Privacy
How to read this: little reaches us, and everything that does is listed below by name. Last updated October 2026.
This website
These pages build no profile of you. Three things involve your browser's address:
- Our web server's access log. Like almost every web server, ours records each request: your IP address, the time, the page asked for, and what your browser says it is. We use it to keep the site and the service running and to deal with abuse. It is kept for up to 90 days and then deleted, and it is not shared with anybody.
- Counting visits. The pages tell our own server, and nobody else, what happens on them: which page was opened, which link, button or download was clicked, how far a video on the page was played, and the name of the site that linked here, if another did. Our server turns each of these into "one more" on a total for that day, and the totals are all it keeps - no address, no cookie, nothing stored in your browser. To count people rather than page loads, your address and what your browser says it is are mixed with a secret into a code, held in memory only; the secret is replaced every day and the codes are thrown away with it, so nobody, us included, can tell afterwards whose visit was whose or connect one day's visit to another's.
- Fonts. The pages load two typefaces from Google Fonts, so Google's servers receive your IP address and the request for the font, under Google's privacy policy.
Cookies
JoyRemote's pages set no cookies, and store nothing in your browser. That is also why you are not asked to accept any: there is nothing to accept.
The one exception is paying, and the payment page asks you first. The payment form is shown by Paddle, who take the payment, and fetching their code sets a short-lived cookie of their network's that tells a person from a bot. Nothing of Paddle's is requested until you have agreed to it on that page — not the code, not the cookie. Those are Paddle's, not ours, and are described in Paddle's privacy notice.
If you say no, nothing is requested and nothing is stored, and the page says what else you can do — including paying through a link on Paddle's own site instead. Saying no costs you nothing else: your own network is free for ever either way, and your free internet hours are counted on your own computer.
We ask about this one although we think it is the kind of cookie that is strictly necessary and could be set without asking, because we would rather put the choice in front of you than decide it for you. If we ever add a cookie of our own, this page will say so first and you will be asked before it is set.
JoyRemote on your own network
When two of your computers talk to each other on the same network, no server of ours is involved at any point. We do not see that it happened, how long it lasted, or that the computers exist. There is nothing for us to keep.
Each computer keeps a log of connection requests on itself, for you to read. It stays on that computer.
Reaching a computer over the internet
This uses our directory server, which introduces the two computers to each other. It holds, for each computer:
- the ten-digit number it has been given;
- the public half of a key that computer generated itself, which is how it proves which computer it is;
- hashed identifiers of its hardware, so that a computer which is rebuilt can reclaim the same number — hashed on your computer before they are sent, so we hold a fingerprint of each serial number rather than the number itself;
- a name, if you gave it one;
- which version of JoyRemote it runs, and when it was last seen;
- how much time it has spent reaching computers over the internet, which is how the free hours are counted, and whether it has paid;
- for each session it starts over the internet: the two computers' keys, when the session started and until when it was covered. These rows are deleted after seven days; the running total above is kept.
While two computers are being introduced, the server also passes each one the network addresses the other might be reachable at. It does this and forgets it.
What it never sees: your screen, your keystrokes, your files, your clipboard, or anything else inside a session. Those are encrypted between the two computers with keys the server does not have and cannot ask for. This is true even when the connection is carried by our relay, described below.
The relay
When a network will not allow two computers to connect directly, we forward the traffic between them. The relay is deliberately built to know as little as possible: it sees two network addresses, a random session number, and how many bytes passed. It cannot read what it carries, and it is not told whose session it is — permission to use it arrives as a signed ticket naming the session and an expiry, and nothing else.
The directory does record, for each relayed session, which computer is paying for it and how long it ran, so that relay time can be charged to the right computer. The relay itself is still not told.
Network addresses
The directory counts recent requests against the network address they came from, so that one address cannot take an unreasonable number of new numbers. It also remembers the address each computer last contacted it from, so that two computers behind the same internet connection are treated as one network and not counted. Both are held in memory only - for up to a day and for ten minutes respectively - never written to its database, and gone after a restart.
Requests to the directory also pass through the web server described under "This website", so they appear in its access log in the same way.
Payment
Payments are taken by Paddle.com Market Limited, who are the merchant of record. They collect your payment and billing details on their own pages; we never see them and could not store them.
What passes from us to Paddle is a random reference that means nothing to anyone without our records. Your computer's identity does not go with it. What comes back is that the reference was paid, together with Paddle's identifiers for the transaction and for the customer. We keep those identifiers - not your name, address or card - so that a refund can be matched to what it paid for, and so that the refund policy's "once per customer" can be applied.
In the app on an iPhone or iPad, Apple takes the payment; in the app from Google Play, Google does. They collect your payment details, and we never see them. What reaches us is the store's signed record of the purchase: which product, its transaction number, and an anonymous token derived from the device's key, which says which device it was bought for. We keep it so that what was bought can be given, restored and, if the store refunds it, taken back.
Phones and browsers
When you turn on access from a phone or a browser on your own Wi-Fi, that page is served by your own computer, not by us. The pairing secret is created and kept there. We are not involved and see nothing.
If you also turn on access from anywhere, a phone away from your network first loads the page from our directory, which introduces it to your computer in the same way as above. The session itself is still encrypted between the phone and your computer, and we cannot read it.
The JoyRemote app on a phone or tablet
The app on an iPhone, iPad or Android phone is a device to our directory in the same way as a computer. The directory holds, for each:
- the ten-digit number it has been given, and the public half of a key the app generated itself and keeps on the device;
- a name: on an iPhone or iPad simply "iPhone" or "iPad", never the name you gave the device; on an Android phone the phone's own name, or its model if it has none;
- on an Android phone, a hash of Android's identifier for the app on that phone - hashed on the phone before it is sent - so that the app keeps its number and what it has used if it is reinstalled;
- which version of the app it runs, and when it was last seen;
- how much time it has spent connected over the internet and through the relay, and what it has paid for.
The app contains no advertising, analytics or crash-reporting code, and does not read your contacts, photos, location or anything else on the device. Its own log stays on the device. What a session shows and types is encrypted between the device and the computer, as above.
How long things are kept
A number and its record stay for as long as the computer uses them. A number nothing has used for a year is reclaimed and the record removed, so that numbers belonging to computers which no longer exist do not stay issued for ever. Records of payments, refunds and the hours used are kept for as long as they are needed to provide what was paid for and for as long as the law requires us to keep business records. Access logs are kept for up to 90 days. The daily totals of visits and clicks identify nobody and are kept for a little over two years, to compare one year with the last.
Asking us about your data, or to remove it
Write to info@joyremote.com. Tell us the ten-digit number of the computer concerned and we will tell you everything held against it, or remove it, as you prefer. Removing it means that computer gets a new number the next time it registers. Records we must keep by law, and the record of what a computer has paid for and used, are kept for that purpose only.
If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the data protection authority where you live.
Selling or sharing
We do not sell personal information, we do not share it for advertising, and we do not give it to anybody for their own marketing. The only other parties involved are the ones named on this page: Paddle, Apple and Google, who take payments, and Google, who serve the fonts.
Do Not Track
We do not track visitors across other websites or over time, and we do not allow anybody else to do so through our pages. Counting visits, described under "This website", keeps totals and forgets each visitor at the end of the day. Because there is no tracking to switch off, our pages behave the same whether or not your browser sends a "Do Not Track" or Global Privacy Control signal.
Children
JoyRemote and this website are not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has given us information, write to us and we will delete it.
California residents
Everything on this page applies to you, including asking what we hold about a computer and asking us to remove it. We do not sell or share personal information, or disclose it to third parties for their direct marketing, so there is nothing to opt out of. If you have a question about your privacy rights under California law, write to info@joyremote.com.
Changes
When this notice changes, the date at the top of this page changes with it, and any change that affects what we collect or how we use it is announced on this website before it takes effect. The version installed alongside the software changes with it, and section 11 of the license agreement is the part of the agreement this expands on.
Who we are
JoyRemote is published by Tiny Thoughts LTD. That company is responsible for the data described above, and info@joyremote.com reaches it.