This policy explains what the Flitplay browser extension and the Flitplay Helper native application do with data. It is written to satisfy the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, the GDPR, the UK GDPR, and the CCPA and CPRA.
1. Summary
We do not collect your data. We operate no server that receives it.
Flitplay is architecturally incapable of collecting your usage data: there is no account system, no server-side session, no analytics, and no logging endpoint. Torrent data flows between your own computer and BitTorrent peers directly, never through us. Everything Flitplay knows about you stays on your device.
| Personal information collected | None |
|---|---|
| Analytics, telemetry, tracking, fingerprinting | None |
| Crash or error reports sent to us | None |
| Browsing history, page content, form data | None |
| Accounts, email addresses, payment data | None — there are none |
| Data sold or shared with third parties | None, ever |
| Advertising or ad networks | None |
| Data used to train AI models | No |
We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA and CPRA, and we never have.
2. Data stored on your device
Flitplay stores the following locally only. It is not transmitted to us and we have no means of reading it.
In browser extension storage
| What | Contents | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Session log |
For each torrent you open: its infohash, the magnet URI, the
.torrent URL or the bytes of a .torrent file you
uploaded, paused state, and which files you selected
|
So your sessions survive a browser restart and can be resumed |
| Track memory | Chosen audio-track index per torrent | To reselect your preferred audio track |
| Player tab map | Which tab is playing which torrent | To release the torrent when you close the tab |
| Preferences | In-page controls on or off; whether onboarding has been shown | To honour your settings |
| Release index cache | The last downloaded helper-release list, a public JSON file | To work offline and avoid repeat requests |
A note on the session log. This is the most sensitive item Flitplay stores: a durable record of the torrents you have opened. It stays in your browser's profile on your disk, and anyone with access to your computer or browser profile can read it. Clear it by removing torrents from the list, or by uninstalling the extension.
Session storage additionally holds the loopback base URL and the random per-session token used to talk to the helper. Both are erased when you close the browser.
On disk, written by the helper
| Location | Contents |
|---|---|
| Config directory | Local port, session token, process ID and allowed extension origin; your settings (seeding, prebuffer, ephemeral play); and a local diagnostic log. The log stays on your machine and is never uploaded. |
| Cache directory | A cached FFmpeg binary, if one was downloaded |
| A temporary directory, fresh per session | Torrent payload data. Deleted on clean shutdown; an unclean shutdown may leave it behind |
| Your browser's download folder | Files you explicitly chose to save |
The configuration directory is created with restrictive permissions, and sensitive files are readable only by your user account. Uninstalling the helper removes its native-messaging registration and its configuration directory.
3. Network connections and what they disclose
Flitplay makes only these categories of outbound connection. Please understand each before deciding whether the software is right for you.
To your own computer
The extension talks to the helper over loopback on an ephemeral port, authenticated with a random per-session bearer token compared in constant time, with cross-origin access restricted to the extension's own origin. This traffic never leaves your machine.
To BitTorrent trackers, DHT nodes, and peers
When you open a torrent, your computer joins that swarm using the standard BitTorrent protocol. This is inherent to BitTorrent, not something Flitplay adds, but you should understand it clearly:
- Your public IP address is disclosed to trackers, to DHT nodes, and to every other peer in the swarm.
- Peers can see your IP address, your client software, and which pieces of the content you hold — and can therefore infer what you are downloading.
- Copyright-enforcement firms and researchers routinely operate peers for exactly this purpose and record the addresses they observe.
- Your Internet service provider can also observe this traffic.
- The helper may attempt port mapping on your router.
- Uploading (seeding) is off by default. If you turn it on, you also transmit content to other peers, which is more visible still.
Flitplay is not an anonymity tool and provides no IP protection. We receive none of this information — but many other parties do. If that is unacceptable to you, please do not use the software.
To our distribution origin
The extension fetches a public list of helper releases when it connects and on a periodic check, and the helper downloads its own updates from the same origin. These requests carry no identifiers, no query parameters, no cookies, and no request body.
Being ordinary HTTPS requests, they inevitably reveal to that origin, and to any CDN in front of it, your IP address, user-agent string, and request timestamp. This is unavoidable for any software that checks for updates. We do not use these records to build profiles, do not link them to any identity, and do not combine them with other data.
To third parties, at your direction
-
The
.torrentURL you supply — fetched by the helper, which discloses your IP address to that host. A guard blocks requests to loopback and private network ranges, including across redirects. - GitHub and its mirrors — only if FFmpeg must be downloaded, from a pinned, hash-verified release.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices of trackers, peers, torrent sites, or any third-party host you reach through the software.
4. What Flitplay's browser permissions do — and do not — see
| Permission | Used for | Never does |
|---|---|---|
nativeMessaging |
Talk to the helper on your machine | — |
storage |
Store the local data in section 2 | Send it anywhere |
tabs |
Open the player tab; notice when it closes | Read your tab URLs, titles, or history |
downloads |
Save a file you chose, via the browser's download manager | Read your download history |
contextMenus |
Add Play and Save entries to right-clicks on torrent links | — |
alarms |
Wake the background worker for a health check | — |
scripting |
Register the in-page controls script, once you have granted page access | Run anything on a page before you have granted access |
Access to 127.0.0.1 |
Reach the helper on your own machine | Reach any remote server |
| Access to our release origin | Fetch the public release index | Transmit anything about you |
Access to all sites (<all_urls>) — optional
|
Detect magnet: and .torrent links and draw a
button next to them
|
Read page text, form input, passwords, or cookies; transmit anything |
Access to all sites is an optional permission, and the extension does not have it when you install it. Nothing of ours runs on any page you visit until you turn on in-page controls in Settings and your browser asks you to grant it. Turning the setting back off withdraws the permission again — not merely the buttons — so you can confirm in your browser's extension settings that the access is gone.
The permission covers all sites only because torrent links can appear on any site; it cannot be narrowed to a fixed list. Once granted, the script reads anchor addresses and computed colours, to match the page's theme, and sends nothing to the network. The toolbar popup and the right-click menu work without it, so you never have to grant it at all.
5. Legal bases (GDPR / UK GDPR)
We do not process personal data as a controller in the ordinary course, because no personal data reaches us. To the extent that server logs at our distribution origin constitute processing:
- Legal basis: legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — distributing software securely, verifying integrity, and delivering security updates.
- Retention: such logs are kept no longer than our hosting provider's default retention period and are not used to identify individuals.
- Recipients: our hosting and CDN provider, acting as processor.
- International transfers: where the provider processes data outside the EEA or UK, transfers rely on Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision.
6. Your rights
Under the GDPR and UK GDPR you have rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and objection. Under the CCPA and CPRA you have rights to know, delete, correct, and opt out of sale or sharing — we do neither. Write to [email protected] to exercise them.
In practice you can exercise these rights yourself, immediately, without contacting us — because your data is on your device.
- Remove individual torrents in the extension to clear their session entries.
- Uninstall the extension to erase all extension storage.
- Uninstall the helper to remove its configuration directory.
- Delete the FFmpeg cache directory and any leftover session temporary directory.
We cannot fulfil an access or deletion request about data we never held, and we have no way to identify a user. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any privacy right.
7. Children
The software is not intended for and not directed to children under 16, or the minimum age where you live. We do not knowingly collect data from children — we do not knowingly collect data from anyone.
8. Security
Security measures include:
- loopback-only binding, with a refusal to serve otherwise;
- a random per-session bearer token, compared in constant time;
- cross-origin access restricted to the extension's own origin;
- short-lived, path-scoped grant tokens for transcoding subprocesses;
- restrictive file permissions on the configuration directory;
- SHA-256 pinning with downgrade rejection for helper updates and FFmpeg downloads;
- a guard against requests to private and loopback addresses;
- no remote code execution — all player libraries and fonts are bundled in the extension package.
No system is perfectly secure. Data on your own disk is only as protected as your device.
9. Chrome Web Store disclosures
In accordance with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements, we certify that Flitplay:
- does not collect or transmit user data to the developer or to any third party;
- does not sell user data, and does not transfer it for creditworthiness, lending, advertising, or any purpose unrelated to the extension's single purpose;
- uses data solely to provide its stated function — streaming and downloading torrent video through a local helper; and
- contains no obfuscated code and executes no remotely hosted code. All executable code ships inside the extension package.
10. Changes
We may update this policy. Material changes will be reflected in the date at the top of this page and, where practicable, announced in the extension. Continued use after an update is acceptance.
11. Contact
Flitplay is operated by an individual developer, who is the controller for the purposes of the GDPR. Write to [email protected] for any request under this policy; the operator's identity and postal address are available on request, and to a supervisory authority on demand. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data-protection supervisory authority.
See also the Terms of Service, which govern your use of the software and your responsibility for the content you process.