Privacy policy

No accounts

CastAway has no sign up, no login and no account. We never ask for your name, email address, phone number or any other details to use the app.

What the app collects

Nothing, unless you buy CastAway Plus. The app has no analytics or ads of its own and does no tracking, and it never sends your browsing, what you cast or anything else about you to Spruik. We can’t see what you watch, and we don’t want to. If you buy Plus, the app sends a record of that purchase and nothing more, as the next section explains.

CastAway Plus purchases

Applies from the next update, when CastAway Plus arrives. The app you can download today sends us nothing.

CastAway Plus is an optional one-off purchase through the App Store or Google Play. Apple or Google take the payment, so CastAway and Spruik never see your card details. If you never buy Plus, the app sends nothing to us.

What is sent, and when

The app sends these to our purchase server only if you buy Plus, or if CastAway finds a Plus purchase on your phone (for example after you tap Restore purchases, or when you open CastAway on a new phone signed in to the same account):

• The store’s signed purchase details: the product, the price, the date and the store’s transaction ID.
• A random ID for your install. CastAway creates it on your phone and shows it as the Purchase ID on the CastAway Plus screen. It isn’t your device ID or advertising ID.
• Whether it was a test purchase, the kind made while the app is tested and reviewed.

It never sends your name, email address or card details, or your browsing or casting history.

Why

To check the purchase is real, and to count sales and refunds. Apple and Google may also tell the server when a purchase is refunded. We don’t use the record for ads, and we don’t sell it.

Who gets it, and where it’s kept

The purchase server is Vend16, run by Spruik Co Pty Ltd, the same company that makes CastAway. It’s hosted by Hetzner Online GmbH in Falkenstein, Germany, so your purchase record is stored outside Australia. Its web server keeps no access log, and Vend16 doesn’t record IP addresses.

How long we keep it, and deleting it

We keep the record while the purchase can still be restored or refunded, and for up to 7 years as a business and tax record, unless you ask us to delete it. To have it deleted, email hello@spruik.co with the Purchase ID shown on the CastAway Plus screen. Deleting the record doesn’t take Plus away, because Apple or Google keep your purchase. If CastAway finds it again later, for example on a new phone, it sends a new record.

Refunds are handled by Apple or Google Play, and nothing here limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

What stays on your phone

• Recents. A list of your last 20 casts (video title, page address and when you cast it), so you can reopen them from the home screen.
• Settings. A few app preferences, such as whether you’ve already dismissed the clipboard banner.
• Browser data. Like any web browser, the built-in browser keeps cookies and site data for the websites you visit, so you stay logged in to the sites you choose to log in to.
• From the next update. Your favourites, where you stopped each video in Recents (so you can resume it), the subtitle language you last picked, and your ad blocking setting and the sites you allow ads on. The list of ad sites is built into the app, so nothing is looked up online.

All of this is stored only on your iPhone. It is never sent to us. Deleting the app deletes all of it.

If a web link is on your clipboard, CastAway shows an “Open link from clipboard” banner. The link is only read if you tap the banner, and it’s only used to open that page.

Google Cast

CastAway uses Google’s Cast software (the Google Cast SDK) to find and control your Chromecast or Google TV. That software is made by Google and collects some data for Google’s own purposes, which are analytics and making casting work. Based on Google’s published disclosures, this covers:

• device identifiers
• diagnostic and performance data (for example, whether a connection worked)
• how you use the casting controls
• approximate (coarse) location

Google states this data is not linked to your identity and is not used to track you across other apps or websites. It goes to Google, not to us, and Google handles it under its own privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy. The first time you cast, Google’s software may ask you to accept Google’s terms. Google may process this data outside Australia. To ask Google about or delete data its Cast software collects, use Google’s privacy tools at myaccount.google.com/data-and-privacy, or email us and we’ll point you to the right place.

Your local network

CastAway asks iOS for permission to use your local network. It uses it to find Chromecast and Google TV devices on your wifi and to send them the video you choose. The video only travels between the website, your phone and your TV. Nothing is saved, and none of it comes to us. You can turn local network access off any time in Settings, Privacy & Security, Local Network, but casting won’t work without it.

Websites you visit

The sites you open in CastAway’s browser are run by other people. They may collect information under their own privacy policies, just as they would in Safari. We have no control over those sites and don’t receive anything from them.

Notifications

CastAway may ask to send notifications. It uses them for one thing: a reminder to keep the app open while a video is casting. These notifications are created on your phone and involve no server.

No tracking, no ads of its own

CastAway does not track you, does not use the advertising identifier, does not show ads of its own, and does not share or sell data to advertisers or data brokers.

Children

CastAway is not directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from children. Because the app includes an open web browser, it carries the App Store’s top age rating.

The Australian Privacy Act

We follow the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). In plain English:

• Openness (APP 1). This page is our full policy, and we keep it up to date.
• Collection (APPs 3 to 5). We don’t collect personal information through the app, except a record of your purchase if you buy CastAway Plus (see CastAway Plus purchases). This website collects visit statistics through Google Analytics, described under This website. If you email us, we collect only what you choose to send, and we use it only to reply and help you.
• Use and disclosure (APP 6). We don’t use or share your personal information for anything other than answering you and, if you buy CastAway Plus, checking and counting that purchase, unless the law requires it.
• Overseas disclosure (APP 8). If you buy CastAway Plus, the app sends a record of that purchase to our purchase server, Vend16, which is hosted by Hetzner in Germany (see CastAway Plus purchases). Otherwise the app doesn’t send your information overseas. Google’s Cast software sends its own data to Google, which may be outside Australia, as described above. This website uses Google Analytics, so visit data from the site goes to Google LLC, which stores and processes it in the United States and other countries (see This website).
• Security (APP 11). The little we hold is kept secure. Support emails sit in a secure mailbox and are deleted when no longer needed. CastAway Plus purchase records travel over an encrypted connection (HTTPS) and are kept only as long as CastAway Plus purchases says.
• Access and correction (APPs 12 and 13). You can ask what we hold about you and ask us to correct or delete it. For the app itself, the answer is nothing, unless you have CastAway Plus, in which case it’s your purchase record.

If you have a privacy concern or complaint, email us first and we’ll respond within 30 days. If you’re not happy with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.

This website

Everything above is about the app. This website, usecastaway.com, uses Google Analytics 4 to count visits, so we can see which pages help people and whether the store buttons get used. It records the pages you view and how long you spend on them, the buttons you click (for example the store buttons, the demo video and the FAQ), your browser and device type, the site that sent you here, and your rough location (city or country), which Google works out from your IP address and does not store.

• No advertising. Google signals and ad personalisation are switched off, and nothing is used to show you ads.
• The EEA, the UK and Switzerland. That’s the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (including their overseas regions), plus the UK, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar and Switzerland. Visitors there get no analytics cookies. Google still receives each page view and click, with your browser type, screen size and rough location, but can’t link one visit to the next.
• Everywhere else. Google Analytics sets two first-party cookies (_ga, and _ga_ followed by an id). They give your browser a random id, so we can tell new visitors from returning ones and group your page views into visits. They last up to two years unless you clear them, and hold no name or email.
• Opting out. Block cookies for this site in your browser, or install Google’s opt-out add-on. The app works exactly the same either way.

Google stores and processes it in the United States and other countries, under its own privacy terms. Nothing in the app sends anything to this website or to Google Analytics.

Changes to this policy

If the app or this website changes in a way that affects your privacy, we’ll update this page and the date at the top. If a change is significant, we’ll also mention it in the app’s release notes.

CastAway for Android

Last updated 26 September 2026. Everything above applies to the Android app too, except where this section says otherwise.

What Spruik collects

Nothing, unless you buy CastAway Plus, which works the same way on Android (see CastAway Plus purchases). The Android app has no accounts, no analytics or ads of its own and no tracking. It does not use the advertising ID.

What stays on your phone

• Recents. Your last 20 casts (video title, page address and when you cast it).
• Settings. A few app preferences, such as whether CastAway has already asked to show notifications and which clipboard link you already opened.
• Browser data. The built-in browser’s cookies and site data, so you stay logged in to the sites you choose to log in to. They are kept separate from Chrome.
• From the next update. Your favourites, where you stopped each video in Recents, the subtitle language you last picked, and your ad blocking setting and the sites you allow ads on. The list of ad sites is built into the app, so nothing is looked up online.

All of this is stored only on your Android phone, in CastAway’s private storage. It is not included in Android backups and is never sent to us. Uninstalling the app deletes all of it.

CastAway only checks whether the clipboard looks like it holds a web link (Android can tell apps that without showing them what’s in it). The link itself is only read if you tap “Open link from clipboard”, and it’s only used to open that page.

Google Cast on Android

The Android app uses Google’s Cast software for Android (the Google Cast SDK) to find and control your Chromecast or Google TV. Based on Google’s published data disclosure for it, this software collects one type of data for Google:

• App activity (app interactions): information about finding cast devices, the cast session and the device, sent to Google for analytics and to make casting work.

Google states this data is encrypted in transit and is not shared with third parties. It goes to Google, not to us, and Google handles it under its own privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy. Because CastAway has no accounts, the only thing we could delete for you is a CastAway Plus purchase record, if you have one (see CastAway Plus purchases); to ask Google about this data, use Google’s privacy tools at myaccount.google.com/data-and-privacy, or email us and we’ll point you to the right place. This is what CastAway declares in the Data safety section of its Google Play listing.

Your local network

Android does not show a Local Network prompt. CastAway uses your wifi to find Chromecast and Google TV devices and to send them the video you choose. The video only travels between the website, your phone and your TV. Nothing is saved, and none of it comes to us.

Notifications

On Android 13 and later, CastAway asks to show notifications the first time you cast. When a site’s video can’t go straight to your TV, CastAway relays it from your phone over your wifi, and while that cast runs a “Casting through this phone” notification shows, with a Stop casting button. Google’s Cast software can also show its own notification with playback controls. These notifications are created on your phone and involve no server.

Age

On Google Play, CastAway is for people 18 and over, because it includes an open web browser.

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