No account. You don’t sign in, and we never ask for your name, email or a password to use Musical.
Your music stays yours. It stays on your devices and drives. We never upload your collection, and we don’t store your music, library or listening history on any server.
One thing is stored on a server: the connection IDs that let your devices find and talk to each other. They’re encrypted and kept in Google Firebase.
Lyrics, artwork and other downloads are fetched by you, for your own personal use. We don’t own, host or supply any of it.
No ads, and we never sell your data — we don’t have your name, email, library or listening history to sell.
This website counts visits with Google Analytics. You can switch that off below.
Anything you post on the feedback board is public.
The Musical apps
This covers Musical on Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple TV .
Your music and library
Your music files stay on your devices and drives, wherever you choose to keep them. We never upload your collection to a music server, and we don’t store your music, library or listening history on our servers.
Connecting your devices
So that your Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple TV can find and talk to each other, Musical creates a peer-to-peer connection between your devices. The only thing we keep on a server to make that work is a set of connection IDs, and they’re stored encrypted in Google Firebase. Musical has no accounts, so we don’t attach a name or an email address to them. Your music and library pass between your own devices — we never store them.
No account, no tracking of what you play
There’s nothing to sign in to. Your listening statistics — plays, streaks, top artists and so on — are worked out and kept on your own device, and aren’t sent to us.
Looking things up online
To find artwork, lyrics, track details and suggestions, Musical asks online music services about the artists, albums and tracks involved — for example Apple’s iTunes for suggestions and purchase links. Each of those services has its own privacy policy. You can turn artwork, lyrics and recommendations off in Musical’s settings.
Purchases
The iPhone, iPad and Apple TV apps are bought through Apple’s App Store. Apple handles your payment and your Apple Account, and we never receive your card or account details. Depending on your device’s settings, Apple may give us anonymous, combined statistics, such as download and crash numbers.
Permissions
Musical may ask for permission to reach folders on your Mac or devices on your local network, so it can find your music and your other devices. These stay under your control in your system settings.
Lyrics, artwork and other content
Musical doesn’t own, host, supply or sell any lyrics, artwork, track information, previews or other third-party content. If you use features like automatic lyrics or artwork downloads, or suggestions, your own device fetches that material from third-party sources, for your own personal use. It doesn’t come from us, and none of it is stored on our servers.
All of that content belongs to its respective owners — artists, labels, publishers, lyric providers and photographers — and is protected by their rights. It’s for your personal, non-commercial use, and you’re responsible for making sure your use is allowed where you live. You can turn these downloads off in Musical’s settings.
The same goes for your music: Musical is a player for music you already own, and it doesn’t provide any. If you’re a rights holder with a question, please email us.
Ripping, piracy and paying artists
Musical is made by people who love music and the community around it. We don’t condone piracy, and Musical isn’t a way to get music you haven’t paid for.
The law on copying CDs — including ripping a disc you own for your own personal use — is different from country to country, and in some countries it isn’t allowed. It’s up to you to know and follow the laws where you live, and to only use Musical with music you have the right to use. Nothing on this site is legal advice.
Please make sure the people behind the music are paid what they deserve: buy the albums you love, see artists live, and back the musicians and labels you care about. That’s why Musical helps you preview, discover and keep track of albums to buy.
This website
This section covers our website, musical.rocks.
Analytics
We use Google Analytics, through Firebase, to count visits, see which pages people read and understand which downloads they choose. It records things like the pages you view, your approximate location (worked out from your IP address, which Google doesn’t store), your browser and device type, and whether you click a download button. It doesn’t record your name or email, and we don’t use it for advertising.
You can switch it off for this browser at any time, here or from “Cookie settings” in the footer:
Website analyticsOn — anonymous visit counts from this browser.
You can also block analytics with your browser’s settings or Google’s opt-out add-on.
Downloads
The Mac download is hosted on GitHub. When you download it, GitHub receives your IP address and browser details, under its own privacy statement.
Supporting us
If you choose to buy us a coffee, you’ll leave this site for Buy Me a Coffee, which handles your payment and details under its own privacy policy. We never see your card details.
Server logs
Like any website, our hosting provider may keep basic server logs, such as IP addresses and the pages requested, for security and reliability.
The feedback board
You don’t need an account to post, vote, like or comment. To stop spam and allow one vote per person, the site quietly gives your browser a random anonymous ID (using Firebase Anonymous Authentication). It isn’t linked to your name, email or device.
Here’s what’s stored, in Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore):
Posts and comments — your text, the type of post, the device you picked, the time, and your anonymous ID.
Votes and likes — which posts your anonymous ID has voted for, and when. Only your own browser can see which posts you’ve voted for.
Cooldown markers — the time of your last post, comment and vote, so we can limit spam.
Posts and comments are public. Please don’t include your name, email address or other personal details. We can remove anything you’ve posted — because posts aren’t linked to you by name or email, tell us which post (its title or link) and we’ll take it down.
When you contact us
If you email us, we use your email address and message to reply and to help with your request. We keep correspondence only as long as we need it for that and for our records, then delete it.
Cookies and browser storage
This is everything the website stores in your browser. There are no advertising, tracking or social-media cookies.
What
What it’s for
How long
Google Analytics cookies (start with _ga)
Counting visits and pages viewed. Cleared if you switch analytics off above.
Up to 2 years
Firebase anonymous ID
Lets you post, vote and comment on the feedback board without an account.
Until you clear this site’s data
Feedback activity
Remembers which posts you’ve voted for and when you last posted, voted or commented, to enforce cooldowns.
Until you clear this site’s data
Analytics preference
Remembers if you’ve switched analytics off, and that you’ve seen our cookie note so we don’t show it again.
Until you clear this site’s data
Who we share data with
We use a few providers to run Musical and this site:
Google — Firebase (the device-connection IDs, the feedback board and anonymous sign-in) and Google Analytics.
GitHub — hosting the Mac download.
Apple — App Store purchases, and the online services Musical uses for suggestions.
Buy Me a Coffee — only if you choose to support us; it handles the payment.
We don’t sell your personal data and we don’t share it for advertising. We may disclose information if the law requires it.
Your rights
If you’re in the UK or EU, and in some other places, you have rights over the personal data we hold about you: to see it, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, and to take it with you. You can also withdraw consent at any time. Because we don’t collect names or emails from app or feedback-board users, we may need a few details from you to find the right information.
Where the law needs us to have a reason: we run website analytics, the feedback board and the device-connection service because it’s in our legitimate interests to understand how Musical is used, keep it working and secure, and improve it. We reply to your emails because you asked us to. Where consent is needed, we ask for it.
How long we keep it
Analytics data is kept for the period set in our Google Analytics settings, then deleted automatically. Feedback posts, comments and votes stay on the board until we remove them or you ask us to. Device-connection IDs are kept only for as long as needed to keep your devices connected. Emails are kept only as long as needed.
Moving data abroad
Google and GitHub operate worldwide, so information may be processed outside your country, including in the United States. Where required, they rely on recognised safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.
Security
We use reputable providers, encryption and access rules to protect the little data we hold. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable care.
Children
Musical and this website aren’t aimed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their personal data.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top, and highlight anything significant here.
