The short version
- On the Local plan, your voice, dictations, notes, meetings, documents and AI chats stay on your computer. We never receive them.
- We keep only what we need to run your account: your email address, your plan and the computers you've signed in on.
- We don't sell or share your information, show you ads or use anything you say to train AI.
- You can see, export or delete your data at any time, and ask us anything at support@getsovona.com.
1. Who we are
Sovona is made by ICONIC ALI PTY LTD (ABN 57 662 942 556), a company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ("Sovona", "we", "us"). We are responsible for your personal information under this policy, and we are the "controller" of it for the purposes of the GDPR.
This policy covers the Sovona desktop app, our account and licence service, and the website getsovona.com. We handle personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles, the EU and UK GDPR for people in Europe and the UK, and US state privacy laws such as California's CCPA.
Questions or requests go to our Privacy Officer at support@getsovona.com.
2. What stays on your computer
Sovona is built so that your words are processed on your own PC. On the Local plan, these never leave it:
- Your voice. Audio is held in memory while you dictate and then discarded. It is only saved when you choose to record a meeting, and then only on your PC.
- Every dictation, your History, notes, documents and PDFs.
- Meeting recordings, transcripts, summaries and speaker names.
- Chats with the on-device AI, and anything you ask it about your files.
- Your Dictionary, Snippets, Personas and Insights.
- The name of the app you're typing in and the text around your cursor, which Sovona reads only to format text well. It's never stored or sent, password fields are always skipped, and you can turn this off.
Sovona never takes screenshots. Its network log (Privacy, in the app) lists every connection the app makes, with the time and the reason. Because this information never reaches us, we cannot see it, share it or hand it to anyone.
3. Information we collect
We collect only what we need to run your account, deliver the app and keep it secure.
| Information | How we get it | Why we use it | How long we keep it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email address | From you, when you sign in | To sign you in with a one-time code and send account, billing and security emails | Until you delete your account |
| Plan, trial and licence status | Created when you start a trial or buy a plan | To unlock the features you've paid for | Until you delete your account |
| Signed-in computers: a device ID, its name, Windows version and Sovona version | From the app, when you sign in on a computer | To apply your plan's computer limit and let you remove a computer | Until you remove it or delete your account |
| Payment record: amount, date, plan, country, and a one-way code of your card (no card number) | From Stripe, our payment provider | To bill you, send receipts, meet tax rules and allow one free trial per card | Billing records for as long as tax law requires (in Australia, generally 5 years); the card code until you delete your account |
| Update and speech engine downloads: Sovona's version and the file requested | From the app | To deliver updates and speech engines | Server logs, 30 days |
| Technical logs: IP address, time and request type | Automatically, when the app or website contacts our server | To keep the service secure, stop abuse and fix faults | 30 days |
| Crash reports, only if you agree | From the app, after you see and approve each report (or choose "always") | To find and fix bugs. Reports hold the technical error and the Sovona and Windows versions, never your content, account or computer name | 6 months |
| Anonymous usage counts, only if you turn them on | From the app | To learn which features are used. Counts only, never content | 12 months, then deleted |
| Email and device type, if you join a "tell me when it's ready" list | From you, on our website | To email you once when Sovona arrives on that device | Until we've told you, or you ask us to remove it |
| What you tell us when you contact support | From you, by email | To answer you and fix the problem | 12 months, then deleted |
Sensitive information. We don't collect sensitive information such as health details or biometric templates. Voice audio and any speaker detection in meetings are processed only on your computer.
Anonymity. You can browse our website without telling us who you are. To use Sovona you need an email address, because your plan is linked to it.
4. How we use it, and our legal bases
We use personal information only for the reasons in the table above, or for a closely related reason you would reasonably expect. For people in the EU and UK, our legal bases are:
- Contract: to provide your account, licence, updates, billing and support.
- Legitimate interests: to keep Sovona secure, prevent fraud and trial abuse, and improve reliability. We weigh these against your rights, and you can object.
- Consent: for crash reports, usage counts and launch-day emails. You can withdraw consent at any time in the app or by asking us.
- Legal obligation: to keep tax and accounting records.
We don't sell personal information, share it for targeted advertising, build advertising profiles, or use your content or personal information to train AI models.
5. Decisions made by computer programs
Some checks in our account service run automatically, without a person reviewing each one. They use your email address, your plan and payment status, the one-way code of your card, and the identifiers of your signed-in computers. They decide:
- whether a free trial is available to you (one per person and per card);
- whether your plan's paid features are unlocked, and whether a new computer can be added; and
- whether a payment is accepted. Stripe screens payments for fraud using its own systems.
If you think one of these checks got it wrong, email us and a person will review it.
6. Who helps us run Sovona
We use a small number of trusted providers. They process personal information only to provide their service to us, under contracts that require them to protect it.
| Provider | What they do | Where data may be processed |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Hosts our server, database, downloads and website; security checks on our forms | Global network, including the United States |
| Stripe | Payments, invoices and fraud screening | United States and other countries where Stripe operates |
| Zoho (ZeptoMail) | Sends sign-in codes and account emails | Zoho data centres, which may be outside Australia |
| Groq, Cloud plan only (not yet available) | Cloud speech and AI, only for features you switch to Cloud | United States |
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect people's safety, or to a buyer if our business is sold, in which case this policy continues to apply.
7. Sending information overseas
We're based in Australia, but the providers above may store or process personal information in other countries, mainly the United States, and other countries where they run data centres. We choose providers with strong security and privacy commitments. For people in the EU and UK, transfers rely on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or another lawful transfer method.
8. Our website
getsovona.com uses no advertising or tracking cookies and no advertising pixels. We count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics, which does not use cookies or identify you. Forms may use a Cloudflare security check to stop bots. The contact form opens your own email app, so your message doesn't pass through our website.
9. Cloud plan (coming later)
The Cloud plan isn't available yet. When it arrives, you'll choose which features use it, and the app will show clearly whenever cloud processing is on. Audio and text sent for cloud processing pass through our server to Groq to be processed and are not stored by us. Groq is set to keep no copy (zero data retention). Local-only, in Privacy in the app, switches every cloud feature off. We'll update this policy before the Cloud plan opens.
10. How we protect it
- Sign-in uses one-time email codes, so there are no passwords to steal.
- Data is encrypted in transit, licences are cryptographically signed, and updates are signed and checked before they install.
- On your PC, Sovona's data is stored in an encrypted database, and you can add an app lock with a PIN or Windows Hello.
- Our server holds no content, and access to account data is limited to the people who need it.
No system is perfectly secure. If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we'll tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), as the law requires.
11. Your rights and choices
Wherever you live, you can:
- Access the personal information we hold about you, and get a copy.
- Correct it if it's wrong.
- Delete your account in the app (Account, then Delete account), or ask us to. Server records are removed within 30 days, except what the law makes us keep, such as invoices.
- Export everything stored on your PC from the app, in common formats.
- Withdraw consent for crash reports, usage counts or launch emails at any time.
Europe and the UK: you can also ask us to restrict processing, object to processing based on legitimate interests, and receive your data in a portable format.
California and other US states: you have the right to know what personal information we collect, use and disclose, and to delete and correct it. We do not sell or share personal information, as those terms are defined in the CCPA, and we don't use sensitive personal information to infer things about you. We will never treat you differently for using your rights.
How to ask: email support@getsovona.com from the email address on your account, so we can confirm it's you. You can use an authorised agent. We reply within 30 days, and there's no charge.
12. Complaints
- Contact our Privacy Officer at support@getsovona.com and explain the problem.
- We'll acknowledge your complaint, look into it, and give you a written answer within 30 days.
- If you're not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. In the EU or UK, you can contact your local data protection authority, such as the UK Information Commissioner's Office.
13. Children
Sovona is not intended for children under 16, and we don't knowingly collect their personal information. If you think a child has given us information, contact us and we'll delete it.
14. Changes to this policy
We'll update this policy when our practices change. The date at the top shows the latest version. If a change matters, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.
15. Contact us
Privacy Officer, ICONIC ALI PTY LTD (ABN 57 662 942 556)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Email: support@getsovona.com (we handle all privacy requests by email)