Privacy Policy

Who is responsible

MZ Software LLC, 30 N Gould St # 45399, Sheridan, WY 82801, United States, is responsible for the Yappee app and the getyappee.com website. You can contact us at hi@martinzoeller.com.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, receive a copy of, restrict, or object to the processing of your personal data. You can also withdraw consent at any time for future processing. For AI processing, you do this in the app under AI Processing, in the menu on iPhone and in Settings on Mac. You may also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority. To exercise these rights, contact us; in the app you can also update your profile and delete your account directly in Settings.

International transfers

Yappee is operated by a US company. Our backend and PostHog Cloud EU are hosted in the EU. Some providers we rely on, including OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Google (Firebase Authentication and the Gemini API), RevenueCat, and our crash-reporting provider, are based in the United States. ElevenLabs may process audio, and Google may process Gemini API requests, in regions outside the EU. Where personal data from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland is transferred outside those regions, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

Children

Yappee is a general-audience productivity app and is not directed to children under 13, or the higher minimum age that may apply in your country. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app and website evolve or as legal requirements change. The date above reflects the current version, and we will point out significant changes within the app or on the website.

Contact

For privacy questions or requests, contact hi@martinzoeller.com.

Data we process

Depending on how you use the app, we process the following categories of data:

• Account data: your email address, an optional display name, and an identifier from Sign in with Apple or your Firebase user ID, depending on how you sign in.
• Profile and preferences: optional details such as gender and job title, your default language and formatting preferences, and content you create to improve results, such as custom dictionary words, translation pairs, and chat-message formatting profiles.
• Voice recordings: the audio you record in the app.
• Transcripts and transformations: the text transcribed from your audio and the AI-generated variants you create from it.
• Subscription data: your subscription status and entitlements. Purchases are handled by Apple; we receive your subscription status through RevenueCat.
• Usage metadata: technical metrics such as word counts, processing duration, language, and audio length, used for usage limits and reliability. This does not include your audio or transcript text.
• Diagnostic data: when crash reporting is enabled, crash and error reports including device and operating-system information. These do not contain your recordings or transcripts.
• Analytics data, only with your consent: anonymous in-app usage events. Analytics are off by default and never include your recordings or transcripts.

How your voice and text are processed

To turn speech into text and to power the AI text features, your recordings and the resulting text are sent to specialized providers that process them on our behalf. Before the app sends anything to these providers, it asks for your permission on a separate screen. You can withdraw that permission at any time under AI Processing, in the app's menu on iPhone and in Settings on Mac. Without it, the app cannot turn your voice into text. In detail:

• Transcription: your audio recording is sent to OpenAI or ElevenLabs (we may use either provider) to convert speech into text. ElevenLabs may process audio in regions outside the EU.
• AI text features: your transcript text, together with the settings that improve the result (such as your job title, gender, dictionary words, and translation pairs), is sent to Google's Gemini API to generate the formatted text you request. To suggest a title for a transcript, the transcript text is sent to OpenAI.
• According to these providers' API terms, content sent through their APIs is not used to train their models. The providers may keep API content for a limited time to detect abuse and enforce their usage policies. We do not store your recordings or transcripts on our backend.

Where your data is stored

Your data lives in three places:

• On your device: your transcripts, AI transformations, and the original audio recordings are stored locally on your device and remain until you delete them or remove the app.
• Apple iCloud: this content is synced through your private iCloud account so it is available across your Apple devices. It is stored in your personal iCloud space under Apple's terms, and we cannot access your private iCloud data.
• Our backend in the EU: your account, profile, preferences, dictionary, translation pairs, subscription status, and usage metadata are stored on our server, which is hosted in the European Union. We do not store your audio recordings or transcript text here; they only pass through while being processed.

Why we use data

We use this data only for the following purposes:

• Transcribe your recordings and provide the AI text features you request.
• Create and secure your account and sign you in.
• Sync your content across your Apple devices via iCloud.
• Manage subscriptions and apply usage limits.
• Keep the app stable and diagnose crashes and errors.
• Understand how features are used and improve the app, only with your consent.

Legal bases

If GDPR or similar privacy laws apply, the legal bases are:

• Performance of a contract, Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR, to provide your account, transcription, AI text features, sync, and subscriptions.
• Legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, to keep the app secure and reliable, prevent abuse, and diagnose errors.
• Consent, Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, for optional in-app analytics, which you can withdraw at any time.

Sharing and providers

We do not sell your personal data. We share data only with providers that process it on our behalf to run the app. Each provider is bound by a data processing agreement or equivalent terms that require at least the same protection for your data as this policy describes. These providers are:

• OpenAI (US): transcription and transcript titles.
• ElevenLabs (US): an alternative transcription provider, which may process audio outside the EU.
• Google Firebase Authentication (US): sign-in and account verification.
• Google Gemini API (US): AI text transformations.
• Apple: Sign in with Apple, in-app purchases, and iCloud sync, under Apple's terms.
• RevenueCat (US): subscription management.
• Sentry, operated by Functional Software, Inc. (US): crash and error diagnostics, when enabled.
• PostHog Cloud EU: anonymous in-app analytics, only with your consent.

Retention and deletion

We keep your account and related data while your account is active, and you stay in control:

• Your on-device and iCloud content, including recordings, transcripts, and transformations, stays until you delete it in the app or remove the app. You manage it through your device and iCloud.
• When you delete your account in the app, we mark it for deletion and permanently erase your backend data within 7 days. This includes deleting your authentication record and revoking the linked Sign in with Apple connection.
• Usage metadata is kept to enforce usage limits and keep the service reliable, and is deleted together with your account.

Data we process

We keep data collection limited to what this website currently needs.

• Website usage data: page views, sanitized page URL and referrer without query strings or hash fragments, browser and device information sent by your browser, selected language, and approximate country or continent when available.
• Preference data: your theme setting and analytics consent choice, stored in your browser.
• Analytics event data: App Store button clicks, target platform, locale, and the active headline experiment variant.

Why we use data

We use this information only for the following purposes.

• Provide and localize the website.
• Understand whether visitors view the page and click App Store links.
• Run simple A/B tests for website copy.
• Keep the website reliable and secure.

Legal bases

If GDPR or similar privacy laws apply, the legal bases are:

• Legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, for operating the website, keeping it secure, remembering non-analytics preferences, and measuring site performance in a privacy-preserving cookieless mode.
• Consent, Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, for analytics cookies, local analytics identifiers, and optional analytics after you select Enable.

PostHog analytics

Yappee uses PostHog Cloud EU for website analytics, feature flags, and conversion tracking. PostHog acts as a processor for analytics data.

With analytics consent, PostHog stores first-party cookies or local-storage identifiers for measurement and experiments. Without consent, PostHog runs in cookieless mode and stores no analytics identifiers in your browser.

Sharing

We do not sell personal data.

• Hosting and infrastructure providers process traffic and operational data needed to serve the website.
• PostHog processes analytics and experiment data for us in PostHog Cloud EU.
• Apple receives data under Apple's own terms if you click an App Store link.

Retention

Theme and consent settings remain in your browser until you change them, clear your browser data, or the storage expires. Website analytics events are kept only as long as needed to understand launch performance and improve the site, with a target retention of no more than 24 months unless a shorter PostHog project retention applies or longer retention is legally required. Operational logs, if any, are kept only as long as needed for security and operations.