Your listening stays yours
Earchelon Privacy Policy
Last updated October 9, 2026
Earchelon is developed and published by Ripley Forge LLC.
Earchelon does not require an Earchelon account, add its own advertising, track people across apps or websites, or send listening analytics to the developer. Podcast publishers may include advertising in their own content. Optional iCloud sync on iOS requires an Apple Account. Android purchases use Google Play Billing.
Information stored on your device
Subscriptions, categories, smart playlists, playback progress, queue, history, bookmarks, favorites, settings, cached feed information, and downloaded media are stored on your device.
Android
Earchelon does not require an Earchelon account. Your followed podcasts, categories, smart playlists, playback progress, played state, queue, history, bookmarks, favorites, settings, cached podcast information, and downloaded media are stored on your device. Earchelon does not operate a server that receives your library or listening history. Private feed addresses may contain access tokens supplied by a podcast publisher; treat those addresses and exported copies as private.
Optional iCloud sync — iOS
When you enable Sync with iCloud, Earchelon stores your subscriptions, categories, smart playlists, played state, playback progress, queue, history, bookmarks, favorites, and settings in your private CloudKit database associated with your Apple Account. This lets Earchelon keep that information consistent across your Apple devices. Earchelon’s developer does not receive a separate copy of your synchronized data.
Downloaded audio is not uploaded to iCloud. Turning Sync with iCloud off stops future syncing on that device but keeps the existing iCloud copy. Delete iCloud Sync Data removes Earchelon’s sync record from iCloud and turns syncing off on that device. A different device that still has syncing enabled may create a new copy later.
Backups and exports
iOS
A manual backup or subscription export leaves the app when you choose an export command and select where to save or share the file, such as iCloud Drive.
If you enable Automatic Backups, Earchelon saves backup copies on your device and mirrors them to your private iCloud Drive when available. The developer does not receive these copies.
Backup files are not encrypted by Earchelon. Encoding and an integrity checksum do not provide secrecy. They may contain private feed addresses and access tokens. Protect exported files and use the destination provider’s privacy and security controls. Downloaded audio is not included.
Android system backup and transfer
When enabled in device settings, Android may back up or transfer selected Earchelon settings, library, playback progress, episode state, and app databases. Downloaded audio and Earchelon's billing cache are not included by the app's explicit backup rules. Reviewer access is stored separately on the installation and is excluded from these backups and transfers. Earchelon's developer does not receive a separate copy. Backup availability and protections depend on the Android version, device, screen-lock settings, and backup provider. We do not promise that every supported device's backup is end-to-end encrypted.
Android manual and automatic backups
You can export subscriptions or create a backup in a location you select. If you enable automatic backups, Earchelon writes backups to your selected folder at approximately your selected daily time and attempts to retain the five newest automatic backup files. A cloud-backed folder can synchronize through its provider. Backups include library, playback and episode state, and settings; downloaded audio is excluded. Exported backup files are not encrypted by Earchelon: Base64 encoding and an integrity checksum do not provide secrecy. They may contain private feed addresses. Protect the files and use the destination provider's privacy and security controls. Reviewer-access grants and entered codes are not included in these exports.
Network requests
iOS
iOS search and discovery connect directly to Apple’s public podcast catalog. Searches send the entered search term and a country code derived from your device’s region setting. Personalized suggestions also send search terms derived from your followed podcasts’ publisher names, podcast genres, and assigned category names. Recommendation ranking takes place on your device; the complete library and listening history are not uploaded to an Earchelon server.
When a public catalog result has no feed address, Earchelon sends its public Apple podcast ID to Podcast Index to find a feed. Private feed addresses and tokens are not sent to Podcast Index. Discover catalog responses are cached locally to support faster loading and previously saved results when a network request fails.
Feed updates, streaming, artwork, transcripts, chapters, and downloads connect directly to the podcast publisher or its hosting provider. These services receive the requested address and normal network information, such as your IP address and request headers, and may operate their own measurement systems. Their handling of requests is governed by their privacy policies.
Android
Android search and discovery connect directly to Apple's public podcast catalog. Searches send the entered search term and a country code derived from device locale. Personalized suggestions also send search terms derived from your followed podcasts' publisher names, podcast genres, and assigned category names. Recommendation ranking takes place on your device; the complete library and listening history are not uploaded to an Earchelon server.
Feed refreshes, artwork, audio streaming and downloads, transcripts, and chapters connect to publishers, hosting providers, and any redirects those providers specify. These services receive the requested address and normal network information, such as your IP address and request headers, and may operate their own measurement systems. Their handling and retention of requests are governed by their policies. Earchelon does not add an advertising identifier to these requests.
App Store purchases — iOS
iOS subscriptions and the Lifetime purchase use Apple’s App Store and StoreKit. Earchelon checks verified transaction and subscription status to activate, restore, and refresh access. Apple processes payments under its own terms and privacy policy. Earchelon does not receive your payment card number or Apple Account password.
Google Play purchases — Android
Android subscriptions and the Lifetime purchase are processed through Google Play Billing. Earchelon receives purchase status, product information, purchase tokens, and acknowledgment status to activate, restore, and refresh access. Purchase information is cached on your device and purchase tokens are used in calls to Google Play, including acknowledgment. The current app does not send purchase tokens to an Earchelon verification server. Earchelon does not receive your payment card number or Google Account password.
The Google Play Billing library includes technical logging to Google, such as API success/failure and service connection information, to improve Billing performance and support errors. The included transport implementation can add device and operating-system information, app version, locale, time-zone, and network information to events. Google handles its services under its own terms and privacy policies.
Notifications
iOS
Episode notifications are created from feed updates using Apple’s on-device notification system. Earchelon does not operate a push-notification or user-tracking server.
Android
Episode notifications are generated from feed updates on your device. Earchelon does not operate a push-notification server.
Feedback and diagnostics
iOS
Earchelon can create a privacy-safe diagnostic summary containing its version, device type, operating-system version, and aggregate counts. It excludes podcast and episode titles, feed and media URLs, listening history, bookmarks, searches, and account information. The summary leaves your device only when you choose to share it.
Android
Diagnostics are generated locally and can be previewed or copied. The summary includes app/build version, device model, Android version, aggregate library and download counts, storage usage, playback/network state, and generation time. It excludes podcast and episode titles, feed URLs, detailed listening history, bookmarks, searches, and account information. Send Feedback opens your email app with a draft containing the summary; you choose whether to send it. If you contact support, the developer receives the email address, message and any information you choose to include.
Support messages and troubleshooting
If you contact us, we receive your email address, message and any attachments or diagnostics you choose to send.
Messages sent to [email protected] are delivered to an iCloud Mail mailbox managed only by Earchelon’s developer. Messages and attachments are retained there and are not automatically deleted on a fixed schedule. Apple provides the email service under its own terms and privacy policy. This does not include your local library or listening history unless you choose to include that information in your message.
When a support report concerns an app problem, the developer may use a third-party AI tool to help investigate or fix it. Before sharing a report, the developer removes names, email addresses, and personal details unrelated to troubleshooting. Information needed to investigate the issue, such as message text, diagnostic details, or attachments, may still be provided to the tool’s provider. These tools are used for individual troubleshooting cases; the provider handles supplied information under its own terms and privacy policy.
Your controls — Android
You can remove subscriptions and downloads, control app and device backup settings, disable automatic backups, and delete exported files using the chosen storage provider. Clearing Android app storage or uninstalling removes local app data, subject to backups and later restores managed by your device or storage provider. Google Play manages purchase records and subscription cancellation; deleting the app does not cancel a subscription.
Changes
This policy may be updated as Earchelon’s features change. The current revision date will appear at the top of this page.
Contact
Questions about this policy or Ripley Forge LLC’s handling of Earchelon can be sent to [email protected].