The fine print · Privacy

Privacy policy

Effective October 11, 2026

What Reel is

Reel is a Roku app for people who run their own personal media server. It is a client - a remote control and a screen for a library that lives on your hardware, under your rules. Reel does not host your personal media or keep a copy of your media files. The technical reports described below can contain numeric library item keys and watch timings.

Where your requests go

• Your media server. Requests to browse, search and play your library go to the server you connected during setup. Interface artwork and pause enrichment use the services described below. What your server records is governed by the server software you chose and run, not by us.
• The sign-in service. Reel signs you in through the account service your media-server platform provides. During sign-in, Reel sends the standard client-identification headers that service requires - the app's name and version, and a per-device identifier - so it can issue a sign-in token. That token is stored on your Roku device and presented back to your own server to prove you are you. If the server owner publishes hosted configuration, the selected profile token is also sent over HTTPS to our configuration service solely to verify ownership with Plex. It is never stored or logged by that service.
• Our asset server. Roku requires channel packages to stay very small, so when Reel runs it loads its own interface assets - artwork, fonts, and other non-code files - from infrastructure we operate. Those requests fetch Reel's own files, never your media, and they carry no account identity. Like nearly every web server, ours keeps standard connection logs (IP address, file requested, time) to keep the service healthy - the same posture as this website, described below.
• The Roku platform. Roku, Inc. operates the device, the Channel Store, and payments, and collects its own platform data under Roku's privacy policy. Reel also uses Roku platform features, including required launch and playback performance beacons.
• No advertising or analytics services. There is no analytics vendor, ad network, or separate Reel account to create. Configuration and diagnostics are described below.

Shared configuration and Watch Later

Reel normally stores shared settings in the REEL photo library on the owner's Plex server. Clients also check our configuration endpoint using a one-way hash of the server's identifier, so they can discover an optional hosted copy. These requests reveal the connection's IP address to our infrastructure; the configuration endpoint does not retain request access logs.

When an owner chooses “Publish to itsreel.tv,” we store the shared settings, background selections, a hashed server identifier and revision numbers. Those settings are publicly readable by their identifier. We privately retain the publishing owner's Plex account identifier and any existing salted owner-PIN verifier, plus up to 16 configuration revisions per server. These private fields are never part of the public response. The profile's Plex token is used only for live ownership verification and is not retained. Current records remain available until replaced or retired; switching back to Plex leaves a source marker so clients know where to read.

Watch Later lives in a personal playlist on your Plex server, including the saved entries and the watch-count baseline used for automatic removal. Reel does not send that list or your watching activity to our configuration service. Plex server administrators may be able to read server playlists.

Pause enrichment

To display facts and artwork while paused, Reel requests enrichment content from enrich.itsreel.tv. Requests can include public movie or series identifiers, such as TMDB or IMDb identifiers; our infrastructure also sees the connection's IP address. These content requests are separate from optional diagnostic reports and continue when diagnostics are off. They do not carry your Plex sign-in token or your media files.

Optional diagnostics: two kinds of report

Reel uses technical reports to investigate problems and improve reliability. They are not sold or used for advertising. Diagnostic reports go to Reel's developer through itsreel.tv over encrypted HTTPS.

• Ordinary problem reports. A qualifying problem, such as a playback failure or stalled operation, prepares a report. Before sending the first one, Reel shows its contents and asks your permission. YES allows that report and future ordinary reports; NO stops ordinary sending and clears pending ordinary reports. Either answer is remembered. Settings also lets you request a report manually.
• Enrichment reports. When Diagnostics is enabled in beta, Reel sends these automatically and quietly when each title watch ends, without a separate notice. One report combines all pauses within that watch; a watch with no pauses also has a report. Consecutive episodes and replays have separate reports. An interrupted watch can be recovered at the next launch with an explicit indication that its final events may be missing.

When Reel asks and remembers

On a beta installation's first available Home screen, a short YES / NO prompt asks whether to enable Diagnostics, including automatic enrichment reporting. No optional diagnostic recording or reporting begins before YES. A launch directly into playback defers that prompt until Home. Existing beta installations that only saw the old informational notice receive this explicit choice once. Their separate ordinary-report choice is preserved within the same build class.

Both choices are stored locally for this Reel installation, shared by its profiles, and survive relaunch, sign-out and ordinary app updates. Read these disclosures or change the controls in Settings > Policies. Declining ordinary reports does not disable beta's enrichment reports: use Diagnostics: Off to stop both.

What is collected

Reports may contain device model and Roku OS, Reel version, technical events, errors, timings and playback conditions such as codecs, resolution and bitrate. Numeric library item keys can identify items within a server. Enrichment reports contain watch and pause timings, requests, retries, decoding and display outcomes. They exclude media files, title and cast names, media filenames, server addresses, account identifiers and credentials. An installation code connects repeat reports; watch identifiers connect events within a watch. These reports are pseudonymous, not anonymous.

Pending reports, withdrawal and retention

Failed deliveries remain on the Roku for retry. Ordinary reports are limited to five retained reports for seven days. Enrichment watches use their own queue and remain until received or cleared; Roku can evict the cache. Turning Diagnostics off stops recording and both reporting paths, clears local records and pending reports, and cancels local uploads. Turning it back on starts fresh recording. Turning only ordinary sending off cancels ordinary uploads and clears their pending reports, while local recording and beta enrichment reporting continue.

A request already received by the server cannot be recalled by a local setting. Received reports are deleted within 30 days. Our infrastructure also sees the connection's IP address and keeps standard connection logs containing request time, route and status. For privacy questions, contact roku@itsreel.tv; a report receipt can help us locate a report without asking for your Plex credentials.

Development and certification builds

Development and beta builds differ only in registration and use the same reporting choices described above. Certification builds start with local Diagnostics off and preserve separate recording and upload permissions. Their ordinary-report permission also gates enrichment sending. Certification builds never inherit beta or developer permission. Disabling diagnostics does not disable playback, pause enrichment content requests or other services needed to run Reel.

What stays on your device

Reel stores a small amount of data in your Roku device's local registry: your settings, your sign-in token, and the display name of the signed-in profile (so the menu can greet the right person). None of your personal preferences is sent to our configuration service. The selected owner credential is used only as described above. Signing out deletes the sign-in data immediately. Local storage is managed by Roku. Registry data can be shared by apps signed with the same developer key, so removing Reel alone may not reset it.

Purchases

If you buy Reel, the transaction is handled entirely by Roku Pay, inside your Roku account. We never receive your payment details, billing address, or identity - Roku reports sales to developers only in aggregate.

This website

itsreel.tv sets no cookies, runs no analytics, and makes no third-party requests - the page you are reading is self-hosted down to its fonts. Like nearly every web server, ours keeps standard access logs (IP address, page requested, time) for security and uptime; they are routinely discarded and never shared or sold.

Children

Reel is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has submitted personal information, contact roku@itsreel.tv. What a household's library contains - and who in the house may watch it - is a matter between the server's owner and their server software.

Changes to this policy

If Reel's data practices ever change, this page changes first, and the date at the top will tell you when. Given the app's design, the honest expectation is that this page stays boring.

Contact

Questions about privacy - or anything else - go to roku@itsreel.tv. A real person reads every message.