Privacy policy

SafeTV lets a parent manage YouTube on a child's Android phone, tablet or Android TV / Google TV: block specific channels, block YouTube Shorts, or block YouTube completely. We collect only what is needed to do that.

SafeTV uses Android's Accessibility service, which you turn on yourself. It reads what is shown inside the YouTube app (for example channel names, video titles and screen layout) to recognise the channels and Shorts the parent chose, and then leaves or closes them (going back, closing the player, showing a block screen). This on-screen information is processed on the device only. It is never sent to SafeTV's servers or stored. SafeTV does not read messages, passwords, keyboard input, contacts, photos or location.

To match a blocked channel's handle (for example @channel) to its display name, the app may load that channel's public YouTube page directly from YouTube.

On Android TV and Google TV, SafeTV also reads the title and channel name of the video that YouTube TV is playing from the TV's media session. This needs Notification access, which you grant yourself in the TV's settings. This information is processed on the device only, like the on-screen information above. SafeTV does not read, store or send your notifications.

There is an optional tester log in Settings. It is off by default. If you switch it on, a short log of screen types, channel names and block decisions is kept on the device for up to 24 hours and leaves the device only if you tap Export.

When optional diagnostic mode is enabled, SafeTV may send a boolean status indicating that diagnostic mode is active. Diagnostic log contents are not uploaded automatically.

The app sends SafeTV's servers only:

• a random SafeTV device ID and a device credential (created on first launch),
• the device name you choose, the manufacturer and model, the Android version and the SafeTV version,
• whether protection (the Accessibility service) is on, and when the device was last online,
• changes to the rules and to the app language made on the device itself.

We do not collect the IMEI, phone number, advertising ID, contacts, photos, messages, precise location or YouTube viewing history.

"How SafeTV Works" plays a short help video in your app language. The English video is built into the app. For the other languages the app downloads the video file once from our server (a plain file request) and keeps it on the device. The request does not include your account, your device ID or your rules. As with any download, our hosting provider receives the technical details of the request (such as the IP address) in its standard server logs.

A parent account is optional. SafeTV can be used on a device without one, but an account is needed to share your rules across devices.

• Your email address and a password, stored only as a salted scrypt hash (never in readable form).
• The rules you set for your account: blocked channel handles, Shorts and YouTube settings. They apply to all devices connected to your account.
• Your chosen app language, so that your devices show the same language.
• If you sign in with Google: your Google account email address, your name as shown on your Google account, and Google's unique account ID. We receive no other data from your Google account.
• If you ask to reset your password, we send a one-time reset link to your email address. The link works once and expires after 1 hour. The email is delivered through our email provider, which therefore handles your email address and the link. We store only a one-way hash of the reset token.
• When you created the account and last signed in.

A change history is kept per device (what changed, when, and whether it came from the parent, the device or the SafeTV operator). It contains account and device IDs, not email addresses, and never passwords or codes. For security it also keeps a shortened browser/app identifier and a one-way hash of the IP address, not the IP itself.

SafeTV Premium is an optional monthly subscription with a free trial of 3 days; it renews automatically every month until you cancel. It is bought and paid for only through Google Play. Free features (blocking YouTube, blocking Shorts, up to 3 blocked channels, control on the device itself, language settings) keep working without it.

• Payments are handled by Google Play. We never see or store your card or other payment details, your billing name or your billing address. Google processes them under its own terms and privacy policy.
• Purchase verification. When you start the trial, subscribe or choose "Restore purchases", the app sends the purchase token that Google Play issued to our server. Our server asks Google Play whether the subscription is valid, and checks again from time to time to learn about renewals, cancellations and payment problems. Nothing the app says about a purchase is trusted without that check.
• What we store against your SafeTV account: the purchase token, the plan (monthly), the status (trial, active, payment problem, cancelled, expired), the end or renewal date, whether the free trial has been used, and whether it was a test purchase. The purchase is tied to your account with a one-way identifier that we give Google Play; it is not your email address.
• What it is used for: to give your account access to the Premium features on all of its devices, and to keep the free trial to one per account. Premium status is shown on every device of your account. It is not used for advertising.
• If Premium ends (you cancel and the paid time runs out, or a payment fails), the free features keep working and your rules and blocked channel lists are not deleted.
• Cancel any time in Google Play > Subscriptions. Deleting your SafeTV account does not cancel a Google Play subscription.

• Data is stored with our hosting providers Vercel (application) and Upstash (database).
• Sign-in with Google is provided by Google. Payments for SafeTV Premium are handled by Google Play. Password-reset emails are sent through our email provider (Titan/Bluehost mail over SMTP). These providers process data only to provide those services for us.
• Sign-in sessions last 30 days, pairing codes 10 minutes, password reset links 1 hour.
• Account data is kept until you delete your account. Device records are kept until the device is removed.
• Your Premium record (purchase token, plan, status and dates) is deleted with your account. We keep only a one-way hash of the purchase token, linked to a random ID that no longer points to a person, so the same purchase cannot be moved to another account.
• The change history keeps the newest 1,000 entries per device.

SafeTV is designed for parents (age 16 and over). A parent installs the app on a child's device, but SafeTV does not create accounts for children and does not ask for a child's name, age, email address or other personal details. The app contains no advertising and no analytics or tracking SDKs. The SafeTV server does not send product analytics or usage events to any third party.

• Delete your account at any time in the app under Account → Delete account, or on the account deletion page. Your email, password, name and Google sign-in link are deleted immediately, you are signed out everywhere, and your devices are disconnected (they keep their current rules). Your Premium record is deleted too; to stop a subscription you must cancel it in Google Play. A disconnected device's record (random device ID, model, Android and app version, protection state, rules) and its change history remain until you ask us to delete them: email support@safetv-agent.app with the device ID.
• Remove a device from your account on its page. To stop SafeTV on the device entirely, turn off its Accessibility service or uninstall the app.
• To have a device record or its change history deleted completely, contact us.

You see only your own devices. The SafeTV operator can see account emails, device records, rules and change histories to run and support the service, and never passwords or credentials. We do not sell data or use it for advertising.