Privacy

Your room, your disk.

The Night Watch is software you run. This page explains what the server stores, what the The Common Room iPhone app does, and the two things that ever leave your server.

Last updated September 2026.

The server (your room)

Everything a room knows lives in a SQLite database and an uploads folder on the host's own machine: member display names, optional email addresses and avatars, ballots, RSVPs, nights, snack lists, and notification preferences. The host controls that machine and can delete any of it at any time. We — the people who make the software — have no access to it and no account for you.

The server does not send analytics, crash reports, or usage data anywhere. The Charter license key is verified on the host's server with a public key compiled into the software; it does not contact us to check.

What leaves the server

  1. Push notifications.When the host's server sends a reminder, the notification title and body travel to Apple (APNs) so your phone can show it. If the room relays through our server for Apple delivery, the relay forwards the message and does not store it. Notification content is things like “Fellowship of the Ring — Friday 7:30”.
  2. Optional integrations the host turns on.Posters and release dates may be fetched from TMDB and Wikidata; media specs from the host's own Jellyfin. These requests carry film titles, never member data.

The The Common Room app

The Common Roomis a thin shell that opens the rooms you add. It stores the list of room addresses on your phone and nothing else. Signing in happens on the room's own website inside the app, with that room's cookie. The app asks for notification permission so the room can send reminders; the device token it registers is stored only on that room's server. The app has no analytics, no ads, and no account with us.

Buying a Charter

Checkout is handled by Stripe. We receive the name and email you give Stripe, the amount paid, and a payment reference, and we store them with the license key we issue so we can re-send it to you. We do not see or store card details. Stripe's privacy policy governs the payment itself. If you turn on emailed keys, the message is sent through Resend to the address you gave.

Children

The software is for adults hosting friends. Hosts are responsible for who they invite.

Contact

Questions or deletion requests about a Charter purchase: reply to your Stripe receipt. Questions about a room's data go to that room's host, who holds all of it.