Privacy Policy

Couchside · last updated September 2026

What we collect

Nothing. Couchside has no analytics, no crash reporting, no advertising identifiers, and no third-party SDKs. We do not operate a server that your app or service talks to, so no usage data ever reaches us.

How your data flows

Everything happens between two devices you own — your phone and your Linux box — over your home network:

• The connection details you enter (host, port, and access token) are stored locally on your phone, in the device's secure keychain.
• The app sends requests directly to the service on your box (system stats, log lines, actions, and controller input) and receives its replies. This traffic stays on your LAN.
• None of it is routed through, copied to, or logged by any Couchside server — there isn’t one. The optional integrations below are the only case where your box contacts an outside service, and only with a key you add.

Optional integrations you turn on yourself

Couchside is LAN-only by default. The features below are off until you add your own key, and each is the only reason your box contacts the internet:

• Steam. Connect a Steam account (Setup → Steam integration) and your box calls Valve (api.steampowered.com, store.steampowered.com) with the Steam Web API key you enter, to read your own library, playtime, profile, wishlist, and current store prices. Your SteamID and key go to Valve; nothing about your box does.
• IsThereAnyDeal. Add an IsThereAnyDeal key (Setup → Price history) and your box calls api.isthereanydeal.com with that key to look up all-time-low prices. It sends the Steam app IDs of the games you’re viewing and your store region (a country code) — nothing else, and nothing about you.
• Compatibility lookup (Steam Deck / ProtonDB ratings), off by default, sends only a game ID to Valve and ProtonDB when enabled.

These use keys you supply and are processed by those companies under their own privacy policies (Valve, IsThereAnyDeal, ProtonDB). We don’t see or collect any of it. Disconnecting removes the key from your box and stops the calls.

The camera

Couchside can use your phone's camera for exactly one thing: reading the pairing QR code shown on your box's screen, from the scanner inside the app (Setup → Scan a pairing code). The camera is only active while that scanner is open, frames are processed on the phone and never stored, no image or video is recorded, and nothing from the camera leaves your device. The app never touches your photo library. You can also skip the in-app scanner entirely: your phone's built-in Camera app reads the same code and opens Couchside with the details filled in, and camera permission is never required for that (or for anything else).

The service on your box

The open-source Couchside service runs on your own machine and stores its access token there in a root-owned file. It logs request activity to your system journal (with tokens redacted), which never leaves your machine. Its source code is public, so you can audit exactly what it does.

Children

Couchside is a utility for managing your own computer and collects no personal information from anyone, including children.

Changes

If this policy changes, the updated version is posted here with a new date.

Contact

Questions? Email support@couchside.tv or open an issue on GitHub.