Privacy Policy for Castora

App: Castora Package name: com.mobilecastle.castora Publisher: MobileCastle (Mobile Castle) Effective date: 6 October 2026

This Privacy Policy explains what information the Castora app ("Castora", "the app", "we", "us") does and does not handle, and how. Please read it together with the policies of the third parties named below.

By using Castora you agree to the practices described here.

Summary (plain language)

• Castora has no user accounts and no sign-up. We do not ask for your name, email, phone number, or any similar personal detail.
• Your videos, music and photos never leave your device or your local network. When you cast, the app streams them directly from your phone to the TV/streaming device you choose over your own Wi‑Fi. Nothing is uploaded to MobileCastle's servers — MobileCastle does not operate any content server for your media.
• If you use the IPTV feature, the login details or playlist you enter are stored only on your device and are sent only to the IPTV provider you chose, so the app can play your streams. They are never sent to MobileCastle.
• Castora shows ads through Google AdMob, a third party. To serve ads, AdMob may collect device information and an advertising identifier. Buying the one-time Castora Pro upgrade removes ads — and for Pro users the ads software is not started at all.
• Purchases are handled by Google Play Billing. The app never sees your card or bank details.

The rest of this policy gives the detail behind that summary.

Information Castora itself collects

Castora does not collect personal data on its own servers, because MobileCastle does not run a server that receives your data. Specifically:

• No account / identity data. There is no login, so we do not collect a name, email address, password, phone number, or profile.
• No content upload. Local videos, music and photos you cast, and IPTV streams you play or record, are not copied to us.
• No analytics SDK operated by us. Castora does not embed our own analytics or tracking service. (Google AdMob and the Google Play services described below are independent third parties with their own data handling.)

Data that stays on your device

Some information is stored locally on your phone so the app can work and remember your settings. This data is not transmitted to MobileCastle. It includes:

• IPTV sources you add — for an Xtream login: the server URL, username, and password; for a playlist: the M3U URL or the path to a local playlist file. These are saved in the app's local settings storage (Android SharedPreferences) and, for large catalogs, a cache file inside the app's own private storage. They are used only to fetch and play your streams, and are sent only to the IPTV provider you entered.
• Your preferences and library state — for example favourites, the last tab you had open, sort order, and watch progress.
• Downloaded and recorded videos (IPTV downloads and live-channel recordings) — saved on the device in the Movies/Castora folder, where you can also see, play and delete them with other apps.
• A local diagnostic log — Castora can write a technical casting log to a file in the app's own storage to help troubleshoot casting problems on real hardware. This log stays on your device unless you deliberately share it, and the app is designed to keep sensitive values (such as IPTV credentials) out of it.

The settings, sources, caches and log live in the app's private storage: they are removed when you uninstall Castora, or when you use the app's in-app actions to remove a source or clear a cache. Downloads and recordings in Movies/Castora are your files: they stay until you delete them (in the app, or with any file manager), including after an uninstall. See Data retention and deletion below.

Advertising (Google AdMob)

Castora is free and supported by ads served through Google AdMob, a Google service. Ads appear only while you are on the free tier; the Castora Pro one-time purchase removes ads.

To select and show ads, Google AdMob (and the Google Mobile Ads SDK included in the app) may collect and process information such as:

• a device advertising identifier (Android Advertising ID),
• device and network information (for example device type, operating-system version, general/coarse location inferred from your IP address, and similar technical data),
• ad-interaction and app-usage data related to the ads shown,
• crash and diagnostic information about the ads software itself.

Google uses this information to serve and measure ads and to help prevent fraud and abuse, in accordance with Google's own policies. Where required by law (for example, for users in the European Economic Area), Castora uses Google's User Messaging Platform to show a consent form before serving personalised ads. If you own Castora Pro, neither the consent form nor the Google Mobile Ads SDK is started. On the free tier you may also choose to watch a short rewarded ad for two ad-free hours; this is optional.

• Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
• How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites
• AdMob / Google Ads policies: https://support.google.com/admob/answer/6128543

You can limit ad personalisation and reset your advertising ID in your device settings (Settings → Google → Ads on most Android phones).

Purchases (Google Play Billing)

The one-time Castora Pro upgrade (which unlocks premium features and removes ads) is sold and processed through Google Play Billing. When you buy Castora Pro:

• Google handles the payment. Castora never receives or stores your payment card or bank details.
• The app only learns whether you own the Castora Pro entitlement, so it can unlock the features and stop showing ads.

Your purchase is governed by Google Play's terms and privacy policy:

• Google Play Terms of Service: https://play.google.com/about/play-terms/
• Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Casting and local streaming (Google Cast, DLNA, Roku)

Castora casts your local videos, music, photos and IPTV streams to a TV or streaming device on your own local network. To do this the app:

• discovers compatible devices on your Wi‑Fi (Google Cast / Chromecast and Android TV, DLNA renderers, and Roku devices),
• runs a small local media server on your phone and sends the chosen device a local-network URL (using your phone's Wi‑Fi IP address) so it can fetch the file directly from your phone.

Music and photos are chosen with Android's own system picker, so Castora needs no permission to read your music or photo library; it only receives the files you pick. The content is streamed device-to-device over your LAN. It is not routed through, or stored on, any MobileCastle server. Castora uses Google's built-in Cast receiver and does not run a custom cloud receiver for your content.

The Google Cast SDK is a Google component; its use of information is covered by Google's privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

App permissions and why they are needed

Castora requests the following Android permissions. Each is used only for the feature described:

• Internet (INTERNET) — to run the local media server, discover cast devices, fetch and stream your IPTV content from your provider, and load ads.
• Network state (ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE) — to check whether you are connected and adapt behaviour (for example when a connection drops).
• Wi‑Fi state (ACCESS_WIFI_STATE) — to determine your phone's Wi‑Fi IP address so the cast device can reach the local media server.
• Keep awake (WAKE_LOCK) — to keep the phone from sleeping while it is actively casting, so playback isn't interrupted.
• Foreground service (FOREGROUND_SERVICE, FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK) — to keep the media server and cast session alive while the app is in the background during playback.
• Foreground service — data sync (FOREGROUND_SERVICE_DATA_SYNC) — to let a long IPTV download, or a live-channel recording you started, continue if you leave the app.
• Notifications (POST_NOTIFICATIONS) — on Android 13+, to show the ongoing notification required while a casting session or download runs in the background.
• Read video (READ_MEDIA_VIDEO on Android 13+, READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE on Android 12 and below) — to let you pick local video files from your device to cast. Castora reads the videos you choose; it does not upload them.
• Write storage (WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, Android 9 and below only) — to save your downloads and recordings into Movies/Castora on those older Android versions.

Third-party services

Castora relies on the following third parties. Their handling of information is governed by their own privacy policies:

Your IPTV provider is also a third party: when you add an IPTV source, the credentials or playlist URL you enter are sent to that provider (the service you chose) so it can deliver your streams. MobileCastle has no control over, and takes no responsibility for, how your IPTV provider handles your data — please review your provider's own privacy policy.

Children

Castora is a general-audience media utility and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. The app is intended for general audiences and, in line with the store listing, is not aimed at or designed to appeal to children.

Because the app shows ads, it follows Google Play's Families and ads policies for a general-audience app. If you believe a child has used the app in a way that raises a concern, please contact us using the details below.

Data retention and deletion

• Data stored locally by Castora (IPTV sources, preferences, cached catalogs, downloads, and the diagnostic log) stays on your device and is retained until you remove it.
• You can delete this data at any time by:
  • uninstalling the app, which removes its local storage (downloads and recordings in Movies/Castora stay until you delete them), or
  • using the app's in-app actions to remove an IPTV source, clear cached content, or delete a download or recording.
• MobileCastle does not hold a copy of this data, so there is no separate server-side deletion request to make to us.
• For data processed by the third parties above (for example Google's advertising data), please use the controls those parties provide — see their policies linked above, and your device's Ads settings.

Security

• Because Castora keeps your data on your own device and does not run a MobileCastle content server, your videos and IPTV details are not exposed on our infrastructure.
• Casting happens over your local network; keep your Wi‑Fi network secured.
• Please note that IPTV streams are often delivered over plain (non-encrypted) http connections, because many IPTV providers do not offer working secure endpoints. This is a limitation of IPTV providers, not of Castora, and applies to traffic between your device and the provider you chose.
• No method of electronic storage or transmission is 100% secure; while we aim to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time — for example if the app adds a feature that changes how information is handled. When we do, we will update the Effective date above and post the revised policy at the URL where this policy is hosted. Significant changes may also be noted in the app or its store listing.

Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or Castora's data practices, you can contact us at:

Email: mobilecastle.android@gmail.com

Publisher: MobileCastle (Mobile Castle)