Privacy Policy

Introduction

KONWA is a real-time voice translator for macOS and Windows. “Services” here means the KONWA desktop app and this website, konwa.live. “We”, “us” and “our” mean SparkLight, the independent studio that makes and runs KONWA.

This policy is written in English and may be translated. Where a translation differs from the English, the English version governs.

KONWA is in public beta. Some of what is described here may still change.

Information We Collect

We collect as little as the product can run on.

• Account information: your email address. Signing in sends a six-digit code to it, so there is no password to store. If you sign in with Google, the name and picture Google returns, and the tokens that authorise us against it.
• Waiting list: if you left your email during the closed beta, we kept it to tell you when registration opened, and for nothing else. Write to support@konwa.live to have it removed.
• Settings and glossaries: the voice, languages and glossaries you choose, and the glossaries you make yourself (their names, terms and translations), kept on our servers so they follow you to another machine.
• Signed-in devices: one record per device, with its operating system, KONWA version and the time it was last used, to keep you signed in on it.
• Speech and translations: the audio of what you say while translation is running, and the text it becomes; with Listen Translation on, also the sound of the one app you chose to listen to. This is processed to give you the translation and is not stored on our servers.
• Voice recordings: if you create a voice of your own, the recording you upload is passed to our voice provider to build the voice and is not kept by KONWA. We keep the voice built from it, the name, recording language and gender you gave it, and when you confirmed it is your own voice.
• Usage: one record for each translation session: when it started and ended, whether it ran in the desktop app or on this website (and in the app, whether the voice went to the virtual microphone or to your own speakers), the app version, why it ended (for example, you stopped it or your time ran out), the time it used, and how many characters of translation were sent to be spoken. For a session on this website, also the voice and the two languages you chose. We also keep the time granted to and used by your account, the speech recognition provider’s count of the time each session used (to check our charges against it), and how many voice previews you play each day. We use this to measure your plan and to prevent abuse. It never includes what was said.
• Diagnostics: when the desktop app runs into an error, it sends us a report with your account: the type of error, where in the app it happened (the stack), the app version, the operating system, and the state of the session at the time. We use it to find and fix faults, and keep it for 30 days. A report never contains audio, captions, transcripts, glossary entries or sign-in tokens. Turn off Send diagnostics in Settings → General to stop sending them.
• Feedback: when you send feedback from the website, we keep what you wrote, your email address, and where you sent it from, with the app version or the browser. To answer you, we look at your account’s recent translation sessions and the errors the app reported. Feedback is deleted with your account; feedback sent without an account is kept for two years. Write to support@konwa.live to have it removed sooner.
• Payment information: handled by Dodo Payments, which sells KONWA’s plans and time packs to you as merchant of record. Your card number reaches Dodo Payments, never KONWA. We keep the record of what you bought and the translation time it granted.
• Technical information: requests to our servers carry an IP address and a description of your browser. We store them with your sign-in session and in our server logs, to keep you signed in and to defend against abuse. To stop sign-in codes being abused, we also count the codes sent to each email address in a day, under a one-way hash of the address, and delete the count within two days.
• Website visits: which pages of this website are opened, the page or site you came from, the links you follow to other sites (such as a download), and the browser, device type and approximate location (country and city, worked out from the IP address). We count visits with OpenPanel, which runs on our own server, sets no cookies and is not linked to your account. We keep this for one year.
• Cookies: the website uses one cookie to remember that you are signed in. The human check on the sign-in page sets its own cookie, to tell a person from a script. We use no advertising or analytics cookies.

How Your Speech Is Processed

While translation is running, audio from your microphone leaves your device to be recognised and translated, and the translation is sent to a voice service to be spoken. That is how the product works; it cannot be done on your device alone today.

With Listen Translation on, the sound of the one app you choose, such as your call app, also leaves your device while translation runs, to be recognised and translated into captions for you. Nothing is spoken for it, and it is handled like your own speech.

We do not keep a recording of what you said or of what you listened to, and we do not store the transcript or the translation on our servers. Captions, yours and the other side’s, stay on your device, where the app keeps them for 30 days as its history.

What we keep is the record of each session described under Usage above — when it ran, for how long and how it was set up — never what was said or heard. Your account page lists your sessions and the time each one used, because that is what a plan is measured in.

KONWA translates what you say and, with Listen Translation on, captions what the other side says, for you alone to read. It is not a recording tool. Whether you may translate or caption a particular conversation, and whether the other people in it need to be told, depends on where you are.

How We Use Your Information

We use what we collect to:

• Provide the service: recognise, translate and speak what you say, and keep your voices and settings.
• Measure your plan: count the translation time you use, grant the minutes you have paid for, and show you both.
• Take payment: sell subscriptions and time packs through Dodo Payments, which issues an invoice for each.
• Write to you: send sign-in codes and messages about your account, your plan or a problem with the service.
• Keep it safe: prevent abuse, protect accounts, and meet our legal obligations.

How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your information, and we do not share it with advertisers. There is no advertising or third-party tracking on this website; the visit counts above stay on our own server.

We share what is necessary with the services KONWA runs on. Each one receives only what it needs to do its part, and none of them may use it for anything else:

• Speech recognition and translation providers: receive the audio of what you say while translation is running and, with Listen Translation on, the sound of the app you chose, and return the text it becomes.
• Speech synthesis and voice providers: receive the translated text to speak, and the recording you supply when you create a voice of your own.
• Cloud infrastructure providers: run our servers, our database, the email that carries your sign-in code, and the check that keeps automated sign-ups out.
• Dodo Payments: the merchant of record for every purchase: it takes the payment, charges any applicable tax, issues the invoice and keeps the billing details that appear on it. It is named because you buy from it directly at checkout.
• Legal requests: we may disclose information where the law requires it, or to protect the rights and safety of our users and ourselves.

Asking Who We Work With

We name the categories above rather than the companies behind them. If you want to know which companies process your information, write to support@konwa.live and we will tell you.

How Long We Keep Information

Your account, the voices you created and your usage record are kept while your account is open. Close it and they are deleted, except where we must keep something to meet a legal or tax obligation — invoices in particular are kept for as long as accounting law requires.

Our servers do not retain speech or translations: they exist there for as long as it takes to translate them. The captions on your device are kept for 30 days as the app’s history, and diagnostic reports for 30 days.

Data Security

Traffic between your device, our servers and the services above is encrypted in transit. Access to account data is limited to those who need it to run KONWA.

No service can promise perfect security. If a breach affects you, we will tell you.

Your Rights and Choices

Wherever you are, you can:

• See what we hold: your account page shows your plan, your translation time and your invoices; ask us for anything else.
• Delete a voice: remove a voice you created at any time.
• Close your account: write to support@konwa.live and we will delete it.
• Stop hearing from us: unsubscribe from anything that is not needed to run your account.

Where Your Information Is Processed

The services listed above operate internationally, so your information may be processed in a country other than your own, including for the moments your speech is being translated.

Children’s Privacy

KONWA is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has given us theirs, write to support@konwa.live and we will remove it.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy. When a change matters, we will say so before it takes effect, and the date at the top will change with it.

Contact

Write to support@konwa.live with any question about this policy or about your information.