Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how PodText handles personal information when you use the PodText website at podtext.ai and its account, upload, transcription, communication, and purchase functionality (collectively, the Service), including when you browse the site, submit uploads or links, request transcription or other generated output, communicate with us, or make a purchase.

1. Data Controller

LI MINGXIN, doing business as PodText, is the data controller responsible for the processing described in this Policy. PodText is operated by LI MINGXIN as an individual in China under the laws of the People's Republic of China.

Privacy inquiries and requests may be sent to support@podtext.ai. PodText has not appointed a data protection officer.

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information in connection with the Service:

• Account and authentication information. Name, email address, profile image, authentication provider, password hash or other protected credentials where applicable, email-verification status, sessions, role, ban status, API keys, and account timestamps. If you choose Google sign-in, we receive the profile information you authorize Google to provide, such as your name, email address, profile image, and provider account identifier.
• Submitted content and media. Uploaded files, audio, video, URLs, podcast links, file data, and associated metadata such as file name, type, size, and description.
• Transcription and generated data. Transcripts, timestamps, subtitles, summaries, other requested generated output, and processing status.
• Payment and subscription metadata. Plan and price identifiers, customer, subscription, checkout-session, and invoice identifiers, payment status, billing interval, subscription period, cancellation status, and related timestamps. PodText does not receive or store full payment-card details.
• Communications. Your email address, the content of support or other messages, marketing preferences, and related delivery information.
• Device, usage, and log information. IP address, browser, device and operating-system information, referring page, approximate location derived from IP address, usage and access timestamps, diagnostics, and errors.

Please do not submit content unless you have the rights and permissions needed for PodText and its providers to process it as described in this Policy.

3. How and Why We Use Information

We use personal information only for the purposes and on the legal bases below. The legal basis that applies can depend on where you live and the context.

Purpose	Information involved	Legal basis
Provide accounts, authentication, uploads, transcription, generated output, purchases, subscriptions, support, and requested communications	Account, content, generated data, payment metadata, and communications	Performance of our contract with you
Secure the Service, prevent fraud and abuse, troubleshoot, monitor reliability, and improve features	Account, device, usage, logs, content and communications where necessary	Our legitimate interests in operating a safe, reliable, and effective service
Maintain business, tax, accounting, compliance, and dispute records; respond to lawful requests	Account, payment metadata, communications, and logs	Compliance with legal obligations and, where applicable, our legitimate interests in establishing or defending legal claims
Send optional marketing or use optional cookies and similar technologies	Contact details, marketing preferences, cookie and usage data	Your consent where required; otherwise our legitimate interests where permitted by law

When we rely on legitimate interests, we consider the effect of the processing on your rights and do not use that basis when your rights override our interests.

4. Cookies and Similar Technologies

PodText uses cookies and similar technologies for authentication, session management, security, fraud prevention, and saved preferences. These necessary technologies cannot be disabled without affecting the Service.

If configured, PodText may also use optional analytics, customer-support, or referral technologies. Where prior consent is legally required, we will not activate these technologies for you until an appropriate consent mechanism is available and you provide the required consent. Otherwise, we use them only on another lawful basis available under applicable law. You can manage cookies through your browser settings or contact support@podtext.ai with questions or requests. Blocking some technologies may limit their related features. For details, see our Cookie Policy.

5. How We Share Information

We disclose information only as needed for the purposes described in this Policy:

• Infrastructure, storage, and security providers. Cloudflare services and other vetted providers host, store, transmit, protect, and help operate the Service. They generally act as processors or service providers on our instructions, subject to their contractual terms.
• Authentication. Google processes information if you choose Google sign-in. Google may act as an independent controller for its own processing under its privacy terms.
• Email. A transactional email provider processes contact and delivery data to send verification, account, purchase, security, and support messages.
• Operational notifications. Discord receives limited information for internal operational alerts and incident response, including relevant account identifiers or usernames, transaction references, transcription titles or source URLs, error details, and user-submitted report notes. This information is not used for public posting or marketing.
• Payments. The payment provider identified at checkout processes checkout, payment, billing, tax, fraud, and subscription information. Stripe is currently a payment provider. Waffo Pancake may be offered as an alternative payment provider or processor and may act as merchant of record. The applicable PCI-compliant payment provider handles full card details; PodText does not store them. A payment provider may act as an independent controller for processing required by payment, financial, fraud, or legal rules.
• Transcription, AI, and media providers. Vetted third-party transcription, AI-inference, media-processing, and caption-resolution providers process submitted content and generated data as needed to perform your request. They include Cloudflare services and providers offering OpenAI-compatible APIs. They act as processors or service providers where they process data on our instructions, subject to their terms.
• Optional analytics and support. If configured, these providers process limited usage, device, cookie, or communication data for the enabled feature, subject to the choices described in this Policy.
• Legal and safety disclosures. We may disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with law or valid legal process, protect rights and safety, investigate fraud or abuse, or enforce our agreements.
• Business transfers. Information may be disclosed in connection with a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, insolvency, or sale of all or part of the business, subject to appropriate confidentiality protections.
• At your direction. We may disclose information to another party with your consent or at your request.

PodText does not sell personal information.

6. AI, Transcription, and Media Processing

PodText and its vetted providers process submitted audio, video, files, URLs, podcast links, metadata, and resulting content only as needed to deliver the transcription, summarization, subtitle, media-resolution, or other output you request; maintain security; prevent abuse; and troubleshoot the Service.

PodText does not use your content to train our AI models without explicit consent from you. PodText also does not intentionally enable or authorize a provider to use your content to train its AI models without that explicit consent. AI-generated and automated outputs may be incomplete, inaccurate, or unsuitable for your purpose, so you should review them before relying on or publishing them. Providers in these categories may process information in countries other than your own, as described in Section 7.

7. International Transfers

PodText operates in China, and our servers and providers may process information outside the country where you live. Data-protection laws in those countries may differ from those in your country.

Where applicable law requires safeguards for a transfer, those safeguards may include contractual protections such as Standard Contractual Clauses or other legally recognized measures. You may contact us for information about safeguards relevant to your personal information.

8. Data Retention

We retain each category only for the period stated below, unless applicable law requires a longer period or retention is reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention, a dispute, or establishing or defending legal claims:

• Account data is kept while the account is active and for up to ninety (90) days after account deletion. Account closure ends account access and removes account-linked database records from the active Service; retained copies may remain during this ninety-day period, subject to the exceptions above.
• Payment and transaction records retained by applicable payment providers may be kept for seven (7) years where required for legal, accounting, tax, fraud-prevention, or dispute purposes. This does not mean PodText's database always retains payment rows after account deletion.
• Support records are kept for two (2) years after the last communication.
• Security and access logs are kept for twelve (12) months.
• Audio processed using free promotional credits is deleted seven (7) days after successful transcription. Associated transcripts and generated outputs may remain until you delete them or close your account.
• Paid audio is kept until you delete it. You should delete uploaded files and audio before closing your account. Account closure alone does not guarantee deletion of every object from object storage: de-linked residual objects may remain until PodText processes a verified deletion request. You may request deletion of residual objects by emailing support@podtext.ai. PodText will process a verified deletion request within 30 calendar days, subject to the legal and security exceptions above.
• Transcripts and generated outputs are kept until you delete them or close your account, at which point deletion of their primary account-linked records is initiated, subject to the exceptions above.
• Residual copies in backups may remain for up to thirty (30) additional days after primary deletion before being overwritten or deleted. This backup period does not cover the separately disclosed residual object-storage case unless and until PodText has processed a verified deletion request for those objects.

At the end of the applicable period, we delete or anonymize the information. Legal and security exceptions described above may delay deletion of audio, transcripts, generated outputs, or another affected record.

9. Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect personal information. These include TLS/HTTPS for data in transit, password hashing and credential protections, access controls, and service and security monitoring. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

If a personal-data security incident occurs, we will notify affected users and regulators without undue delay and within 72 hours where applicable law requires it.

10. Your Choices and Rights

Depending on applicable law, you may have the right to:

• access and obtain a copy of your personal information;
• correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• request deletion;
• restrict processing or object to certain processing;
• receive information you provided in a portable format or export it;
• withdraw consent at any time, without affecting earlier lawful processing; and
• complain to a competent data-protection authority.

You may also use available account tools to update your profile, manage API keys, delete content, or close your account. To exercise a privacy right, email support@podtext.ai. We may verify your identity and ask for information needed to locate your records. We target a response within 30 calendar days, subject to applicable-law extensions or different statutory deadlines. If we extend the response period, we will explain why where required.

11. Marketing Communications

We send marketing communications on an opt-in basis where required. You may unsubscribe through the link in a marketing email, change an available account preference, or contact support@podtext.ai. Unsubscribing from marketing does not stop transactional or service messages needed for your account, purchases, security, or requested support.

12. California Privacy Notice

For California residents, the categories collected during the preceding 12 months correspond to the information in Section 2: identifiers and account information; commercial information represented by plan, subscription, and payment status; internet or electronic-network activity; approximate geolocation derived from IP address; communications and user-provided content; and inferences reflected in generated output or service diagnostics. We use and disclose these categories for the purposes described in Sections 3 and 5.

PodText does not sell personal information. We also do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. If an optional analytics, support, or referral activity is considered a "sale" or "sharing" under California law, you may opt out by emailing support@podtext.ai. Subject to applicable exceptions, California residents may request access, correction, deletion, or portability and may opt out of sale or sharing through that same email address. We will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights. We may verify your identity, and an authorized agent may submit a request where permitted by law.

13. Children

The Service is not directed to anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a person under 18 has provided personal information, email support@podtext.ai so we can investigate and delete it as appropriate.

14. Third-Party Links and Services

The Service may link to third-party websites or services that PodText does not control. Their privacy policies govern their own processing. Review those policies before providing information to them. This Policy does not cover a third party's independent practices.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy to reflect changes in the Service, our practices, or applicable law. We will post the revised Policy and update the date above. For material changes, we will provide advance notice through the Service or by email at least 14 days before the change takes effect where practicable. If consent is required for a new use, we will request it.

16. Contact Us

For questions, complaints, or privacy-rights requests, contact:

• LI MINGXIN / PodText
• China
• support@podtext.ai