Privacy Policy

Last updated: 28 October 2026. Sylume is currently in private beta.

Sylume is a media player for the television. You connect your own sources and Sylume plays them. This policy explains what data Sylume handles, what stays on your device, what leaves it and why, and the choices you have. It covers the Sylume app and this website.

Sylume Ltd is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy, which means we decide why and how it is handled. Sylume Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales, company number 17379465, with its registered office at 124 City Road, London EC1V 2NX. We are registered with the Information Commission (formerly the Information Commissioner's Office, ICO) under reference ZC233843. If you have any question about this policy or your data, contact [email protected].

The short version

• Your sources, logins, favourites and viewing history stay on your device, unless you choose to connect an account such as Trakt or MDBList that you want your viewing activity sent to. Sylume itself does not build a viewing profile of you or keep a central record of what you watch.
• When you add a source, the app connects directly to the service you configure. Your credentials go to that service, not to Sylume.
• The app contacts Sylume servers for licence activation, checks for updates if you installed it directly from us, sends crash and reliability reports so we can fix problems, requests suggestions and title logos, and uses a connection service if you link an account such as Trakt. We do not use any of these to build a picture of what you watch.
• We do not sell data, show ads or use advertising or behavioural analytics SDKs.

What stays on your device

The app stores your configured sources, source credentials, settings, favourites, watch progress and viewing history locally on your device. This data is not sent to Sylume. If you connect an account such as Trakt or MDBList, some of it is sent to that service instead, as described below. Uninstalling the app removes it.

Connections to your own sources

When you add a source, Sylume connects directly from your device to the server or service you configure, using the details you provide. Those connections are between you and your source. The source's own privacy practices apply to them, and Sylume has no involvement in or visibility of that relationship. Where a source supports it, such as a Plex server, the app may tell that source what you are playing and how far you have watched, so it can keep its own progress and history. That information goes to the source you set up, not to Sylume.

Connecting your Trakt account

Trakt. If you connect Trakt, the Sylume app on your device sends the titles you watch, your playback progress and when you watched them straight to Trakt's own servers, so Trakt can build your history and watchlist. This traffic goes directly between your device and Trakt, not through Sylume's service. You sign in through Trakt's own approval page. Sylume runs a connection service that signs you in and keeps that connection alive; it briefly sees, in transit, credentials that grant access to your Trakt account, but it doesn't store them, and it doesn't store your Trakt viewing history. Trakt's own privacy policy governs what happens to your information once Trakt has it. Sylume's own service is used separately when you browse for recommendations, and that doesn't use your Trakt watch activity. Separately, while Trakt is connected, Sylume may also ask Trakt directly, using your Trakt sign-in, to help identify a title you're viewing, for example to power suggestions like More Like This. This happens whether or not Trakt is your active tracker, and it doesn't send Trakt any watch activity. If you make Trakt your active tracker, Sylume also reads your watched history and paused playback progress back from Trakt, so it can show what you've already watched and let you carry on where you left off. If the watchlist options are on in Settings, Sylume also reads your Trakt watchlist into the app and adds titles you add in Sylume to it, and, if you choose, removes titles from it when you remove them in Sylume. Disconnecting removes the copy of your watchlist from your device and does not change your Trakt watchlist. If your Trakt sign-in stops working, including if you revoke Sylume's access on Trakt's own site, Sylume keeps whatever it has already imported from Trakt on your device, and shows that the connection needs attention, until you reconnect or disconnect. Reconnecting with a different Trakt account replaces that data. You can disconnect at any time in Settings, which stops sending your activity and removes your Trakt sign-in, any queued changes and any copy of your Trakt watchlist from your device. Disconnecting keeps the watched history Sylume has already imported from Trakt, and the records of titles you removed from Continue Watching, on your device, so your watched marks do not disappear. Those records are stored against your Trakt account ID so that they apply only to that account. Once you have disconnected, you can delete the imported watched history at any time with Remove imported data, which appears on Trakt's screen in Settings while there is imported history to remove. This affects your device only, and your Trakt account is not changed. If you later connect a Trakt account and Sylume reads its watched history, that history replaces the watched history that was kept. Paused progress you have already imported becomes part of your Sylume viewing history on your device and is not removed by Remove imported data.

Connecting Trakt is entirely optional. Sylume works without it, nothing about what you watch is sent until you connect it, and your Trakt sign-in is stored encrypted on your device only.

Connecting your MDBList account

MDBList. If you connect MDBList, you sign in through MDBList's own approval page; Sylume never sees or stores your MDBList password. Once connected, you can turn on optional MDBList features in Settings, such as showing ratings from the sources MDBList supplies, or making MDBList the service that tracks what you've watched. Turning on ratings means your device contacts MDBList directly to look up what you're viewing, which tells MDBList which titles you open in Sylume. If MDBList is your active tracker, your device also reads your watched history and paused playback progress directly from MDBList, so Sylume can show what you've already watched and let you carry on where you left off. MDBList becomes your active tracker when you choose it. Sending information about what you watch to MDBList is controlled by options in Settings. When you choose MDBList as your active tracker, Sylume turns on three of them: sending what you are playing and how far you have got, sending the titles you mark as watched and when, and syncing your watchlist, which brings your MDBList watchlist into Sylume and sends the titles you add to your watchlist in Sylume. You can turn each of them off. Sending the titles you mark as unwatched, removing titles from your MDBList watchlist when you remove them in Sylume, and clearing a paused item when you remove it from Continue Watching stay off until you turn them on. All of this traffic goes directly between your device and MDBList, using your own MDBList sign-in, not through Sylume's service. MDBList's own privacy policy and terms govern what it does with this information, including whether it appears in other services you have linked to your MDBList account, which Sylume does not control. Turning a send feature off, or disconnecting, stops Sylume sending anything new; it does not remove what MDBList already holds, which you manage in your MDBList account. If your MDBList sign-in stops working, including if you revoke Sylume's access on MDBList's own site, Sylume keeps whatever it has already imported from MDBList on your device, and shows that the connection needs attention, until you reconnect or disconnect. Reconnecting with a different MDBList account replaces that data. You can disconnect at any time in Settings, which deletes the stored connection and any cached information from MDBList on your device. Disconnecting keeps the watched history Sylume has already imported from MDBList, and the records of titles you removed from Continue Watching, on your device, so your watched marks do not disappear. Those records are stored against your MDBList account ID so that they apply only to that account. Once you have disconnected, you can delete the imported watched history at any time with Remove imported data, which appears on MDBList's screen in Settings while there is imported history to remove. This affects your device only, and your MDBList account is not changed. If you later connect an MDBList account and Sylume reads its watched history, that history replaces the watched history that was kept. Paused progress you have already imported becomes part of your Sylume viewing history on your device and is not removed by Remove imported data.

Connecting MDBList is entirely optional. Sylume works without it. Other than what's needed to connect, keep your connection working, and disconnect your account, nothing is sent to MDBList until you turn on a feature or choose MDBList as your active tracker, and nothing is read from it until you do either of those or MDBList is your active tracker. Your MDBList sign-in is stored encrypted on your device only.

Licence activation

Sylume uses a licence key during the beta. When you activate, the app contacts Sylume's activation service and sends your licence key together with basic device information: device model, operating system version, app version and platform. The service issues the device an activation record so your licence can be checked and renewed. This exists to operate the licence system and prevent abuse. It carries nothing about your sources or what you watch.

App updates

If you installed Sylume directly from us rather than from an app store, the app checks for new versions, including whenever you ask it to in Settings, and, when you choose to update, downloads the update file. These requests go to Sylume's update server (dl.sylume.com), which is delivered through Cloudflare. To answer them, the server receives your device's network address, the time of the request, the name of the file being requested, and the standard technical details sent with any internet request. The request does not include your licence key or any account details, and it carries nothing about your sources or what you watch. These requests may be recorded in logs kept by the services that deliver them. If you installed Sylume from an app store, updates come from that store instead.

Crash and reliability reports

So that we can find and fix crashes and playback problems, release builds of the app send diagnostic reports to Sentry, a crash reporting service, processed in the European Union.

A report can include:

• The technical details of a crash or error, such as the stack trace, the error type and code, and short app event trails, for example which screen was open.
• Device and system context: device model, operating system version, app version, memory and similar technical characteristics.
• Controlled reliability fields, for example the type of source involved (such as Plex or a playlist), the playback stage, an error category, and media format labels such as codec or container.
• A random installation identifier. It is generated on the device, is not derived from your hardware, network or any account, and a fresh one is created if you reinstall the app. It lets us tell one affected device from ten without knowing whose device it is.
• An approximate region derived from the connection's network address by the reporting service when a report is received.

Reports are built to exclude your content and credentials. Titles, filenames, stream and server addresses, usernames, passwords, tokens and email addresses are removed or replaced before a report leaves the device, and file paths are reduced to a short fingerprint that does not contain the path. This masking is applied automatically to every report. Automated masking is thorough but no automated process can be guaranteed perfect, so we also review and constrain what reports may contain by design, and we treat any value that slips through as a bug to fix. A report does not carry your name, your email address, your licence key or any account details, so on its own it does not tell us who you are. It is not anonymous though: the installation identifier lets us see that two reports came from the same installation, so we treat reports as personal data and handle them under this policy. You can turn these reports off at any time in Settings, under Send crash & reliability reports, and your device stops sending them.

Diagnostic reports are used only to diagnose and fix problems. They are not used for advertising or profiling and are not sold or shared for those purposes.

Recommendations and artwork

When you browse Sylume, the app asks a Sylume service for titles to suggest and for the details it shows you. To answer, that service receives the title being looked up, or the type of chart being requested, together with the standard technical details of an internet request, including your device's network address, which it sees through Cloudflare. For suggestions and charts, this is not linked to your licence, your account or any connection you have set up, and it is not used to build a picture of what you watch. To get the details, the service asks Trakt, which receives the title being looked up.

Title logos come from fanart.tv and are delivered through Sylume's service, so fanart.tv never receives your device's network address for them. Each request includes a licence check, and that information isn't stored. Logo copies are kept for up to 90 days to improve performance and aren't linked to individual users.

Sylume does not serve most artwork itself. Your device fetches each image directly from the server that holds it: your own source's server, for artwork that source supplies; Trakt's image server (media.trakt.tv), for the posters shown with suggestions where an item in your library has none of its own. Title logos are the exception: they are delivered through Sylume's service, as described above. That happens whether or not you have connected a Trakt account. The server that supplies an image sees your device's network address, the time of the request, which image was requested (and so which title), and standard technical request details. Those servers are not run by Sylume, and their own privacy policies apply.

This website

This website does not use analytics or advertising scripts and does not set cookies of its own. It is served by our hosting provider, Cloudflare, which processes technical connection data such as your IP address to deliver the site and protect it from abuse.

How our services are hosted

Sylume's website and the services the app contacts are delivered through Cloudflare. To deliver and protect them, Cloudflare processes technical connection data such as your IP address and the web address being requested. That is standard infrastructure processing, it is separate from what Sylume itself keeps, and Sylume does not use it to build a picture of what you watch.

Where your data goes

Sylume is based in the United Kingdom. Some of the services we use are not, so this is where data goes when it leaves the UK and what protects it.

• Crash and reliability reports. Processed in the European Union, which UK law treats as offering an equivalent standard of protection, so no further safeguard is needed for them. Our agreement with the reporting service also applies the standard data protection clauses approved for use under UK law to anything handled outside it. You can read those terms at sentry.io/legal/dpa.
• Hosting. Cloudflare operates a global network, so the technical connection data it handles to deliver and protect our site and services may be processed outside the United Kingdom. Our agreement with Cloudflare applies the standard data protection clauses approved for use under UK law to those transfers. You can read those terms at cloudflare.com/cloudflare-customer-dpa.
• Artwork servers. Poster images come from servers that are not Sylume's: your own sources' servers, wherever they are, and, for the posters shown with suggestions, Trakt's image server (media.trakt.tv), which may be outside the United Kingdom. Your device contacts them directly, and they see your device's network address. Each is responsible for its own handling under its own privacy policy. Title logos are not fetched this way: they are delivered through Sylume's service, which is covered under Hosting above.
• Trakt. If you connect a Trakt account, the app sends your viewing activity from your device to Trakt in the United States. It goes because you asked for it and because sending it is what the connection you set up does. Trakt is responsible for that information as its own controller, under its own privacy policy, and you can stop it at any time by disconnecting.
• MDBList. If you connect MDBList, information described in the "Connecting your MDBList account" section passes directly between your device and MDBList's own servers, wherever they are. MDBList's public information does not identify a registered company or business address. Publicly available information indicates the service is operated from Lithuania. It goes because you asked for it, and MDBList is responsible for that information as its own controller, under its own privacy policy. You can stop this at any time by disconnecting.
• fanart.tv. Title logos come from fanart.tv and are delivered to your device through Sylume's service, so when Sylume shows you a title logo, fanart.tv does not receive your device's network address or any other information about you.

Email

If you contact [email protected], we receive your email address and whatever you choose to send. We use it to help you and keep it only as long as needed for that.

Why we are allowed to process your data

UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for each thing we do with your personal data. These are ours.

• Licence activation. Performance of a contract. We need to check and renew your licence so that you can use the app you hold a licence for. You have to provide the licence key and the basic device details described above, because without them the licence cannot be activated.
• Checking for updates. Our legitimate interests. The interest is getting fixes, including security fixes, to the people using the app. The personal data involved is the technical details of the request, mainly your network address.
• Preventing abuse of the licence system. Our legitimate interests. The interest is protecting the licence system and our service from misuse, such as one key being used far more widely than it allows.
• Crash and reliability reports. Our legitimate interests. The interest is finding and fixing faults so the app works reliably for the people using it. Reports are built to carry as little about you as possible and are used for nothing else.
• Connecting your Trakt account. Performance of a contract. Sending your viewing activity to Trakt is the feature you asked for when you connected the account, so doing it is how we deliver it. If you disconnect, it stops.
• Connecting your MDBList account. Performance of a contract. Showing ratings, showing what you've watched and letting you resume playback when MDBList is your active tracker, and sending your viewing activity to your MDBList account when you choose MDBList as your active tracker or turn a send option on, are the features you asked for when you connected the account, so doing them is how we deliver them. If you disconnect, it stops.
• Recommendations and artwork. Performance of a contract, so we can show you the suggestions, title logos and details the app asks for, including the licence check that goes with a logo request. We also rely on our legitimate interests in keeping that service available and preventing overuse of it.
• Hosting this website and our services. Our legitimate interests. The interest is delivering the site and the services the app contacts, keeping them available, and protecting them from attack and abuse.
• Email you send us. Our legitimate interests. The interest is reading your message and helping you with it.

How long we keep things

• Licence activation records. Kept for as long as the licence is in use, so it can be checked, renewed or reissued. We remove or anonymise licence-administration details from our active systems 30 days after a licence is revoked or expires, or 30 days after a device is removed. Backup copies may remain recoverable for up to a further 30 days before they expire automatically. We retain a minimal fraud-prevention record, including a hashed form of the licence key, an opaque device identifier, abuse-signal counts and certain security logs. We review annually whether each retained field is still needed.
• Crash and reliability reports. Deleted automatically by the reporting service after a limited period. We keep them only for as long as they are useful for diagnosing the fault they describe.
• Trakt. We keep nothing on our servers. Your Trakt sign-in stays on your device until you disconnect, including while the connection shows as needing attention. Watched history that Sylume has imported from Trakt stays on your device after you disconnect until you use Remove imported data, until watched history read from a newly connected account replaces it, or until you uninstall the app. The records of titles you removed from Continue Watching also stay on your device; Remove imported data deletes them along with the watched history, and clearing the app's data or uninstalling the app deletes them too. Paused progress you have imported is kept with the rest of your viewing history on your device. What Trakt itself keeps is covered by Trakt's own policy.
• MDBList. We keep nothing on our servers. Your MDBList sign-in stays on your device until you disconnect, including while the connection shows as needing attention. Watched history that Sylume has imported from MDBList stays on your device after you disconnect until you use Remove imported data, until watched history read from a newly connected account replaces it, or until you uninstall the app. The records of titles you removed from Continue Watching also stay on your device; Remove imported data deletes them along with the watched history, and clearing the app's data or uninstalling the app deletes them too. Paused progress you have imported is kept with the rest of your viewing history on your device. What MDBList itself keeps, including anything Sylume has sent to your account, is covered by MDBList's own policy, and disconnecting Sylume does not delete it from your MDBList account.
• Recommendations and artwork. Sylume stores title details, artwork information and copies of title logos for up to 90 days to improve performance and reduce repeated requests. This information is not linked to individual users or their licences.
• Email. Kept as long as needed to deal with your message and any follow-up.

Your right to object

Some of what we do with your data rests on our legitimate interests rather than on a contract with you. Where it does, you have the right to object, and we have to stop unless we can show compelling grounds that override your interests. That right applies to our crash and reliability reports, the checks that prevent abuse of the licence system and of the recommendations service, the update checks, the technical connection data involved in hosting this website and the services the app contacts, and our handling of an email you send us. For crash and reliability reports you do not need to ask us at all: turn off Send crash & reliability reports in the app's Settings and your device stops sending them. To object to anything else, email [email protected] and tell us what you are objecting to.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have rights over personal data we hold about you. You can ask for a copy of it, ask us to correct it or delete it, ask us to restrict how we use it, object to our using it where we rely on our legitimate interests, and ask for a copy in a portable form. One honest limitation: a diagnostic report is tagged only with a random installation identifier, which is not shown anywhere in the app and which you have no way of reading from your device. So unless you can tell us that identifier, we cannot work out which reports are yours, and we cannot retrieve or delete them individually. For anything relating to licence activation or support email, contact us and we will help.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, you can complain to us at [email protected] and we will look into it. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commission (formerly the Information Commissioner's Office, ICO), the UK data protection regulator.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will update this page and the notice shown in the app. The app asks you to review the notice again when it changes materially.