Privacy policy
Draft: the operator details, hosting information and retention periods still need to be completed before this notice is final.
This notice explains how Best Free Radio handles information when you browse, listen, save stations or contact us. You can use the player without an account.
Who is responsible
Stjepan Crncic The postal address and contact details are listed in the imprint.
For privacy questions, email stefan@forged42.de.
Website delivery and security
To deliver the website and protect it against abuse, the hosting infrastructure processes technical request data such as your IP address, requested resource, request time and browser information. Our server also handles station searches, station details, images and optional usage events. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR: our legitimate interests in providing a working, secure service.
Hosting provider: Laravel Cloud (Laravel Holdings Inc.). Hosting location: Frankfurt, Germany.
The hosting provider also uses Cloudflare Inc. to deliver and protect the website. Cloudflare processes technical connection data and sets the __cf_bm cookie for bot protection. It expires after 30 minutes of inactivity. The legal basis for this security processing is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR; storage needed to protect the requested service is covered by Section 25(2)(2) TDDDG.
Cloudflare and the hosting provider may process technical data outside the EU, including in the United States. Their data-processing terms describe the applicable transfer safeguards. See Laravel’s privacy notice and Cloudflare’s cookie information.
Laravel Cloud application and access log retention: up to 1 day. The hosting provider may delete logs earlier when its storage quota is reached. A specific record may be kept longer where necessary to investigate an incident or fulfil a legal obligation.
Stations and settings in your browser
The public player does not set application cookies. When you save a favourite, it stores that station in your browser so you can find it again. This storage provides the save feature you explicitly request under Section 25(2)(2) TDDDG. Favourites remain until you remove them or clear this website’s browser data.
Remembering listening history and settings across visits is optional and off by default. If you turn on “Remember history and settings”, the player stores recently played and last selected stations, songs you heard, volume and area in your browser. The legal basis is your consent under Section 25(1) TDDDG and, where personal data is involved, Article 6(1)(a) GDPR. You can withdraw this choice at any time by turning it off; this clears those saved records and keeps your favourites. Your choice itself is stored so the player can follow it.
These records stay in that browser and are not uploaded as a listening-history profile. You can also remove them through your browser’s website-data settings. Clearing all website data removes your favourites and preferences too. Stations played during the current visit can appear in the player without being saved across visits. Songs you heard during the current visit stay in the player until you leave or clear them, and are kept for a later visit only when remembering is on.
You can export your favourites as a file, which your browser creates and saves on your device without uploading it, and import such a file again. To import a file or open a shared list, the player sends the station identifiers to our server to look the stations up; nothing is saved unless you add them. If you use “Share list”, the link contains the identifiers of your favourite stations in its address, so anyone you send it to, and any service that carries the link, can see which stations are on it. We do not store the link or the list.
Fonts, station logos and cover images are served from this website. Image and metadata lookups take place on our server rather than sending your browser to external image or font hosts.
The site stores one offline fallback page on your device through a service worker, so the installable app can tell you when a page cannot be loaded. That page contains no personal data. This storage is technically necessary for the installable app under Section 25(2)(2) TDDDG.
Radio streams and Radio Browser
When you press Play, your browser connects directly to the station’s streaming server. The broadcaster or its streaming provider therefore receives your IP address and technical connection information, and may apply its own privacy policy, advertising or geographic restrictions. We do not control that processing.
Choosing “Play on another device” connects the device you pick directly to the station’s stream. The audio passes between that device and the streaming provider, not through our servers.
After playback starts, the player also sends the station identifier directly to Radio Browser’s API to count a listen. Radio Browser receives your IP address and technical request information. No account details, stored favourites or full referring page URL are sent. Saving a favourite does not submit a vote.
These connections support the listening service and station discovery. Where we are responsible for the processing, we rely on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. The independent providers determine their own retention and handling. See Radio Browser and the selected station’s website for provider information.
Usage measurement
We use PostHog’s EU service to measure page visits and playback. Our server forwards playback starts, pauses, stops and failures. These events can include the station identifier and name, time played, a stop reason or error code, a broad traffic source, and approximate country or region when available.
Your browser sends pageviews and diagnostic errors directly to PostHog, which receives technical connection data. When session replay is enabled, PostHog can record page interactions and network timings to help diagnose playback and usability issues. Replay masks input values and omits request and response headers and bodies. The browser SDK stores an anonymous analytics identifier in local storage to connect playback events, recordings and return visits from this browser. You can remove it through your browser’s website-data settings.
We respect Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control for these usage events. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR: our legitimate interest in understanding aggregate use and improving playback reliability. Analytics retention: pending confirmation.
Contact, reports and optional support
Contact links open your email app. Nothing is sent until you send the email. We then process your address, message and any details you choose to include to answer your request. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, or Article 6(1)(b) where the message concerns a contractual request. We keep correspondence as long as needed to resolve the request and meet any applicable record-keeping obligations.
Support links take you to Buy Me a Coffee only when you follow them. Any payment or account information you provide there is handled under Buy Me a Coffee’s privacy policy.
Your rights
Where applicable, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction or portability of your personal data. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests, and may withdraw consent where processing relies on consent. You can contact the operator using the details in the imprint.
You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority, particularly in the EU country where you live, work or believe an infringement occurred. German authorities are listed by the German Data Protection Conference.
Anonymous analytics identifiers link activity from the same browser. Browser-stored identifiers, stations and settings can be removed on your device.