Crash reports

If the app crashes or hits an internal error, it sends a report to Firebase Crashlytics, a Google service we use to find and fix problems. A report contains a technical trace of what the app was doing, the app’s recent warning messages, your device model and system version, and a random identifier that Firebase gives the installation so we can tell how many devices a problem affects. Warning messages can include the web address of a podcast feed or artwork image, or a podcast link you opened in the app. Reports never contain audio, transcripts or ad markers.

Performance measurements

So we can see how the app behaves on real devices, it sends timing measurements to Firebase Performance Monitoring, also a Google service. These cover how long things take, such as starting the app, opening screens, transcribing audio, finding ads, playing, searching and refreshing.

They also cover every network request the app makes. For each one, Firebase records the web address requested, the response code, the size of the response and how long it took. Because the app requests podcast feeds, episodes and artwork, Google receives the addresses of the shows and episodes your device fetches. It does not receive a list labelled as your subscriptions, or any audio, transcript or ad marker, but the addresses are enough to tell which shows your copy of the app fetches. We’d rather say that plainly.

Measurements carry the same random installation identifier, device model and system version as crash reports. Neither crash reports nor measurements include your name, email, account, advertising identifier or location, and they are not linked to your account if you have one. They are not used to target ads or to track you across other companies’ apps or websites. Google keeps this data for up to 90 days. The app has no setting to turn it off today. Uninstalling the app stops it and discards the installation identifier.

What we don’t collect

The app does not ask for or collect your location, contacts, photos, files, microphone, calendar, messages, health or financial information. It contains no advertising, analytics-for-advertising or attribution software, does not use your device’s advertising identifier, and does not track you across other companies’ apps or websites. We do not sell or share personal information, as those terms are defined in US state privacy laws.

Your xadcast account

You can use xadcast without an account. You need one only for Premium, to sync your library and listening position between your devices, and to keep Premium when you move between Android and iOS.

Signing in

To sign in you enter your email address, and we email you a six-digit code to type into the app. There is no password. We store your email address, an account ID we generate, your account’s status, and when it was created and last signed in. The sign-in email is sent through Amazon Web Services. Once you are signed in, the app keeps you signed in using credentials stored in your device’s secure storage (the iOS Keychain or the Android Keystore) until you sign out.

To stop sign-in codes being used to flood someone’s inbox, we briefly keep a scrambled (hashed) form of each email address that asks for a code, for up to a day, and the IP address that asked, for about an hour.

Sync

When you are signed in, the app syncs your library through our servers so your other devices can pick it up. That means, for each show you subscribe to, its feed address and title, and for each episode you have played or marked, its episode identifiers and audio address, whether you have finished or archived it, how far through it you are, and its length, along with when each of these changed. Each copy of the app also sends a random identifier for that installation so we can diagnose sync problems. Downloads, transcripts and ad markers are never synced.

Signing out stops syncing and leaves your library on the device.

Premium purchases

Premium is bought through Apple’s App Store or Google Play, which handle the payment. We never see your card or payment details. So that we can tell which account a purchase belongs to, the app attaches an identifier derived from your account ID to the purchase. We then receive from Apple or Google the purchase’s transaction identifier or purchase token, the product, whether it is active, when it renews or expires, and whether it will renew, and Apple and Google notify us when that changes. We use this only to unlock Premium on every device you sign in on, on either platform.

If a purchase moves to a different account (for example, you restore it while signed in with another email address), we move the purchase record to that account. If Apple or Google tells us about a purchase that no longer belongs to any account, we keep the record of the purchase so it can be restored later.

How long we keep it, and deleting your account

• Sign-ups that are never confirmed with a code are deleted after 24 hours.
• While you have an account, we keep your account and synced library.
• If Premium ends and is not renewed, syncing stops and we keep your account and synced library for 12 months in case you come back, then delete them.
• You can delete your account at any time in the app, in Settings. This immediately deletes your email address, account, synced library and the purchase records linked to it from our systems. It does not cancel a subscription with Apple or Google. Cancel that in your App Store or Google Play account so you aren’t charged again.

After deletion, our server logs may still contain your account ID (never your email address) for up to 30 days, and our database backups may still contain your data for up to 35 days, after which both are gone.

This website

xadcast.com sets no cookies and runs no analytics or advertising. Every script, font and image is served from xadcast.com itself, so visiting doesn’t contact any other company. The site is delivered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), whose systems see your IP address to deliver pages and protect against abuse. We do not turn on visitor logging. Search on the blog and release pages runs entirely in your browser.

The download buttons take you to Apple’s App Store or Google Play, which have their own privacy policies.

Email

If you email us, we receive your address and whatever you write. We use it to reply and keep the conversation for as long as it is useful for that, normally no more than two years. Our email is hosted by Microsoft 365.

Who receives information

• Podcast publishers and their delivery services: the requests your app makes to fetch shows, as described above.
• Google (Firebase Crashlytics and Performance Monitoring): crash reports and performance measurements, as our service provider.
• Apple and Google (App Store and Google Play): process Premium purchases, and exchange purchase status with us, as described above.
• Amazon Web Services: hosts the catalogue, accounts, sync and this website, and sends sign-in emails, as our service provider.
• Microsoft: hosts our email, as our service provider.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the safety of our users or the service. If xadcast is transferred to another owner, this policy will continue to apply to information collected under it.

Why we use it

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, our legal basis for your account, sync and Premium is that we need them to provide the service you asked for. For crash reports, performance measurements, the catalogue, and the spam and abuse protection described above, it is our legitimate interest in running a reliable podcast app and a useful catalogue, kept as light as we can make it. For email, it is our legitimate interest in answering you.

The services above are based in the United States, and information is processed there. Where the law requires it, these transfers rely on safeguards such as the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses or the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask what personal information we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to or restrict how we use it, and to receive a copy. Email hello@xadcast.com and we will respond within the time the law allows, normally 30 days. We won’t treat you differently for using these rights.

If you have an account, you can delete it and everything synced with it yourself in the app’s Settings. For anything else about your account, email us from the address you sign in with. We can’t link catalogue codes, crash reports or performance measurements to a particular person, but if you tell us what you need, we’ll do what we reasonably can. If you are in the EEA or UK, you can also complain to your local data protection authority.

Security

The app talks to our servers only over encrypted connections, and account and sync data is encrypted at rest. Sign-in credentials on your device are kept in the system’s secure storage. The website is served only over HTTPS.

Children

xadcast is a general-audience app and is not directed at children. It is not intended for anyone under 13, or under 16 in the EEA or UK, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from them. If you think a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If what the app or this website sends changes, this policy changes with it, and the effective date above moves. For significant changes we will also say so on this site or in the app.

Contact

Brewed Software LLC
hello@xadcast.com