Privacy Policy

1. Information stored on your phone

To remember your TVs, TV Captain stores on your phone: TV names you give or the TV reports, model and platform, local IP address and port, the MAC address when your TV reports it or you enter it for Wake-on-LAN, the room you assign, the controls the TV supports, your favorite buttons and apps, your remote design and other settings, and your 30 most recent successful casts.

When you pair a TV, the app keeps the key that TV requires to reconnect: a client certificate for Android TV and Google TV, a token for Samsung TVs, or a client key for LG TVs. These pairing keys are protected by the Android Keystore. Text you send with the keyboard (the last six entries) is kept only in memory while the app is open and is never written to storage.

The app turns Android app-data backup off, so this information is not copied to your Google account backup and is removed when you uninstall the app. We do not receive any of it.

2. Finding and controlling TVs on your network

TV Captain searches your local Wi-Fi network for TVs and Cast devices using standard discovery methods (mDNS, SSDP and DIAL) and connects only to the TV you choose or the IP address you enter. Android asks for nearby devices or local network permission for this; the app does not use it to determine your location. Addresses outside your local network are rejected.

Remote control commands, the text you type, app launch requests and Wake-on-LAN packets go directly from your phone to your TV on your local network; they are not sent to us. Some TVs ask you to allow the connection on screen. Your TV and its software process these commands under the TV manufacturer’s own terms and privacy policy.

When you turn on Advanced controls in Settings, you can type a raw command for your TV. The app checks it on your phone and sends it only to the TV you are connected to, never to us or anyone else.

Launcher shortcuts (long-press the TV Captain icon, for example Play / Pause or Mute) open the app, reconnect to the last TV you used and send that command to it over your local network. Shortcuts do not send any information to us or to third parties.

On phones with a built-in infrared (IR) blaster, TV Captain can send infrared signals to your TV. Infrared involves no network connection and no data is returned.

3. Microphone and Remote AI

Remote AI and voice typing ask for microphone permission the first time you use them. The microphone is used only while the app is listening after you tap the microphone button, never in the background.

Speech is turned into text by the speech recognition service on your phone (for example, Google’s speech services). That service, not TV Captain, captures the audio, and it may send the audio to its provider for online processing under that provider’s privacy policy. TV Captain receives only the recognized text.

Despite its name, Remote AI does not use an AI service or model. It interprets your spoken or typed request on your phone with built-in rules and sends the resulting commands or text to your TV. The conversation, which lets you say “again” to repeat a request, is kept only in memory and is cleared when you close Remote AI. TV Captain does not record or store audio and does not send your voice, requests or transcripts to us.

4. Media Beam and casting

Media Beam shows photos, videos and music from your phone on a TV. You choose where they play: a Google Cast device, or the built-in media player of a Samsung TV you have connected in TV Captain.

Google Cast uses the Google Cast SDK, provided through Google Play services, to find Cast devices on your network and control playback. Google states that the Cast SDK sends information about its use to Google: discovery and session events, phone information and app information. Google says this information is collected anonymously, without identifiers that can be traced to you, is encrypted in transit, is used in aggregate to monitor performance and fix defects, and cannot be turned off by the app or by you. See Google’s Cast SDK data disclosure and the Google Privacy Policy.

When you show a photo, video or audio file from your phone, TV Captain reads only the files you select in Android’s photo picker or file picker. It makes a temporary copy in the app’s private storage; photos are converted into a JPEG copy no larger than 1920 pixels on the longest side, so the TV can show them quickly. The copy is shared on your Wi-Fi network through a random address that works only during that sharing session, so your Cast device or TV can play it, and is deleted when sharing stops. While sharing, Android shows a notification with a Stop sharing action. When you play a web address, your Cast device or TV loads it directly from that address.

For a Samsung TV, the app sends that address and the item’s title directly to the TV’s built-in media player over your local network using the standard UPnP media renderer protocol, then checks playback status with the TV while it plays. This stays on your local network: nothing passes through us or any other service, and your Samsung TV handles the media under Samsung’s own terms and privacy policy.

The app asks for notification permission when you start sharing so it can show playback controls. Media Beam continues if you decline.

5. No advertising, analytics or crash reporting

This version of TV Captain contains no advertising and no analytics or crash-reporting services, and it does not use the advertising ID. We do not receive information about how you use the app. If a future version adds advertising or analytics, we will update this policy before that version is released.

6. Backups and diagnostics you choose to share

Export backup in Settings saves a file to the place you choose. It contains your settings and saved TVs, including their names, rooms, local IP and MAC addresses and supported controls. It does not contain pairing keys, keyboard text or cast history. The file is not encrypted, so keep it somewhere private. We never receive it.

Share diagnostics / feedback in Settings opens Android’s share sheet with a short text: the app version, Android version, phone manufacturer and model, whether network permission is granted and the TV platforms you have saved. Nothing is sent until you choose an app and send it yourself.

7. Support and this website

If you email us, we receive your email address, your message and any attachments you choose to send, and use them to answer and fix the issue. Please do not send passwords or unrelated personal information. These pages are hosted through Cloudflare, which processes request information such as IP address and browser details to deliver and protect the website. The TV Captain pages do not include advertising or analytics scripts. See Cloudflare’s Privacy Policy.

8. Sharing, storage and retention

We do not sell personal information and do not share it with third parties, except as described above: Google processes Cast SDK information and your speech recognition provider processes voice input under their own policies. Information may be disclosed when needed to comply with law, protect rights or prevent abuse, and may be processed outside your country.

Information on your phone stays until you delete it or the app. Support emails are kept as long as needed to resolve the request and meet legal obligations. Deleting the app does not delete information Google or your speech recognition provider already holds. We use reasonable safeguards but cannot promise absolute security.

9. Your choices

• Open TV details in Devices and choose Forget device to remove it and its pairing key from your phone, or Reset access to remove only its pairing key.
• Clear your cast history in the Cast tab’s History section.
• Deny or revoke nearby devices, microphone and notification permissions in Android settings. Features that need them stop working; the rest of the app keeps working.
• Clear the app’s storage in Android settings, or uninstall the app, to remove all information it stored.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct or delete personal information, or to object to certain processing. Because we do not hold app data on a server, these requests mainly apply to emails you sent us; write to bananateamandroid@gmail.com. You can also contact your local data protection authority.

10. Children

TV Captain is a general-audience app and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us so we can delete it.

11. Updates and contact

We may update this policy as the app or its services change; the current version and its effective date are on this page. For privacy or support questions, contact Banana Team at bananateamandroid@gmail.com.

TV Captain is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Google, Samsung, LG or any other TV manufacturer. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.