Couchcast Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 29, 2026
Couchcast is built and maintained by AM2 LLC ("we", "us"). It is a Firefox extension that casts the YouTube video you're watching to your TV, with an optional helper app for your computer. It has no analytics and no server of its own, and it is designed so that we collect nothing about you.
Summary
- Couchcast collects no personal data. There are no accounts, no analytics, no crash reporting, and no ads.
- It talks to YouTube, to the Couchcast helper app on your computer, and to your TV, only to do what you ask.
- When you cast, the video and your place in it go to your TV: through the helper on your computer in no-ads mode, or through YouTube in YouTube-app mode.
No ads, straight to Apple TV
- When you cast, the extension gives the video's id, playback position and speed to the helper app on your computer, through Firefox's native messaging. That handoff doesn't leave your computer.
- The helper asks YouTube for the video's stream, like any video player does, and sends the stream's address and the start time to your Apple TV on your local network.
- If you turn on "use my Firefox YouTube login" (off by default) and YouTube's bot check blocks the helper, the helper asks YouTube once more using your YouTube cookies from Firefox.
- When you come back to a YouTube tab whose video is playing on your Apple TV, the extension asks the helper where the TV is, so it can move the paused video in the tab to the same spot. That question doesn't leave your computer either.
YouTube app on the TV
- When you cast, the extension sends YouTube's TV-linking service the video's id, playlist id and start position, along with a random id, made when you install Couchcast, that lets your TV tell this browser apart from your phone.
- When you link a TV, it sends the code your TV shows, and it renews that link with YouTube before it expires.
- While the settings page is open, it asks YouTube whether your linked TVs are available.
- None of these requests carry your YouTube or Google cookies.
YouTube receives these requests like any web request (including your IP address) and handles them under its own privacy policy. We receive nothing.
What stays on your computer
- Your settings and linked TVs, in Firefox's storage.
- The helper's Apple TV pairing, settings and log, in
~/.config/couchcast. Only your user account can read those files, and the helper never sends the log anywhere.
Firefox's install prompt
Firefox lists Couchcast as using your browsing activity, Mozilla's category for the address of a page you're on, because a cast sends the video you're watching out of the browser: to the helper on your computer, or to YouTube.
What we never do
- We do not collect, transmit, sell, or share any data about you or what you watch.
- We never see what you cast, when you cast it, or for how long.
- We do not show ads, and there is no account, subscription, or payment.
Open source
Couchcast is free software under the GPL-3.0. You can read every line of the extension and the helper at github.com/vanities/couchcast and verify all of the above for yourself.
Changes
If this policy ever changes, the updated date at the top of this page will change with it.
Contact
Questions: mischke@proton.me