Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 19, 2026

This policy covers the Sotto app for macOS and the website at sotto.to. The short version: Sotto transcribes on your Mac by default, your audio and transcripts are not sent to us, and anything that leaves your Mac is listed below. Questions? Email [email protected].

1. Who we are

Sotto is made by George Kitanov (“Kitze”), a sole proprietor based in Skopje, North Macedonia. “We”, “us” and “our” mean Kitze. Privacy contact: [email protected].

2. Your audio and transcripts

Local models are the default. The built-in Whisper (WhisperKit) and Parakeet models run entirely on your Mac. After a one-time model download, dictation and transcription work with no internet connection, and your audio never leaves your Mac.
History stays on your Mac. Recordings and transcripts you keep in Sotto are stored locally. We have no copy of them.
Cloud transcription is optional. If you connect a cloud transcription provider (for example OpenAI or Groq, or a custom endpoint) with your own API key, the audio you transcribe with that provider is sent directly from your Mac to that provider. There is no Sotto server in the middle. That provider’s own terms and privacy policy apply.
AI text processing is optional. AI rules and functions (rewriting, summaries, titles and similar) use the model you pick: a cloud provider with your own API key (such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Mistral or OpenRouter) or a local model through Ollama or LM Studio. With a cloud provider, the text being processed is sent directly from your Mac to that provider.
Assistant extras are off by default. Assistant tools that reach outside your Mac, such as IP-based location lookup (ipapi.co), only run after you turn them on in settings.

3. What the app sends us

Usage analytics. The app sends usage events to our self-hosted PostHog instance at posthog.server.kitze.io: a random install ID, app launches, settings choices, and recording metadata such as duration, model, language and processing time. We use this to find bugs and see which features get used. Analytics never include your audio or the text of your transcripts.
Crash and hang reports. If Sotto crashes or freezes, it sends a technical report (error details and app state, no audio or transcript text) to the same PostHog instance so we can fix it.
License activation. When you activate Sotto, your license key and an activation for this Mac are checked with our licensing service at releaseflow.net, which enforces the 3-Mac limit. Once activated, analytics events are linked to your activation ID and a one-way SHA-256 hash of your license key (not the key itself).
Update checks. Sotto checks an update feed hosted on releaseflow.net for new versions. Like any web request, this exposes your IP address and app version to the server.

4. Buying Sotto

Checkout goes through releaseflow.net and Polar, our payment provider and merchant of record. Polar collects your name, email, country and payment details; we never see your full card number. We receive your name, email and order details so we can issue your license key and support you. We record the purchase in our analytics (with your email and name) to measure sales. If we run ads, we may report the purchase to that ad platform (for example Meta’s Conversions API) using only a SHA-256 hash of your email.

5. The website

Analytics. sotto.to uses our self-hosted PostHog for page views, clicks, heatmaps, error reports and session recordings, so we can see where the site breaks or confuses people. PostHog sets a first-party cookie and uses localStorage to connect visits. We also keep campaign parameters (UTM tags) and the referring site in localStorage to know which links bring visitors.
Affiliate links. If you arrive through an affiliate link, an affonso_referral cookie (60 days) remembers the referrer so they get credit if you buy. Affiliate tracking is run by Affonso.
Ad pixels. When we run ad campaigns, the site may load pixels from Meta, X, Google Ads or Reddit to measure page views and purchases. These services can set their own cookies under their own policies.
Hosting logs. The site runs on Cloudflare, which processes IP addresses, user agents and request paths for delivery and security.

6. Services we use

Polar: payments, receipts, license keys, customer portal (name, email, billing details).
ReleaseFlow (our own service at releaseflow.net): checkout pages, license activation, downloads and update feeds.
PostHog, self-hosted on our own server: app and website analytics, crash reports.
Cloudflare: website hosting, CDN and DDoS protection.
Affonso: affiliate referral tracking.
Ad platforms (Meta, X, Google Ads, Reddit), only when we run campaigns: ad measurement.

Cloud transcription and AI providers you connect with your own API key are your choice, not our processors: your data goes straight from your Mac to them.

We do not sell your data.

7. Your rights

Wherever you live, you can email [email protected] and ask us to confirm what we have on you, send you a copy, correct it, or delete it. We have to keep payment records as long as tax law requires. Recordings and transcripts live only on your Mac, so you can delete them yourself in the app at any time. We reply within 30 days.

8. International transfers

Some of the services above are based outside the EU (for example Polar and Cloudflare in the United States). They provide their own safeguards for international transfers, such as Standard Contractual Clauses, and we rely on those.

9. Children

Sotto is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you think a child has bought Sotto or sent us data, email us and we will delete it.

10. Changes

We update this page when what we collect or the services we use change. The date at the top shows the latest change.