Welcome to SideBySide ("we," "our," or "us"). We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting the information you share with us while using our services.
SideBySide is a platform that facilitates synchronized watch experiences between users and does not operate as a content provider, streaming service, or media distribution platform.
Information We Collect
Information You Provide
When you use SideBySide, we may collect:
- Google account information used for authentication, including your name, email address, and profile photo.
- Anonymous session identifiers when using guest access.
- Information you voluntarily provide through support requests, feedback submissions, or communications with us.
Room Information
To provide the watch party experience, we collect limited information related to watch rooms, including:
- Room identifiers.
- Room creation timestamps.
- Whether you joined as a host or viewer.
- Basic participation history associated with your authenticated account or anonymous session.
Streaming and Media Transmission
SideBySide enables users to watch content together by synchronizing playback experiences between participants using WebRTC technology.
Media selected by users is transmitted directly between participating devices using peer-to-peer connections whenever technically possible. SideBySide does not upload, host, store, maintain a library of, distribute, retain, or otherwise keep copies of users' video, audio, or other media files on its servers.
To establish and maintain these peer-to-peer connections, SideBySide uses Firebase solely for signaling and session coordination. Signaling data may include temporary connection metadata necessary to connect participants, such as room identifiers, session state, and connection negotiation information.
This signaling information does not contain copies of users' media content and is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary to facilitate the session, support reconnection, and maintain service reliability.
We do not intentionally access, review, monitor, inspect, or analyze the contents of users' media. We may access limited session-related information only when reasonably necessary to:
- Investigate abuse, fraud, or violations of our Terms;
- Comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal processes, or lawful requests from authorities; or
- Protect the security, integrity, and reliability of SideBySide.
Emoji Reactions and Interactions
Emoji reactions exchanged during a watch session may be processed in real time to deliver the intended experience.
These interactions are not intended to function as permanent communications and are generally not retained beyond what is necessary to provide the feature.
Anonymous Users
Users may join rooms anonymously. Anonymous access generates temporary identifiers necessary to:
- Maintain active sessions;
- Improve service reliability;
- Prevent abuse and misuse of the platform.
Room History and Temporary Storage
To help users quickly reconnect and access recent activity, we temporarily store limited information about rooms that users host or join, including:
- Room identifiers;
- User roles (host or viewer);
- Basic session metadata.
This information is used exclusively to:
- Display recently hosted or joined rooms;
- Allow users to reconnect after unexpected disconnections;
- Improve the reliability and continuity of active sessions.
Room history and associated signaling information are not stored permanently. Once a room has ended, related records are automatically deleted approximately 24 hours after the session ends. For example, if a room ends at 2:00 PM, its records will be removed at approximately 2:00 PM the following day.
How We Use Information
We use collected information to:
- Provide, operate, and maintain SideBySide;
- Authenticate users and manage sessions;
- Facilitate watch party experiences;
- Synchronize participant interactions;
- Establish and maintain peer-to-peer connections;
- Prevent fraud, abuse, and unauthorized use;
- Improve performance, reliability, and user experience;
- Respond to support requests and feedback;
- Comply with applicable legal obligations.
Sharing of Information
We do not sell your personal information.
We may share information with trusted third-party service providers involved in operating the service, including providers of:
- Authentication services;
- Analytics services;
- Cloud hosting and infrastructure;
- Monitoring and reliability tools.
We may also disclose information if required by law or when reasonably necessary to:
- Comply with legal obligations;
- Enforce our rights and policies;
- Protect the safety, rights, and property of users, third parties, or SideBySide.
Data Security
We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect your information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.
However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Children's Privacy
SideBySide is not directed toward children under the minimum age required by applicable law in their jurisdiction.
We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without appropriate legal authorization. If we become aware that such information has been collected unlawfully, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.
Terms of Service
This Privacy Policy explains how we handle information. Your responsibilities when using SideBySide — including content ownership, copyright compliance, acceptable use, and intellectual property — are governed by our Terms of Service.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.
Any changes become effective upon posting the revised Privacy Policy within the application or through other appropriate channels. Continued use of the service after such updates constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.
Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: