Privacy policy
This policy explains what information IRL Studio LLC ("we", "us") collects when you use IRL Studio, the IRL Studio phone apps, Connect, the coverage apps, the HDMI monitor app, the coverage map and this website, and what we do with it.
The short version
We keep what we need to run your account and your streams. Your video goes to the platforms you choose. Sharing your location or coverage readings is your choice: you can switch each one off, and on an IRL Studio account they are off until you turn them on. The separate coverage apps exist to map coverage, so they share anonymous readings from the start unless you switch that off. We don't sell your information and we don't show adverts.
IRL Studio is in private testing. As the service grows we will update this policy and change the date above.
What we collect
Your account
- Your email address, a username and a password, if you sign up with email.
- If you sign in with Twitch: your Twitch account name and ID, and your email address if Twitch gives it to us.
- Any access code or invitation you used, and the plan your account is on.
Platforms you connect
To send your show to Twitch, Kick or YouTube, we store the connection details those platforms give us for your channel, or the stream key you enter. These are stored encrypted and are used only to send your stream where you asked.
Your video and audio
The video and audio you send us pass through our servers so they can be mixed into your show and sent on to the platforms you chose. People you invite to help run your show can see and hear your feeds while they do.
If you share your phone's screen from the phone app, whatever is on the screen becomes part of your video, and so does the phone's own sound where the app offers that and you leave it switched on. You start and stop screen sharing yourself, and your phone shows that it is being shared.
Things you make and upload
Your scenes, settings, and the pictures and other files you add to your show are stored for your account so they are there next time.
Captions and voice commands
If you turn on captions or voice commands for a show, the sound you choose (your show's sound, or a camera's or microphone's own sound) is turned into text by speech recognition that runs on our own servers. It is not sent to an outside speech service. Captions go out inside your stream to the platforms you chose, and the last few lines are kept for a short time so you can see them in the studio. With voice commands on, a sentence counts only when it starts with your wake word. We keep only the last few commands it heard, so you can see what it did. We don't keep recordings of the sound. Both are off until you turn them on.
Chat and alerts from your channel
When you connect a channel, we read its chat and its alerts (follows, subscriptions, gifts, cheers, raids) so you can see them in the studio and the apps and show them on your stream. That includes the viewer names and messages the platform shows publicly. Alerts are kept in memory for a short time and are not stored long term.
The HDMI monitor app
The monitor app shows the picture and sound from a capture card or camera on your iPad. That picture and sound stay on the iPad; the app does not record them or send them to us. If you link it to your account, it only reads your channel's alerts to show them on screen.
Your devices
When you link a phone, a computer or one of our hardware boxes to your account, we keep its name, the app version, and whether it is connected, so you can see and control it from the studio. A linked phone also tells us its battery level and, for coverage mapping, whether it is mapping or why not (waiting for GPS, paused, location off), whether background mapping and battery saver are on, and how many readings are waiting to be sent.
Messages to us
If you contact support, we keep your messages and our replies.
Technical records
Like most online services, our servers record basic technical details when you use them, such as your internet address, the kind of browser or app, and the time. We use these to keep the service working and secure.
Location
Location is optional. The phone apps ask for permission before using it, and you can turn it off in your phone's settings at any time. If you have turned location on, the phone app keeps using it in the background or with the screen off while you are streaming or mapping coverage, and stops when you stop. With Find my phone on, the app also notes the phone's position every few minutes while the app is running, and on an iPhone after larger moves even when the app is closed if you allowed "Always" location. That is for you only. Find my phone starts switched on once it is available for your account; you can switch it off in the app.
While you are live, the phone app also uses your position in two ways that are not location sharing: on the phone itself, to hide the picture inside the privacy places you set; and to ask our servers for the coverage map of the area ahead of you, which is not kept as your location.
- Team location. If it is on, the people on your account can see where your phone is while you work together. It is not public. On the IRL Studio phone app you turn it on yourself. A coverage app that you link to an account starts with it on (linking is the choice); you can switch it off on the app's Link page, and it stays off inside the places you marked private unless you allow it there.
- Map on your stream. If you choose to show a map to your viewers, the position shown is delayed and rounded, never your exact live position.
- Find my devices. If it is on, only your own account can see where your devices last were. A coverage app that you link to an account starts with it on; you can switch it off on the app's Link page.
- Privacy zones. You can mark places, such as your home, where your location and readings are kept private or not collected at all.
Coverage readings
Our apps can measure how fast the mobile network is where you are, to build our public coverage map.
- It is your choice. For an IRL Studio account, sharing readings on the public map is off unless you tick it when you sign up, and you can change it later. The separate coverage apps exist only to map coverage and work without any account: they share anonymous readings on the public map from the start, and you can switch that off in the app under Settings, Privacy.
- What a reading is. A speed, and a square about 220 m (720 ft) across, with the time cut to the hour. Never an exact position. With it: the network (a mobile network, or Starlink with the Starlink plan you chose) and whether it was 5G or 4G; on Android phones also the signal strength, radio band and the numbers of the cell tower in use and its neighbours (iPhones do not give apps these); the kind of plan and brand you chose in the app, the app version, and whether battery saver was on.
- What is not kept with a reading. No name, phone number, device or SIM number, Wi-Fi name or internet address. Readings are filed under a scrambled key that belongs to your install of the app (or your account). That key is how Delete all my readings finds them; it is never shown on the map.
- In the background, only if you switch it on. If you turn on background mapping, the app collects your location while it is closed or not in use, to keep mapping. It is off until you turn it on, and you can turn it off at any time.
- Restricted places. Nothing is collected inside places where mapping is not allowed.
- Never live. Readings appear on the public map 30 to 90 minutes late, so the map can't show where somebody is right now.
- Places you keep off the map. In the apps, Don't map near here keeps places like home private or sends nothing from there.
- Stop or delete at any time. In the app you can switch off Share my readings on the public map or use Delete all my readings.
- Optional email. If you give a coverage app your email address, it is stored encrypted, is never part of the map, and is erased when you delete your readings.
What we use it for
- To run the service: sign you in, mix your show, and send it where you asked.
- To answer you when you ask for help.
- To send you service emails, such as a welcome message, a password reset, or a reply to a support request.
- To keep the service secure and to find and fix problems.
- To build the coverage map from anonymous readings.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.
Who we share it with
- The platforms you choose. Your show is sent to the streaming platforms you connect, such as Twitch, Kick or YouTube. What they do with it is covered by their own terms and privacy policies.
- Companies that help us run the service, such as server hosting and email delivery. They may handle information only to provide that service to us.
- Map providers. When a map is shown, your browser or app loads the map pictures from OpenFreeMap or OpenStreetMap, as with any map site.
- When the law requires it, or to protect people's safety or our rights.
Cookies and this website
This website (irlstudio.tv) uses no cookies, no adverts, no trackers and no scripts. The studio, once you sign in, stores a small piece of sign-in information in your browser so you stay signed in.
How long we keep it
We keep your account information for as long as your account is open. You can ask us to delete your account and what is stored with it by writing to privacy@irlstudio.tv. We delete it within 30 days of your request, apart from anything the law requires us to keep. Coverage readings can be deleted in the app at any time, and the public map only shows the last 90 days. We are still in private testing; we will add exact time limits for other kinds of information here before the service opens to everyone.
Security
Connections to our website, and the sign-in and control connections of our apps, are encrypted, and you can add two-step sign-in to your account. The video stream itself travels to our servers the way streaming platforms usually receive it, and is not yet encrypted on the way. No online service can promise perfect security, but we work to protect your information.
Your choices
You can ask us what we hold about you, and ask us to correct or delete it, by writing to privacy@irlstudio.tv. Depending on where you live, the law may give you further rights over your information; we will honour them.
Children
IRL Studio is not meant for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has given us information, please tell us and we will delete it.
Changes
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top. If a change is important, we will tell account holders by email or in the studio.
Contact
IRL Studio LLC
Privacy: privacy@irlstudio.tv
Everything else: support@irlstudio.tv