Benso privacy policy

Who we are

Benso is made by Amberlake, operated by Max Robson. This policy covers the Benso app on Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and Mac, its pages on this website, and messages you choose to send us. Contact hello@amberlake.co.uk about privacy.

What reaches us

Amberlake does not receive your viewing history, library, sources or sign-ins through Benso. We run no viewing-history server and include no advertising or analytics SDK. Connected services receive information as described below.

We receive only what you choose to send, such as an email or a diagnostics report you share. The current release does not send automatic playback summaries.

Your sources

Your TV providers, Plex, Jellyfin and Emby servers, shared folders and add-ons are kept on your device. Their passwords and sign-ins are kept in the Keychain on that device. They aren’t in iCloud Keychain or device backups.

With Benso Plus and Sync Across Devices on, your sources and their sign-ins are kept in your own iCloud (CloudKit’s private database), end-to-end encrypted, and reach each of your devices, Apple TV included. We can’t read them. Source Accounts and Profiles can each be enabled or disabled in Backup & Sync on each device. Removing a source is shared with devices participating in source sync. Turning a sync option off keeps data already on that device; it does not erase previously saved iCloud data.

They also leave the device in a backup you make, to a file or to your own iCloud. A backup includes sign-ins unless you turn Include Sign-Ins off, sealed with a passphrase you set. The rest of a backup isn’t covered by the passphrase, so keep it somewhere you trust.

When you browse or watch, Benso connects straight to your source and sends the sign-in it needs. The source’s operator receives your IP address and what you request, under its own privacy policy. On iPhone, iPad and Mac, Benso asks for Local Network access to find shared folders and media servers on your network.

Accounts you connect

You can sign in to your own Trakt or Plex account. You approve the sign-in with that service, usually with a code or QR code on your phone. Benso never needs your password for Trakt, and any access it keeps is in the Keychain on that device.

While connected, Benso reads what the service holds for you, such as your servers, lists or history, and sends the changes you make. Trakt also receives what you watch and your progress, to keep your history. Signing out in Benso ends its access. History already held by a service stays with that service; manage or delete it there.

You can also import from your own Nuvio account. Your email and password go only to Nuvio. Benso reads the add-ons, saved titles and progress you choose once, then signs that session out. It doesn’t store your password.

Services Benso contacts

Benso requests information directly from these services:

• Trakt: film and series information, lists such as trending and the box office, search, posters, backgrounds and cast photos, read with Benso’s own key, not your account. Images are cached on your device.
• TVmaze: episode details and stills, and series information, pictures and search where Trakt has none.
• Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons: cast and crew, people search, and cast photos with their credits.
• YouTube: only when you choose Trailer, which opens the video on YouTube itself.
• Apple: App Store purchases, and iCloud as described below.

A service receives the information needed for your request, such as your IP address, the requested title or search, and technical request information. It handles that information under its own privacy policy. Connected accounts can also receive account-linked activity, as explained above; YouTube is explained below.

Channel logos and listings come only from sources you add. Benso includes a list of channel names by country, used only to put your own channels in their usual order.

YouTube trailers

Choosing Trailer on iPhone, iPad or Mac opens the video on YouTube itself, in the YouTube app or your browser. Benso embeds no YouTube player and has no web view. Benso does not ask for your YouTube password or access your YouTube account. Kids profiles show no Trailer.

Once you’re on YouTube, the Google Privacy Policy and the YouTube Terms of Service apply. On Apple TV, trailers open in the YouTube app or through a link you scan on your phone. You can use Benso without opening trailers.

Purchases and iCloud

Benso Plus is bought through Apple. We don’t see or store your card details. Benso checks your purchase with Apple on your device.

With Plus, you can turn on sync across your devices through your own iCloud (CloudKit’s private database). It carries your sources and their sign-ins, favourites, channel lists and playlists, your profiles with their pictures, selected settings, saved titles, watch progress, reminders, and the names and models of your devices that sync. Each is encrypted on your device before it’s saved, end to end, so we can’t read it. Apple stores it in your iCloud under its own privacy policy. A profile’s PIN and the household lock stay on each device. Handoff between your devices also goes through Apple.

Suggestions and summaries written by Apple’s on-device model are made on your device. Nothing is sent to us for them.

Diagnostics and feedback

Settings → About → Diagnostics shows a report kept on your device: app and system versions, device model, language, settings, counts of sources and plays, and recent problems from the last two weeks. It contains no source addresses, titles or sign-ins. It leaves your device only if you share it, through the share sheet or, on Apple TV, a code you scan with your phone.

Send Feedback opens an email to hello@amberlake.co.uk. If you email us, we receive your email address and what you include, and use it to reply, investigate problems and improve the app. Our address uses Porkbun forwarding to a Google-hosted inbox. We don’t add you to a marketing list or sell your information. Please leave out passwords, source addresses and account tokens.

Other apps and devices

On iPhone and iPad, Open In hands a stream’s address to the player app you choose, under that app’s own policy. On Apple TV, Set Up with Your Phone sends what you type on your phone only to your Apple TV on your home network.

Children

Benso collects nothing more from a kids profile than from any other. We don’t knowingly receive information from children. If a child has emailed us, contact us and we’ll delete it.

Keeping and deleting your information

What Benso keeps on a device stays there until you remove it. Removing a source in Benso deletes its sign-in from the Keychain; do this before deleting the app, because Apple can keep an app’s Keychain items after the app is gone. Deleting the app removes the rest of Benso’s data from that device.

Sign out of an account in Benso to end its access, and delete history with the service itself. Turning Sync Across Devices off stops Benso sending and receiving synced changes. It does not erase data already saved in your iCloud. Backup files you’ve saved elsewhere stay until you delete them.

We keep support emails only as long as needed to handle your enquiry and follow-up. Email us to ask about or delete what we hold.

This website and TestFlight

This website has no analytics, advertising cookies or contact form. Netlify processes technical request information to deliver and protect it.

If you test Benso through TestFlight, Apple may share your feedback, crash reports and testing information with us. Apple’s privacy notices and TestFlight terms explain that service.

Test builds from before 9 November 2026 also loaded YouTube’s embedded player, a public channel directory and logo collection, public TV listings and film review scores from Wikidata, and offered Stremio and Simkl sign-in.

Questions or changes

Contact hello@amberlake.co.uk about privacy. If our practices change, we’ll update this page and its date.

Benso support