Privacy Policy

Last updated November 7, 2026

The short version

vinnyfin is a video player for Jellyfin servers, made by Vincent Sajkowski. It has no accounts of its own, no analytics, no ads, no tracking and no crash-reporting service. vinnyfin connects to the Jellyfin server you sign in to, and what it keeps stays on your devices or in your own iCloud, which Apple runs and I can’t see.

The rest of this page lists everything vinnyfin stores, everything it connects to, and the few cases where something leaves your device because you asked for it. How to reach me is at the bottom of the page.

What vinnyfin connects to

Your Jellyfin server

Almost everything vinnyfin does is a conversation with the server you sign in to. That server is run by you or by whoever gave you access to it, not by me, and what it does with this information is up to the people who run it. vinnyfin sends it:

• Your username and password, or a Quick Connect code, when you sign in.
• Requests for your library, artwork, search terms, videos, subtitles and downloads.
• Playback reports: what you’re watching, where you are in it, and whether it’s paused, along with what you mark as watched or favorite. Progress for downloads you watch offline is sent once the server can be reached again.
• With every request, the app’s name and version, your device’s name (on a Mac, the computer’s name), and a random identifier vinnyfin makes for the device.

If your server tells vinnyfin to fetch a video from somewhere else, for example a stream a server plugin provides, vinnyfin fetches it from there. That address comes from your server, not from vinnyfin.

A sound you choose

On iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision Pro, Keep Downloads Running can play a sound from a web address you type in Settings. vinnyfin downloads that file from the address you gave, so whoever runs that website sees your device’s IP address, as with any website. Leave the address blank and nothing is fetched.

Nothing else

Apart from those, vinnyfin doesn’t connect to anything. No analytics, advertising, tracking or crash-reporting services are built in.

What stays on your device

• Your sign-in token, in the Keychain, for this device only. It never goes to iCloud.
• The server you’re signed in to: its address and name, and your username.
• Your downloads. On iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision Pro they’re in the Files app under On My iPhone (or iPad) › vinnyfin. On a Mac they’re in Downloads › vinnyfin. They’re ordinary video files you can open, move or delete yourself.
• Where you are in downloads and in videos you open from Files or Finder, and a list of recently opened files. Progress for videos that aren’t on your server never leaves your device.
• Your Smart Downloads rules and download queue.
• A cache of artwork, so your library shows up quickly.
• On iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision Pro, crash and performance reports the system gives the app. They’re kept on the device so you can read them in Settings › Diagnostics, and vinnyfin never sends them anywhere.
• Titles from your library in Spotlight and Siri suggestions, so you can find them from search. They’re removed when you sign out.
• Copies of what the widgets and Apple TV’s Top Shelf show, such as download progress and artwork.

Like any app’s data, these are included in your device’s backups unless a backup leaves them out. Downloads themselves are left out of iPhone and iPad backups.

What syncs through your iCloud

If you use iCloud, vinnyfin keeps a little in your own iCloud so your other devices are ready to go. Apple stores it under the Apple Privacy Policy, and I have no way to see it.

• iCloud Keychain: your Jellyfin password, so a server under Your Servers signs in with a tap on your other devices.
• iCloud key-value storage: the servers you’ve signed in to (address, name and username, but no password or token), and most of your settings, including the Keep Downloads Running sound address.

Your sign-in tokens, downloads, watch history and diagnostics don’t sync through iCloud. Watch progress for titles on your server reaches your other devices through your Jellyfin server.

Apple features you choose to use

• Handoff: what you’re watching, where you are in it, and your server’s address and your username go through Apple to your own devices so you can carry on there.
• SharePlay: when you start or join SharePlay, the people in it receive the title, its server’s name and identifiers, where everyone is in it, and a note if someone can’t play it. They need their own access to the server to watch.
• AirPlay: while you AirPlay, vinnyfin serves the video on your local network so the receiving device can play it.
• Notifications about downloads, if you turn them on, are made on your device. vinnyfin doesn’t use push notifications.

vinnyfin asks for access to your local network so it can reach a server at home and AirPlay devices.

Connections without encryption

vinnyfin can sign in to servers that use plain http:// addresses, which is common on home networks. Over those, your password and what you watch travel unencrypted. For a server you reach over the internet, use an https:// address.

Signing out and deleting your data

• Signing out ends the session on your server, deletes the sign-in token from your device, cancels unfinished downloads and removes your titles from Spotlight. Finished downloads stay, and still play.
• Forget, on the sign-in screen, removes a server and its saved password from iCloud.
• Delete downloads in the app, in Files or in Finder. Deleting vinnyfin deletes its files and settings on that device.
• Your watch history and favorites on a server are part of your account there. Its owner can remove them.

Children

vinnyfin doesn’t collect personal information from anyone, children included. What a child can watch is up to the server they sign in to.

Changes

If vinnyfin starts handling your information differently, this page will change to say so, with a new date at the top.