privacy.
last updated 29 october 2026
the short version
you can listen in the app without signing in. sign-in is optional, with email or apple, to carry purchases between the app and website. no advertising. nothing about you is sold to anyone. account records are separate from the limited anonymous listening and purchase events described below.
the website
if you join the mailing list we store your email address with resend, our email provider, to tell you when new volumes land. you can unsubscribe anytime. website payments are handled by stripe; we do not store your card details. we keep billing and purchase records to provide access and manage subscriptions. the site uses vercel analytics and speed insights to count page views and page speed. signing in uses a session cookie.
asking for something we haven't made
if a search on the website finds nothing, you can leave your email so we can write if we make it. we send a confirmation email through resend. the address is used for this request, not added to a mailing list or sold. scheduled cleanup removes it after two days if you never confirm, after we decide not to make the thing, or twelve months after you confirm, whichever comes first. the forget link in the email deletes it at once. what you asked for is counted with the app's wishes under a code made from your address, never the address itself.
the ios app
your listening position, settled words, downloads and keeps are stored on your device. signing in does not sync them. voice keeps use apple's speech recognition with on-device processing required; there is no server recognition fallback. recordings and transcripts are not uploaded by this feature. if you choose to share something, the app or service you choose receives what you share.
if you choose an account
we store your email address, including an apple relay address if you use one, an account identifier and your sign-in methods. apple sign-in also provides an apple identifier; the website can receive the name you share with apple. we send sign-in codes and links through resend. account and purchase records are stored in our database, hosted with neon. sign-in tokens keep your session working; the app stores its tokens in the device keychain. deleting the app does not delete your account. when you link app store purchases to your account, we verify the transactions and keep purchase identifiers and access records. while signed in, new app store purchases can carry an identifier linked to your account. this lets the website recognise purchases from the app and the app recognise access bought on the website.
deleting your account
you can delete your account in settings in the app or from your account on the website. this removes your account, linked sign-in methods, sessions and account preferences from our database. purchase records are retained under a deleted-account record for accounting and purchase handling. deleting an account does not cancel an app store subscription; manage that with apple. if a website subscription is still renewing, cancel it in billing before deleting the account. we also ask apple to revoke the sign-in connection; this can fail independently of deletion.
requests and delivery in the app
if you ask for a volume, make a wish or submit a playlist, the app sends the request details and an identifier so we can keep track of it and deliver it. a paid request also sends purchase information for verification. if you allow notifications, we store a push token and use apple's push notification service to tell you about your request. choosing a personal volume sends your selected kept sentences, including spoken or typed transcripts and any translations, with their source and order, your chosen language, optional credit and shared links where included, so we can make and deliver it. request identifiers and pending request credits can survive reinstall through the device keychain and, when available, icloud. these requests are separate from the product events below.
what the app sends us
the app sends events such as a volume opened, a track finished or a purchase completed. each event carries a random install id, a time and short labels such as a volume identifier. the event payloads contain no name, no email, no location and no advertising identifier. there is no third-party analytics sdk in the app; the events go to driftspeak's own server, hosted on vercel, and are stored in our neon database. account sign-in, purchase verification and requests use separate messages with the information described above. deleting the app removes its local event id; it does not erase events already sent. catalogue audio and images also require network requests to our hosting and storage providers.
why we collect it at all
to answer one question honestly: does the thing work. whether a volume gets finished or abandoned, whether a chapter is the one everybody stops at. we would rather know that from anonymous counts than from knowing you.
questions
email hello@driftspeak.com and a human will answer.