PadMonitor: HDMI Monitor — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 29 July 2026

PadMonitor ("the app") is developed by ByteNine AS ("ByteNine", "we", "us"). This policy explains what data the app handles and how. In short: the video and audio you monitor stay on your iPad, the app shows no ads and does not track you. The app collects anonymous usage statistics and crash reports, and one optional feature — the AI Commentator — sends downscaled snapshots of your video to our server while it is running. Both are described in detail below.

What stays on your device

• Your video and audio. PadMonitor displays the signal from your USB-C capture card (a game console, camera, computer, or similar). This video and audio is processed and shown entirely on your iPad. It is never uploaded, except for the optional AI Commentator snapshots described below — and only while you have that feature switched on.
• Recordings. Clips you record are saved into the app's own Documents folder on your iPad (visible in the Files app). They are not sent to us.
• Your settings — filters, scopes, commentator persona, and other preferences are stored locally on your iPad.

Device permissions

• Camera — iPadOS treats a USB-C capture card as an external camera, so the camera permission is what lets the app receive video from the card. The iPad's own built-in cameras are not used.
• Microphone — likewise, the capture card's HDMI audio arrives as an audio input device, so the microphone permission is what lets the app play and record that sound. The iPad's built-in microphone is not used.

You can revoke either permission in iOS Settings at any time; the app will explain what stopped working and why.

Anonymous analytics and crash reports

The app uses Google Firebase to collect anonymous usage statistics and crash reports, which help us see which features are used and fix bugs:

• Events such as "a signal was connected", "a recording was made", or "a purchase was completed", together with app version, device model, and iOS version.
• An anonymous app-instance identifier generated by Firebase. This is not your Apple ID or an advertising identifier.
• Approximate (city-level) location, derived from your IP address by Firebase.
• Crash reports (what the app was doing when it crashed).

This data is not linked to your identity, and is not used for tracking or advertising — the app contains no advertising SDKs and never accesses the advertising identifier (IDFA). Firebase's own privacy documentation: https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy

AI Commentator — only while you use it

The AI Commentator is an optional feature, off by default, that watches your gameplay and speaks live commentary. To generate that commentary, while the commentator is running:

• Roughly every 30 seconds, the app takes one downscaled snapshot (a small JPEG) of the current video frame and sends it over HTTPS to our server at bytenine.com.
• Our server relays the snapshot to an AI provider (OpenAI or Anthropic), which returns one or two sentences of commentary. The spoken voice is generated on your device — no audio is uploaded.
• If you set a gamertag or write a custom persona description, that text is included in the request so the commentary can use it.
• Requests include an anonymous per-install identifier used for the free-minutes quota and abuse limits. It is not your Apple ID and is not used to identify you.

Snapshots are used only to generate the commentary and are not stored on our servers; we do not build any collection of your gameplay images. They are also not used to train AI models — the relevant provider policies are https://openai.com/privacy and https://www.anthropic.com/privacy.

Because a snapshot shows whatever is on your HDMI source, avoid running the commentator while your source is showing something private (for example a computer desktop with personal documents). Turning the commentator off stops all uploads immediately.

Premium voice download

If you enable the Premium voice, the app downloads a speech-model file (about 100 MB) from our server once. This is an ordinary file download; speech is then generated entirely on your device. Our server keeps standard technical web logs (such as IP address) for security and operations.

What we receive — only if you choose to send it

• In-app feedback and bug reports. If you use the "Send Feedback" screen, the report you write is sent to our servers at bytenine.com so we can read and act on it. If you add your email address (optional), we store it only to reply to you. Attached automatically to help us reproduce issues: the app version, your iOS version, and your device model, plus an anonymous random identifier that lets us group reports from the same install. Feedback content may be shown publicly on the app's page at bytenine.com so others can vote on feature requests; your email address is never shown publicly, and you can choose "Developers only" when submitting to keep a report private.
• Remote configuration. The app periodically requests a small configuration file from bytenine.com (feature flags, quota sizes, and occasional announcements). This request contains no personal information about you.

Purchases

Purchases (PadMonitor Pro and Commentary Hours) are processed entirely by Apple. We never see your payment details. Anonymous purchase events (which product, when) appear in the analytics described above.

What we do not do

• We do not sell or share your personal information.
• We do not show ads and include no advertising SDKs.
• We do not build a profile of you or track you across other apps or websites.

Children

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

Data retention and deletion

Commentator snapshots are processed and discarded, not stored. Analytics and crash data are retained by Firebase in aggregate form. Feedback you send is kept as long as needed to address it; to have a feedback report or associated email removed, contact us at the address below. Deleting the app removes all locally stored data (settings, recordings, downloaded voice) from your iPad. Under GDPR you also have the right to ask what data we hold about you and to have it corrected or deleted — email us and we will help.

Contact

Questions or requests about this policy or your data:

ByteNine AS — support@bytenine.com — https://bytenine.com

Changes

We may update this policy; the "Last updated" date above reflects the latest version.