casthero.app › Hero Remote › Privacy Policy
Effective 13 September 2026
This policy covers Hero Remote for Roku TV on iPhone (App Store identifier app.casthero.remote) and the Android edition of the same app when it is released. Where the two differ, this policy says so.
Hero Remote is a remote control and casting app for Roku players and Roku TVs. It is made and published by JimooTech, the trading name of independent software developer Javidan Salarian (“we”, “us”, “our”). Where this policy describes any personal data, we are its controller. Our contact details are in section 17.
This policy explains, in the order you are likely to meet them, what the app does with information: on your network, on your phone, and on the internet. It is written to be read rather than skimmed, which is why the summary comes first.
Hero Remote works entirely over the Wi-Fi network your phone and your Roku are both connected to. iOS asks your permission for this the first time the app looks for a device (the “Local Network” permission); without it, the app cannot find or control anything.
The app sends a standard discovery broadcast on your network (SSDP, the same mechanism Roku’s own app uses) and listens for Roku devices to answer. If nothing answers within a few seconds, the app checks each address on your local network in turn for a Roku on its control port. Both are fixed, content-free requests: they carry no information about you or your phone, they never leave your network, and they run only while the app is looking for a device.
Remote commands travel from your phone to your Roku’s local address over Roku’s External Control Protocol (ECP): key presses, launching an app, adjusting volume, or opening an app’s page in the Roku store on the TV. Your Roku’s own Control by mobile apps setting decides whether it accepts these commands at all. Like every remote-control app for Roku, Hero Remote sends them unencrypted on your local network, because that is how Roku’s protocol works; see section 12.
The same commands can be sent from the Apple Watch app and the Home Screen widget. The Watch app is a small remote that relays each key press through your iPhone, using Apple’s Watch Connectivity framework; it talks only to your phone, and your phone talks to the TV. The widget sends Back, Home, Play/Pause, Power and volume keys to the last TV you used, directly from the Home Screen. Both reuse the TV details already stored on your phone (section 9) and neither contains analytics or crash reporting.
The keyboard screen sends each character to your TV as you type it, including anything you paste, exactly as pressing keys on a physical remote would. The text goes only to the TV. The app does not keep it and cannot see it again after it is sent. If you type a password into a TV app this way, be aware that it crosses your local network as keystrokes.
To recognise a TV and show you its apps, Hero Remote asks the device to describe itself and reads its name, model, serial number, unique device identifier (UDN), software version and capabilities, such as whether it is a TV and whether it supports volume and power control. It also fetches the list of apps installed on the device and their icons, from the device itself, not from Roku’s servers. The device’s reply contains other fields as well, including your network’s name; the app reads only the fields listed here and does not keep the rest. What it keeps is stored on your phone (section 9) and is never sent to us.
Hero Remote can send photos, videos and music from your phone to your TV. This needs the free CastHero app installed on your Roku; Hero Remote can open its page in the Roku store on the TV for you.
One honest caveat: while the server is running, any device on the same network that knew an item’s exact random address could fetch it. The addresses are not guessable in practice, but you should cast on networks you trust, not on public Wi-Fi.
You can enter the address of an online stream, or import a playlist file, and send it to the TV. The app keeps the links you enter (the most recent forty) and the last playlist you imported on your phone so you can use them again. When you cast one, the app passes the address to the TV and the TV fetches the stream itself; your phone does not. As with any player, whoever operates that address sees the TV’s request and your home network’s public IP address. We never see the links you add. You choose what to add, and you are responsible for having the right to play it.
The Web Casting feature includes a web browser built on the same WebKit engine as Safari, so you can find a video on a website and send it to the TV. A browser is the part of the app with the most to disclose, so here it is in full.
The browser is a general web browser and is not filtered. Please keep that in mind if a child uses your phone; see section 13.
The only information about your use of Hero Remote that leaves your phone and reaches a service we control is the anonymous analytics and crash data described in section 7. It is collected through Google’s Firebase, is not linked to your identity, and is not used for advertising or for tracking you across other companies’ apps and websites. Beyond that, the app collects nothing:
The App Store privacy label for Hero Remote accordingly lists Device ID, Product Interaction, Crash Data and Other Diagnostic Data as “Data Not Linked to You” and states that none of it is used to track you.
Hero Remote uses Google Analytics for Firebase to count how the app is used, so that we know which features matter and which screens cause trouble. It records events such as a screen being opened, a TV being connected, a cast being sent or failing, the CastHero App being missing from a TV, the Watch relaying a key, the subscription screen being shown and a purchase or restore completing. Each event carries a short technical label, for example the kind of item cast or the reason a cast failed, never the item itself, the page, the link or the text. Firebase attaches a random app-instance identifier it creates on your phone, the app version, your device model, operating-system version, language and country as derived from your IP address, and the rough time of the event. We do not send it your name, e-mail address, Roku serial number or anything else that identifies you, and we do not use Google’s advertising identifier or its advertising features, which are switched off in the app’s configuration.
If the app crashes, Firebase Crashlytics sends us a report the next time it starts: the stack trace, the app version, device model, operating-system version, free memory and disk space, whether the app was in the foreground, and the same random installation identifier. We add two flags of our own: whether Remote Pro was active and which language the app was in. Reports contain no content you cast, typed or browsed. We use them only to find and fix bugs.
Both services are operated by Google LLC as our processor under the Firebase Data Processing and Security Terms, and Google’s handling is described in Privacy and Security in Firebase. Data is sent over encrypted connections and is stored on Google’s servers, which may be in the United States. Analytics data is kept for at most fourteen months and crash reports for ninety days, after which they are deleted automatically. Neither is sold, shared with advertisers or combined with data from other apps. The Apple Watch app and the Home Screen widget contain neither service.
Each time it opens, Hero Remote also downloads a small configuration file that we publish on GitHub. The file tells the app whether to show the App Store rating prompt and whether a newer version is required, in which case the app shows a message and a link we have written. The request carries nothing that identifies you and no information from your phone beyond what any web request includes: your IP address and the standard identification of your device’s software. GitHub receives that request under GitHub’s privacy statement. We do not receive it. The app keeps a copy of the file on your phone so it can start without a connection.
The rating prompt itself is Apple’s built-in one. To decide when to ask, the app keeps a count of the commands you have sent and the dates it last asked, on your phone only.
Some features, such as volume control and casting, are part of Remote Pro, offered as an auto-renewing subscription (weekly, monthly or yearly) or as a one-time Lifetime purchase. Prices are shown in the app in your local currency. Purchases are made through Apple’s App Store using Apple’s own in-app purchase system. Apple processes the payment and holds your payment information; we receive no payment details, no name and no e-mail address, and we operate no server that records purchases. The app confirms your purchase on your phone through Apple’s StoreKit, and a Restore Purchases button re-checks it with Apple if you change phones. Whether Remote Pro is active is also noted in analytics and crash reports (section 7) as a yes-or-no flag, with no purchase details.
A subscription renews automatically unless you cancel it at least twenty-four hours before the end of the current period. You can view, change or cancel it at any time in your iPhone’s Settings, under your Apple Account, then Subscriptions. A Lifetime purchase does not renew. Refunds are handled by Apple under Apple’s terms, at reportaproblem.apple.com. Use of the app is governed by Apple’s standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement.
On Android, when that edition is released, subscriptions will be bought and managed through Google Play, under Google’s terms, and the same principle will apply: we will receive no payment details.
Everything the app keeps, it keeps on your phone. Nothing in this table is sent to us or to anyone else, other than the analytics and crash data of section 7, except that your phone’s own backups may include it (see below).
| What | Why | How to remove it |
|---|---|---|
| The Roku devices you have connected to: name, model, local address, serial number and device identifier | To reconnect to the same TV next time | Delete the app |
| For each TV, the apps installed on it, their icons, how often you have launched each from Hero Remote, and which you marked as favourites | The Apps screen, and sorting it by what you use | Delete the app |
| Temporary copies of photos, videos and music you chose to cast | Serving them to the TV | Cleared by iOS; also removed when you delete the app |
| Stream links you entered (up to forty) and the last playlist you imported | To use them again | The clear controls on those screens, or delete the app |
| Browser tabs, history, cookies and other site data | The built-in browser | Clear history, Reset browser, or delete the app |
| Your settings, chosen language, rating-prompt counters and the cached configuration file | Running the app | Delete the app |
| The random Firebase app-instance identifier and any analytics events or crash report waiting to be sent | Analytics and crash reporting (section 7) | Delete the app; a reinstall creates a new identifier |
| The last TV’s address and your Remote Pro status, in a shared container | So the widget and the Watch app can send keys | Delete the app |
Backups. Like most apps, Hero Remote’s data is included when your phone is backed up to iCloud or to a computer, according to your own device settings. Those backups are Apple’s, are protected as Apple describes, and are not accessible to us.
We hold no data that identifies you. The anonymous analytics and crash data of section 7 is deleted by Google automatically, after at most fourteen months for analytics and ninety days for crash reports. Data the app stores on your phone stays there until you clear it in the app or delete the app, which removes all of it. If you write to us, we keep the correspondence for as long as it takes to help you and delete it on request. We make no automated decisions about you and build no profile of you.
Depending on where you live, you may have rights under laws such as the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulations and the California Consumer Privacy Act: to know what personal data an organisation holds about you, to receive a copy, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to its use, and to take it elsewhere. Because the only data we receive is anonymous and is not linked to your identity, we usually cannot find records that belong to you; if you send us the app-instance identifier (which a reinstall of the app resets in any case) we will ask Google to delete the analytics data attached to it. Otherwise our honest answer will be that we hold no personal data about you, and we will say so in writing. You can make a request by e-mail to the address in section 17; we reply within thirty days and never charge for it. We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it for advertising. If you believe we have handled your data unlawfully, you also have the right to complain to the data protection authority where you live.
The app’s design is its main protection: there is no account to breach and no server of ours holding your data. On your network, commands to the TV use Roku’s protocol, which is unencrypted by design, and media is served from your phone at random addresses that are not guessable in practice. Both rely on your Wi-Fi being a network you trust. Your Roku’s Control by mobile apps setting is the control that decides which devices on that network may command it. Treat Hero Remote the way you would treat any remote: use it on your own network, and not on public Wi-Fi.
Hero Remote is a household utility and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone, children included, and the app has no account, no messaging and no advertising. Its built-in browser can reach any website, so an adult should decide whether a child uses the app. If you believe a child has sent us personal information by e-mail, contact us and we will delete it.
The Firebase software development kit is the only third-party code in Hero Remote. It contains no advertising component.
The anonymous analytics and crash data of section 7 is processed by Google, which may store it in the United States, under the standard contractual clauses included in Google’s data processing terms. Apart from that we transfer no personal data anywhere. The other third parties named above may process the requests described in this policy in countries other than yours, under their own policies and safeguards.
If the app changes in a way that affects this policy, for example if the Android edition is released or a feature begins to send information somewhere new, we will update this page, change the effective date at the top, and describe the change in the app’s release notes. The current version is always at casthero.app/remote/privacy.
Questions about privacy, requests under section 11, or anything else about Hero Remote: support@casthero.app. Help with using the app: casthero.app/remote/support. Website: casthero.app.
Hero Remote is an independent product developed by JimooTech. It is not an official product of Roku, Inc. and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, authorised by or endorsed by Roku, Inc. or by any television manufacturer. Roku, Roku TV and Streaming Stick are trademarks of Roku, Inc. References to Roku in the app, on this site and in store listings are made only to identify the devices the app is compatible with. The app’s software, interface, controller layouts, artwork and icons are our own original work; no hardware design, controller trade dress or copyrighted material of Roku, Inc. has been reproduced.
Apple, iPhone and App Store are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play is a trademark of Google LLC. CastHero and Hero Remote are products of JimooTech.