Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 7, 2026

This policy covers the Atlas iOS app. Atlas is a native client for Piped, an open-source frontend for YouTube. Atlas is built by Chase Frazier. This page explains what remains on your device, what leaves it when you use online features, and which other parties may handle those requests.

What Atlas Collects

We do not collect personal data through an Atlas-operated server. The app has no Atlas sign-in, advertising SDK, or third-party analytics SDK, and its Apple privacy manifest declares no tracking and no collected data categories. Apple may separately make diagnostic reports available to developers when a user enables Apple’s analytics sharing; that process is controlled by Apple.

The privacy manifest declares UserDefaults access under Apple’s CA92.1 reason and disk-space access under E174.1. These are Apple’s “required reason” codes: CA92.1 means the app reads and writes only its own settings, and E174.1 means it checks free space only to decide whether a download can fit. If you contact us, we receive the information you choose to provide and use it to respond.

Data Stored on Your Device

Atlas stores the data it needs to provide your local library, including:

• Your selected Piped instance and app settings.
• Subscriptions, watch history, resume positions, and search history.
• Playlists, Suggest More / Suggest Less feedback, and recommendation data.
• Completed download metadata and downloaded media, artwork, and captions.
• Cached channel avatar references and small avatar image files.
• On-device performance and crash reports (see Diagnostics).

Most library data is stored in the app’s private container. The selected Piped instance is also mirrored to the iOS Keychain so the app and App Shortcuts can share it. Atlas does not provide cloud sync for this library data.

Network Connections

Atlas does not ship with a default Piped instance and never selects one for you. Online features begin after you add one. The setup screen links to Piped for Atlas, the Piped self-hosting documentation, and Privacy Guides so you can choose knowingly. Hosted instances must use HTTPS; HTTP is accepted only for local or private-network hosts.

The selected Piped instance receives your IP address and the requests Atlas sends to it. Depending on the feature, those requests can include search terms, video or channel identifiers, feed and recommendation requests, stream metadata, comments, live chat and chat replay messages, channel lookups used to fill in missing avatars, and SponsorBlock category IDs. A third-party instance is operated under its own terms and privacy policy; Atlas does not control its logs or retention. Before using a public instance, review what its operator logs and how long it is kept.

We recommend self-hosting Piped for Atlas, our open-source Piped deployment tuned for this app. When you run your own instance, API traffic such as searches and feed requests stays on a server you control, and no third-party instance operator can log it. Atlas works with any standard Piped instance; the Atlas build adds more reliable recommendations, creator metadata, AV1 playback, and live chat.

Piped responses contain URLs for video and audio streams, HLS playlists, thumbnails, avatars, artwork, and captions. Atlas contacts those referenced hosts directly for browsing, playback, prefetching, Now Playing artwork, and downloads. Those hosts can receive your IP address and the requested resource information. A self-hosted Piped instance therefore does not hide every runtime request from third-party media or asset hosts.

Atlas can optionally contact youtube.com to resolve collaborator details that are missing from Piped. This is off by default and only runs after you enable Resolve Collaborators via YouTubein Atlas’s Privacy settings.

What YouTube Can Still See

Piped works by putting a server between you and YouTube. The Piped backend fetches video metadata from YouTube itself, and it rewrites the stream, thumbnail, and avatar URLs it returns so they point at the instance’s own media proxy rather than at Google’s servers. Piped for Atlas deploys that proxy as part of the standard stack. On a correctly configured instance, YouTube therefore sees the instance’s IP address and the videos and searches it requests. It does not see your device’s IP address, a Google account, or cookies, and Atlas never sends it any of those.

Three limits apply, and we want to be direct about them:

• A one-person instance is still you. If you self-host for yourself alone, every request leaving that server is yours, so YouTube can build a picture of what that server watches even without knowing who runs it. Privacy Guides notes that self-hosted frontends blend in better when other people use the instance too.
• Atlas trusts the URLs the instance returns. If an instance is configured without a proxy, or returns direct Google media URLs, Atlas will contact those hosts and your IP address reaches Google. Piped for Atlas is configured to proxy, but Atlas cannot verify how a third-party instance is set up.
• One optional feature talks to YouTube directly. The Resolve Collaborators via YouTube setting described above is off by default for exactly this reason.

Learn more: why Piped exists, how Piped is built, and Privacy Guides on frontends.

SponsorBlock

When SponsorBlock is enabled, Atlas asks your Piped instance for the skip segments of the current video, along with the categories you have turned on. Atlas never contacts the SponsorBlock service itself. The Piped backend makes that request on the instance’s behalf, and in the upstream Piped code it sends only the first four characters of a hash of the video ID rather than the ID itself. SponsorBlock sees the instance, not you. Atlas does not automatically skip segments; it presents a user-controlled skip button.

Age Assurance for Social Features

Comments, live chat, and chat replay are user-generated content. Atlas includes Apple’s Declared Age Range entitlement so it can ask iOS whether the age range declared for your Apple Account is 13 or older before showing that content. This check is not currently enforced in the app. When it is enabled, Atlas receives only the answer to that one question, stores only the on-or-off result and the date it was checked, and re-asks after 30 days. No birth date or other account detail is received or stored.

Apple System Surfaces and Caches

Atlas can make selected local or derived data available to iOS:

• Spotlight can index recent history, completed downloads, subscribed channels, and playlists, including titles, creator names, and poster or avatar references. Channel avatars are cached as small image files so results can show them.
• Handoff can advertise the video or channel currently open in Atlas to your other Apple devices. A device without Atlas continues in Safari on the matching youtube.com page. Apple manages that transfer between your devices.
• Siri, Shortcuts, and App Intents can query downloads, recent history, playlists, and videos recently visible in the app.
• Now Playing can show the active title, creator, artwork, and playback state on the Lock Screen, Control Center, CarPlay, and connected media controls.

Atlas also uses temporary in-memory caches and an Apple-managed URL cache that may use memory and disk. Cached network responses and system index entries can remain until Atlas or iOS refreshes or evicts them.

Backups and Exports

Library → Settings → Backup & Data can export history, search history, subscriptions, playlists, and Suggest More / Suggest Less feedback. Downloads are not included.

An export is an ordinary, unencrypted JSON file handed to the iOS share sheet. Atlas does not add encryption to it. Its final location and protection depend on the app, service, or person you choose to share it with, so treat the file as sensitive.

Diagnostics

Atlas contains no third-party crash-reporting or telemetry SDK. Playback and download diagnostics use Apple’s unified logging system. Atlas marks video identifiers private and does not intentionally log full media URLs, search terms, titles, or backup contents.

On iOS 27 and later, Atlas also receives Apple MetricKit reports: daily aggregated performance summaries and per-event crash or hang reports. They are tagged with the playback path, feed mode, and live chat state at the time, contain no personal data, and are saved as files inside the app’s container. Atlas keeps at most 30 days or 120 reports and deletes older ones. These reports never leave your device unless you explicitly share them from Settings → Diagnostics, which also offers a “Delete All Reports” button.

If you enable Apple’s analytics sharing, Apple may provide developers with crash and performance reports under Apple’s own privacy practices. You can review that setting in Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements.

Retention and Deletion

We retain no Atlas account or viewing database because the app does not send one to us. Data stored by the app remains on your device until you remove it. Atlas provides controls for deleting individual library items and clearing watch history, but it does not currently provide one global “erase everything” button.

Deleting Atlas removes its app container, including its database and downloaded files. The selected Piped instance is mirrored to the iOS Keychain and may remain available to Atlas if you reinstall it. Apple controls the retention of Apple diagnostic reports and system-managed caches or indexes.

Library Recovery

If Atlas cannot open its persistent library, it starts with an empty, temporary store and leaves the existing on-device store untouched. Do not export from that recovery session expecting it to contain the inaccessible library. Preserve the app container while diagnosing the store or restore from a JSON backup created while the library was healthy.

Security

Atlas validates network destinations, rechecks redirects, requires HTTPS for hosted Piped instances, and limits local HTTP to local or private networks. Local data is protected by the security of your device and operating system. No transmission, device, third-party service, or storage method can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Children’s Privacy

Atlas does not knowingly collect personal information from children or maintain user accounts for them. Content reached through Piped comes from YouTube and is not selected, filtered, or moderated by Atlas. Parents and guardians should supervise use as appropriate.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy when Atlas’s behavior or supporting services change. The date at the top identifies the latest revision.

Contact

Questions or requests about this policy can be sent to the address below.