The short version. Radio Dad is built privacy-first. You don't need an account to listen. Live Captions and translation run entirely on your device. Radio streams play directly from the broadcaster to your phone — we never route, record, or sit in the middle. There are no ads, no third-party analytics, and no trackers. We never sell your data.
On this page
1. Who we are
Radio Dad ("Radio Dad", "we", "us") is an independent iOS application that lets you discover and listen to live radio stations from around the world. This policy explains what data the app handles and why. It applies to the Radio Dad app and the website at radiodad.app.
Radio Dad is the data controller for the limited personal data described here. You can reach us anytime at [email protected] (see section 11).
2. What we collect
We designed Radio Dad to need as little personal data as possible. We do not run our own servers that store data about you.
- No account is required. You can use Radio Dad without signing up. We don't ask for your name, email, or phone number, and there is no login.
- On-device content you create — your favorite stations, recently played history, and Passport stamps — is stored locally on your device (using Apple's on-device database). It isn't uploaded to us or synced to any cloud by the app.
- No analytics, no tracking. The app contains no third-party analytics, crash-reporting, or advertising SDKs. We don't build usage profiles or assign you a tracking identifier.
- Approximate location — only if you grant permission, and only to suggest stations near you. It's used on your device for that purpose and not stored as a profile of you.
- Purchase status — whether you have an active subscription is handled through Apple's App Store. We never see your card details; Apple processes all payments.
3. What stays on your device
Some of Radio Dad's most powerful features run entirely on your iPhone and send nothing about your listening to any server:
- Live Captions & translation. Transcription and translation of radio audio happen on-device using Apple's on-device speech and Translation technology. The audio you listen to and the captions generated from it never leave your phone. The first time you enable captions, the app downloads a language model to your device.
- Song recognition. Identifying a song uses Apple's ShazamKit. The acoustic signature is computed on your device and matched against Apple's Shazam catalog; a recording of your listening is never uploaded.
4. Radio streams
When you press play, your device connects directly to the radio station's own server. Audio does not pass through Radio Dad's infrastructure. As a result:
- We do not record, re-stream, transcode, or insert advertising into any station's audio.
- The broadcaster's own server may receive your device's IP address and standard connection information, as it would with any audio player — this is between you and that broadcaster, governed by their policies.
5. Network connections the app makes
Radio Dad has no backend of its own. To work, it talks to a small set of third parties — each only as needed to deliver a feature, and bound by their own privacy terms:
- radio-browser.info — the open, community station directory (names, logos, genres, stream URLs, and coordinates), released under CC0. The app fetches the directory and, like the wider radio-browser community, may send an anonymous "tuned in" signal so popular stations rank higher. No account or personal identifier is attached.
- Broadcasters & their hosts — station streams and logos load directly from the broadcasters' own servers, which see your IP address as above.
- Apple — App Store payments, ShazamKit song matching (acoustic signature only), on-device speech & translation models, and opening a matched song in Apple Music.
- LRCLIB (lrclib.net) — a free, no-account lyrics database. When you view lyrics, the song's title and artist are sent to look them up. No identifier about you is attached.
- Spotify — only if you tap "open in Spotify," which hands off to Spotify with a track search. We don't share anything with Spotify otherwise.
This website. The page you're reading is static and serves its own fonts — no third-party scripts, analytics, or trackers. The one exception is the globe player in the hero: if you tap play, your browser streams live audio directly from a broadcaster (or a short Apple Music preview as a fallback). Nothing is fetched until you tap, and no identifier about you is attached.
6. What we never do
- We never show ads, and there are no advertising SDKs in the app.
- We never use third-party analytics or crash-tracking SDKs, and we don't profile you.
- We never sell or rent your personal data.
- We never record, relay, or modify a station's audio.
7. Data retention
Content you create (favorites, history, Passport) lives on your device until you delete it or uninstall the app. Because we don't operate analytics or accounts, we don't hold a server-side profile of you to retain. Deleting the app removes its on-device data from your phone.
8. Your rights (GDPR & KVKK)
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or restrict processing of your personal data, to object to processing, and to data portability. Because Radio Dad holds almost no personal data tied to your identity, most of your data is already under your direct control on your device.
For residents of the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, our legal basis for the limited processing above is your consent (for optional location) and our legitimate interest in providing the app. For residents of Türkiye, we process personal data in accordance with the Law on the Protection of Personal Data (KVKK) No. 6698. To exercise any right, email us at [email protected] and we'll respond as required by law.
9. Children
Radio Dad is not directed to children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your country) and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. Radio content is provided by third-party broadcasters and is not curated for children. If you believe a child has provided us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the app evolves. When we make material changes, we'll update the "Effective" date above and, where appropriate, notify you in the app. Continued use after an update means you accept the revised policy.
11. Contact
Questions about privacy, or want to exercise a data right? Email us at [email protected].