Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how TarkTalk Technology Pty Ltd ("TarkTalk," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, stores, discloses, and otherwise processes personal information in connection with the Superear earbuds, the TarkTalk mobile application, our website, and related services (together, the "Services"). Because our Services capture and process the content of conversations, we encourage you to read this policy carefully, and to share it with anyone whose voice may be recorded through your use of the Services.

We are based in New South Wales, Australia, and we handle personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), together with other data protection laws that apply to you, which may include the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), New Zealand's Privacy Act 2020, and applicable United States state privacy laws.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information you provide to us

• Account and profile data: name, email address, password (stored in hashed form by our authentication provider), profile image, and account preferences.
• Support and communications: information you provide when you contact us, respond to surveys, or request assistance.
• Payment-related data:if you subscribe to a paid plan or purchase Superear hardware, payment is handled by established third-party payment providers — currently Shopify (for hardware purchases) and Stripe (for subscriptions) — who securely collect and process your payment details. We do not receive or store your full payment card number on our systems; we may receive limited transaction data such as a confirmation, plan, billing status, and the last few digits of your card.

1.2 Audio recordings and content generated from them

The core function of the Services is to capture audio around a phone call and turn it into notes. When you use this feature, we (or the app on your device) may process:

• Call and ambient audio captured through the earbuds or, in Demo Mode, the phone microphone. This can include your voice, the voice of the other party to your call, and ambient sound recorded shortly before a call is answered and shortly after it ends.
• Derived content generated from that audio, including transcripts, transcript segments, AI-generated summaries, titles, and action items.
• Recording metadata such as timestamps, section durations, and byte counts.

Where audio is stored. Raw audio recordings are stored locally on your device and are not uploaded to or retained on our servers. To produce transcripts, audio is transmitted to our transcription provider for processing but is not stored by us as an audio file. The text derived from your recordings (transcripts, summaries, and action items) and the associated metadata are synced to our cloud database so that they are available across your sessions and for features such as summaries and question-and-answer over your notes.

1.3 Information collected automatically

When you use the Services, we may automatically collect device and usage information, such as device type and operating system, app version, IP address, language settings, diagnostic and crash data, and information about how you interact with features. We use, and may in future use additional, third-party analytics tools to help us understand how the Services are used and how our users behave in aggregate. This information helps us operate, secure, and improve the Services.

1.4 Information from third parties

If you sign in using a third-party identity provider such as Google or Apple, we receive basic profile information from that provider (for example, your name and email address) to create and authenticate your account. If you connect a cloud storage account (see Section 6), we receive the authorization tokens and account identifier needed to sync content on your behalf.

2. Voice Recordings, Consent, and Sensitive Information

Capturing conversation audio so that it can be transcribed into notes is the core of the Services. Those recordings can be highly sensitive and may, in some jurisdictions, be treated as sensitive or biometric personal information. As the person who initiates and controls each recording, you are solely and exclusively responsible for ensuring that your use of the recording features is lawful, including for determining which laws apply to you and to each person whose voice may be captured, and for obtaining, before recording, all consents and authorizations required from every such person — including the other party to a call and any bystanders whose voice may be picked up before, during, or after a call. We act only as a provider of the tools; we do not, and cannot, obtain any such consent on your behalf, and we assume no responsibility or liability for your recordings or for your compliance with these obligations.

It is your responsibility, and not ours, to disclose that a conversation is being recorded. Before recording, you must verbally inform all parties to the conversation that the conversation is being recorded — including that audio is being captured for transcription and notes — and obtain any consent required by the laws that apply to you. Call recording, surveillance, listening-device, and wiretapping laws vary significantly by country, state, and territory. We do not provide legal advice, and no feature of the Services (including any optional in-app spoken notice that may play to you or to the other party) guarantees compliance with the laws that apply to you, constitutes legal advice, or removes your obligation to make these disclosures yourself. Please see our Terms of Service for the allocation of these responsibilities.

3. How We Use Your Information

We process personal information to:

• Create, authenticate, and manage your account;
• Provide the core Services, including capturing recordings on your device and generating transcripts, summaries, and action items;
• Sync your notes and settings across your sessions;
• Process subscriptions, payments, and hardware orders, and provide related support;
• Enable optional integrations you turn on, such as syncing your AI results to a connected cloud storage account;
• Provide customer support and respond to your inquiries and requests;
• Maintain the security, integrity, and reliability of the Services, and detect, prevent, and address fraud, abuse, and technical issues;
• Analyze usage to operate, troubleshoot, and improve the Services;
• Analyze the content of your conversations and the text derived from them, including through automated and AI analysis, to improve and enhance the quality and accuracy of the Services — for example, analyzing the terminology used in your conversations so that our AI can produce more accurate subscription features, summaries, and action items;
• Send you administrative and service-related communications; and
• Comply with our legal obligations and enforce our agreements.

We may use the content of your recordings, transcripts, and summaries to operate, improve, and enhance the quality and accuracy of the Services, including through automated and AI analysis of the language and terminology used in your conversations. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not permit our AI providers to use your content to train their general-purpose AI models for their own independent purposes.

4. Artificial Intelligence and Third-Party AI Providers

Our transcription and summary features are powered by third-party artificial intelligence providers that process data on our behalf as service providers. Specifically:

• Speech-to-text transcription is performed by our transcription provider (currently Deepgram), which receives the audio streamed or submitted from your device in order to return a text transcript.
• Summaries, action items, and question-and-answer over your notes are generated by our large-language-model provider (currently OpenAI), which receives the relevant transcript text and prompts in order to return the generated text. We also create text embeddings of your notes to enable search and question-and-answer.

These providers are contractually restricted to processing the data only to provide their services to us. API access to these providers is routed through our backend using our own credentials; your requests are authenticated to your account, but our provider credentials are not exposed to your device.

5. Where Your Information Is Stored

Text content and metadata are stored in a managed cloud database and supporting infrastructure operated by reputable service providers on our behalf. Raw audio remains on your device as described in Section 1.2. Authentication credentials on your device are stored in the operating system's secure keychain.

6. Third-Party Cloud Storage Integrations

The Services allow you to connect a third-party cloud storage account, such as Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive, so that you can sync your AI results (for example, summaries, transcripts, and action items) to that account. If you choose to enable this feature:

• You authorize us to access the connected account only to the extent needed to sync the content you direct us to sync;
• We receive and store the authorization tokens and account identifier associated with that connection, which you can revoke at any time from the Services or from your provider's account settings; and
• Once content is stored in your third-party account, it is also subject to that provider's own terms and privacy policy, which we do not control.

7. When and With Whom We Share Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share personal information only as described in this policy, including:

• Service providers and subprocessors who process data on our behalf, including cloud hosting and database providers, our AI transcription and language-model providers, authentication providers, payment providers (such as Shopify and Stripe), analytics providers, and email delivery providers;
• Cloud storage providers you choose to connect (see Section 6);
• Legal and safety recipients where disclosure is required by law, legal process, or a governmental request, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of TarkTalk, our users, or others; and
• Business transfers in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets, subject to this policy.

8. Legal Bases for Processing

Where the GDPR or similar laws apply, we rely on the following legal bases: performance of a contract with you (to provide the Services); your consent (for example, to capture recordings and to enable optional integrations, which you may withdraw at any time); our legitimate interests (such as securing and improving the Services), balanced against your rights; and compliance with legal obligations.

9. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies that are strictly necessary to sign you in and keep your session secure, and we use analytics cookies to understand how the website is used. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. Where required by law, we obtain your consent before setting non-essential cookies. For details, see our Cookie Policy.

10. How Long We Keep Your Information

We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. You can delete individual notes within the Services, and you can delete your account at any time. When you delete your account, we delete or de-identify the personal information associated with it, except where we are required to retain certain information to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, or enforce our agreements. Raw audio stored on your device is removed when you delete the recording or uninstall the app.

11. How We Keep Your Information Safe

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect personal information, including encryption in transit, access controls, and secure storage of credentials. However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential.

12. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, update, or delete your personal information; to request a portable copy; to object to or restrict certain processing; and to withdraw consent. If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your supervisory authority. If you are in Australia, you may raise a concern with us and, if unresolved, with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). Residents of certain United States states may have additional rights to know, access, correct, delete, and opt out of certain processing.

To exercise your rights, contact us using the details in Section 18. We will respond in accordance with applicable law and may need to verify your identity before acting on your request.

13. International Data Transfers

We and our service providers may process and store personal information in countries other than your own, including the United States and other locations where our providers operate. Where required, we implement appropriate safeguards for such transfers, such as standard contractual clauses.

14. Children's Privacy and Age

The Services are intended only for individuals who are at least 18 years old, and they are not directed to children. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18 years old. We do not verify the age of our users, and we rely on this representation; we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we become aware, or are notified, that we have collected personal information from a person under 18, we will take reasonable steps to deactivate the relevant account and delete that information promptly. If you believe a person under 18 has provided us with personal information, please contact us using the details in Section 18 so that we can take appropriate action.

15. Do-Not-Track Signals

We do not use cross-site tracking or advertising cookies; our analytics are used only to understand use of our own Services. Because no uniform standard for Do-Not-Track signals has been adopted, our website does not currently respond differently to such signals. If this practice changes, we will update this policy.

16. Third-Party Links and Services

The Services may link to or interoperate with third-party websites and services that we do not control. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those third parties, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies.

17. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by a revised "Last updated" date. If we make material changes, we will take reasonable steps to notify you, such as by posting a notice within the Services or sending you a notification. Your continued use of the Services after an update takes effect constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

18. How to Contact Us