CoWatch Privacy Policy

What CoWatch does

CoWatch keeps a video playing at the same moment for everyone in a “room”, and adds chat, reactions, games and statistics on top. Each person watches through their own streaming account. CoWatch never shares video, passwords or account details.

Information shared with your room

When you join a room, CoWatch sends these to the other people in that room so the features work:

• The display name you choose. It does not need to be your real name.
• Playback events: play, pause, jumps, playback speed and the current time in the video.
• The address and title of the video page you're on, so others can follow you to the same video.
• Chat messages, voice notes, emoji reactions, prediction and bingo moves, and scores.
• A short “typing” signal while you write a message.

Before any of this leaves your browser, it is encrypted with a key that comes from your room code. Only people who have the code can read it.

Voice notes

The microphone is used only while you are recording a voice note: the mic button turns red, and recording stops when you send or cancel. In Chrome, your browser asks once for permission for CoWatch to use the microphone. The recording is encrypted and sent to your room like a chat message. CoWatch does not keep recordings after the session or send them anywhere else.

Phone chat page

You can open the CoWatch chat page on your phone to keep chatting with your room. The page is hosted on GitHub Pages and works the same way as the extension: messages are encrypted with your room code on your phone before they are sent. The room code sits after the “#” in the link, so it is never sent to GitHub. The page remembers your room code and name in your phone's browser so it can reconnect; clearing your browser data removes them. GitHub can see your IP address when the page loads, as with any website.

Relay servers

To pass encrypted messages between room members without anyone hosting a server, CoWatch uses free public message relays (HiveMQ, EMQX and Eclipse Mosquitto). The relays only see encrypted data and an unreadable room identifier. Like any internet service, they can see your IP address while you're connected. Their own privacy policies apply to that connection. The developer of CoWatch does not operate the relays and does not receive any data from them.

Streaming in the Theater

If you choose to stream a file or share a tab or window, the video goes directly between your browser and the browsers of people in your room (WebRTC). To set up that direct connection, browsers contact public connection-helper (STUN) servers run by Google and Cloudflare. Those servers see your IP address but not the video. Nothing is streamed unless you start it, and you can stop at any time.

Access to websites

CoWatch runs on a fixed list of streaming sites (such as Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube and Disney+) so it can find and sync the video player and show the chat overlay there. On any other site it only runs if you turn it on for that site from the CoWatch button, and your browser asks you to approve it first. You can remove that access at any time in your browser's extension settings. On these pages CoWatch reads only the state of the video player (playing, paused and the current time) and the page address and title. It does not read or collect your browsing history, page contents, form entries, cookies or passwords. It is inactive on any page until you join a room in that tab.

Data stored on your device

CoWatch saves your display name, your current room, recent chat and game progress in your browser's own extension storage so they survive page reloads. This stays on your device. Removing the extension deletes it.

Children

CoWatch is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new effective date. Changes that affect how data is shared will also be noted in the extension's store listing.