CouchPortalPrivacy Policy
CouchPortal is made by Simple Tree LLC. This page says what the app does with information, in plain English, because we would rather be understood than covered. The short version: the app itself collects nothing about you. The one third party inside it, Google's ad SDK, collects what ad SDKs collect, and we say exactly what that is below.
What we collect
Nothing. CouchPortal has no account and no sign-in. It has no analytics and no crash reporting. It has no server of its own that the app talks to while you use it. We cannot see which servers you join, when you play, or who you play with, because none of that ever reaches us.
The only three things that ever leave your phone are an ad request, described under Ads; a problem report, which is sent only if you choose to send one and is described under Problem reports; and a small version check, described under Version check.
Local network
On iPhone and iPad, the first time you connect, iOS asks whether CouchPortal may use your local network. On Android there is no separate prompt for this today; if a future Android version requires one, the app will ask for it (Android groups it under "Nearby devices") and use it only for what is described here. Either way, the app needs this to do its job: your console sends out a "who's hosting a game?" request on your home Wi‑Fi, and the app answers it so the server you picked shows up on the console. That is the whole use. The app listens only while you are connecting, and only on the Wi‑Fi network your phone is on. It does not scan for other devices and it does not use the local network at any other time.
Server addresses you add are stored on your device only. They are not sent to us or to anyone else, and they leave your phone only if you include them in a problem report.
Version check
When the app opens, it downloads one small public file from couchportal.com that holds the current Minecraft version number. Minecraft updates every few weeks, and this file is how the app keeps up without waiting for an app store update. The request carries nothing about you or your phone; it is a plain download, at most once an hour. Like any visit to this website it shows our server an IP address, which is kept only in ordinary server logs.
Ads
The free version of CouchPortal shows one short video ad break before each connection, which Google may fill with one video or two back to back, and a small banner on the main screen. Ads come from Google AdMob. Google's SDK runs inside the app, and to show and measure ads it collects information from your device, which may include device identifiers, your IP address, how you interact with the ad, and diagnostic information about the app and device. This collection is done by Google, under Google's privacy policy, and Google explains how its advertising works at policies.google.com/technologies/ads. We do not receive this information; we see only aggregate figures such as how many ads were shown.
Ads in CouchPortal are filtered to Google's "General audiences" content rating, the most restrictive setting.
On iPhone and iPad, at present: CouchPortal does not show Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt, so ads are not personalised using your device's advertising identifier. If a future version changes this, we will update this paragraph and the date at the top of this page before that version ships.
On Android: Google's ad SDK uses your device's advertising ID, and ads may be personalised based on it and on other information Google holds, under Google's policies. You can reset or delete your advertising ID at any time in your phone's settings (usually Settings › Privacy › Ads, or Settings › Google › Ads). Once it is deleted, apps, including CouchPortal, can no longer use it, and ads are shown without it. The "Europe, the UK and Switzerland" section below applies on Android too.
If you buy Remove ads, the ad SDK is not asked for ads and this section no longer applies to you.
Users in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland
If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the app shows you Google's consent form before any ad loads. You can decline. If you decline, ads are shown without personalisation, and nothing else in the app changes: declining costs you nothing and unlocks nothing. You can change your choice later with the Privacy options button on the app's main screen, under Remove ads.
Purchases
On iPhone and iPad, the Remove ads purchase is handled entirely by Apple through the App Store. We never see your payment details, your Apple ID, or your name. Restoring the purchase on a new device, or for another member of your Apple Family, uses Apple's own record of the purchase.
On Android, the purchase is handled entirely by Google Play. We never see your payment details, your Google account, or your name. Restoring it on another Android device uses Google Play's record of the purchase for the Google account you bought it with.
The two stores keep separate records, so a purchase on one does not carry over to the other. There is no account with us to restore into, because there is no account with us.
Problem reports
If something goes wrong, the app has a "Report a problem" button. Tapping it shows you the report before anything is sent, and nothing is sent unless you then tap Send. The report contains exactly this:
- the message you typed, if you typed one
- the server address you were trying to connect to
- whether that server answered when the app checked it, and if so the version and player count it reported and how long it took to reply
- the app's own log of what it did during that connection attempt
- the app version and build number, the iOS or Android version, the device model (on iPhone and iPad only "iPhone" or "iPad"; on Android the maker and model, for example "Google Pixel 9", because some phone makers' power-saving settings are a known cause of connection problems), and your language and region setting
It does not contain your name, your email address, your advertising identifier, your location, the contents of your game, or anything else that identifies you. Because it has no reply address, we cannot write back; if you want an answer, use the support form instead, which asks for an email address for that reason.
Reports are sent to a server we run at couchportal.com, which records the sending IP address only for rate limiting. We use reports solely to find and fix problems in the app. We keep them for up to 90 days and then delete them.
This website
couchportal.com sets no cookies and runs no analytics. If you arrived from a link on one of our other websites, the App Store and Google Play buttons (and the QR code) pass along the name of that website, so Apple and Google can tell us in total how many people each one sent; they report counts, not people. Like any web server it keeps ordinary access logs, which include IP addresses, for a short time for security and troubleshooting. The support form on this site sends us what you type, including the email address you give so that we can reply; we keep support messages only for as long as it takes to resolve them.
Children
CouchPortal is a networking utility. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. The app has no chat, no user-generated content, no social features and no way to contact other people. If you believe a child has sent us personal information through the support form, let us know and we will delete it.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask what personal information we hold about you and to have it corrected or deleted. Given how little we hold, the honest answer to almost any such request is that there is nothing to return. The one exception is a problem report, which we can find and delete on request if you can tell us roughly when it was sent and which server it was about. For information collected by Google's ad SDK, the request goes to Google, using the controls in its privacy policy, in iOS Settings under Privacy & Security, and in Android's Settings under Privacy › Ads.
Contact
Use the form on the support page. A real person reads it.
Changes
When this policy changes, we update the date at the top and add a line here.
- 27 September 2026 — Covers the Android app: the local network, the advertising ID and personalised ads on Android, purchases through Google Play, and what an Android problem report contains. Nothing changed for the iPhone and iPad app.
- 4 September 2026 — First version, written for CouchPortal 1.0.