Privacy Policy
WhiskerWaves: Podcast Player
Effective 2 October 2026
In short: WhiskerWaves has no accounts, no ads, no analytics and no crash reporting, and its developer runs no servers. Nothing you do in WhiskerWaves is sent to the developer.
What stays on your phone
Everything WhiskerWaves knows about you stays on your device: the shows you subscribe to, episodes you've saved, played or downloaded, your queue, playback positions, search history and settings.
If WhiskerWaves crashes, it keeps a short technical report on your phone (Settings → Help → Diagnostics) so you can look at it or send it to the developer yourself. Web addresses in those reports are shortened to their site, so private feed links aren't included. Nothing is sent automatically.
Who WhiskerWaves talks to, and why
WhiskerWaves connects directly from your phone to:
| Who | When | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Apple (itunes.apple.com and its image server, mzstatic.com) | You search, open the Discover tab, open a show found through Apple, or share a show or episode (to find its Apple Podcasts link), and artwork for search and Discover results | Your search words, your country code, and the show or episode being looked up |
| Podcast publishers and their hosting companies | WhiskerWaves refreshes a show you subscribe to or open, plays or downloads an episode, or loads artwork, chapters or transcripts | The request for that file |
Like any internet request, these include your IP address and a user-agent string
(WhiskerWaves/<version> (Android <version>; podcast app)). Those companies handle this under their own
privacy policies; podcast hosts commonly use it to count downloads. WhiskerWaves does not add identifiers, cookies
or tracking parameters.
Backups
- Android backup: if you turn on Android's backup, Android may copy WhiskerWaves's library database and settings (never downloads or crash reports) to your Google account. That is controlled by you and Google, not the developer.
- Export Library Backup, OPML, and Copy Debug Info: files and text you export go only where you save, paste or share them. Library backups and OPML files contain the addresses of the shows you subscribe to; for private (paid) feeds those addresses work like passwords, so share such files carefully.
Permissions
- Notifications: new episodes, download progress and playback controls. Optional.
- Internet and network state: to fetch podcasts, and to respect "Wi-Fi only" download settings.
- Foreground service, wake lock, start at boot: to keep playing and downloading with the screen off, and to resume scheduled refreshes after a restart.
WhiskerWaves does not ask for your location, contacts, microphone, camera, phone or files.
Children
WhiskerWaves is not directed at children and collects no personal information from anyone.
Changes
Changes to this policy will appear in the app's release notes and on this page, with a new effective date.