Privacy Policy

01Who we are

Acousmos is operated by ARRWAY LTD, a company registered in England & Wales ("Acousmos", "we", "us"). ARRWAY LTD is the data controller for personal data processed through the Acousmos application and the website at acousmos.com. This policy explains what personal data we process when you visit the site, buy a subscription, and use the app, and what rights you have over that data.

For any privacy question, or to exercise the rights described below, write to support@acousmos.com.

02What stays on your device

Acousmos is designed so that the content you care about most never reaches us:

• Recordings and audio. Captured and stored in a local archive on your Mac.
• Transcripts and notes. Generated and stored locally, in an open, exportable data format.
• Search index and organisation. Built and kept on your device.

By default there is no cloud sync, no telemetry, and no background upload of your archive. We do not have a copy of it and cannot read it. Backing up and exporting your archive is under your control.

03What we collect

We process a small amount of personal data, only for the purposes shown:

Account & licensing

Your email address and the licence key issued to it, so we can deliver your licence, validate activation, and let you manage your subscription. Licence validation requests are served by license.acousmos.com.

Payment data

Subscriptions are handled by our third-party payment processor (named in the sub-processors list below). The processor collects and processes your card details directly — we never receive or store full card numbers. From it we receive your billing email and subscription status (active, cancelled, renewal date) so we can issue and maintain your licence.

Support correspondence

If you email us, we keep that correspondence and your address so we can help you and follow up.

Website

The website runs no third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking cookies. Web fonts are loaded from Google Fonts, so your browser's IP address is visible to Google when fetching them; see the Google Privacy Policy. Our hosting provider may keep standard, short-lived server logs (IP address, timestamp, requested URL) for security and reliability.

04How we use it

We use the data above to:

• take payment and manage your subscription;
• issue, deliver, and validate your licence;
• provide Cloud-plan inference if you choose that plan;
• respond to support requests;
• keep the service secure and meet legal and tax obligations.

Our legal bases (where the GDPR or similar laws apply) are performance of our contract with you, our legitimate interest in running and securing the service, and compliance with legal obligations. We do not sell or share your personal data for advertising, and we do not use it to train any model.

05BYOK & Cloud inference

How transcription and AI features run depends on your plan:

BYOK (bring your own keys)

You supply your own API keys (for example OpenAI, Deepgram, Anthropic). Inference requests go directly from your device to the provider you configured. Acousmos does not see or relay that audio, and your use of those providers is governed by their own terms and privacy policies.

Cloud

Inference is routed through Acousmos so you don't manage API keys. Audio and text are transmitted to perform transcription and AI tasks and to return the result. We do not retain transcripts after processing and we do not use your content to train models. Your archive still lives on your device.

Acousmos is an independent product. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Deepgram, or any other third-party AI provider; all trademarks belong to their respective owners.

06Sub-processors

We rely on a small set of service providers who process data on our behalf, under contract and only as needed:

• Payment processor (currently Stripe) — subscription billing and payment processing.
• Email delivery provider — sending licence keys, receipts, and support replies.
• Cloud inference provider(s) — transcription and AI processing for the Cloud plan only.
• Hosting / CDN provider — serving the website, downloads, and the licence API.
• Google Fonts — delivering the website's typefaces.

07Retention

We keep licensing and billing records for as long as your subscription is active and afterwards for the period required by tax and accounting law. Support emails are kept while reasonably useful and then deleted. Cloud-plan content is processed in transit and not retained after the response is returned. Your on-device archive is retained entirely by you.

08Security

Connections to the website, downloads, and the licence API use encryption in transit (TLS). Payment data is handled by our payment processor under PCI-DSS. The local-first design itself is a privacy measure: the bulk of your data never leaves your machine. No method of storage or transmission is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable measures appropriate to the limited data we hold.

09Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export, or delete the personal data we hold about you, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to lodge a complaint with a data-protection authority — in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). To exercise any of these, email support@acousmos.com from the address associated with your subscription. We will respond within the time required by applicable law. Note that data which only exists in your local archive is not accessible to us — you control it directly within the app.

10International transfers

Our providers (such as our payment processor and our hosting and email providers) may process data in countries other than your own. Where required, such transfers are covered by appropriate safeguards, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent mechanisms.

11Children

Acousmos is not directed to children and is not intended for use by anyone under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will delete it.

12Changes & contact

We may update this policy as the product evolves. Material changes will be reflected here with a new "last updated" date; significant changes affecting subscribers may also be sent by email. Continued use of Acousmos after an update means you accept the revised policy.

Questions about privacy? Write to support@acousmos.com. See also our Terms of Service.