Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains what information Readwave ("Readwave", "we", "us") collects, how it is used, and the choices you have. Readwave is a local-first, read-aloud (text-to-speech) application for Windows 11.

The short version

• Free / local voices stay on your device. When you use the built-in local voices, the text you read is turned into speech on your own machine by the bundled Kokoro neural TTS engine. That text is not sent to us or to anyone else.
• Pro cloud features send text to process it. Premium cloud voices and Smart Reading (summarize / translate / simplify) send the text you choose to read to our backend, which uses a third-party AI/text-to-speech service to generate the result, then returns it to your app.
• We don't sell your data, and we don't run ad or analytics trackers in the app. Payments are handled by Stripe — we never see or store your card number.

What stays on your device

When you use Readwave's free, local voices:

• The text you select is processed by the bundled local engine running on your computer.
• The resulting audio plays through your local audio output.
• No reading text is uploaded for these reads.

Your application data is also stored locally on your computer:

• Your settings, selected voice, and custom pronunciations.
• Your listen-later queue.
• Your read history and usage statistics.

This data lives in a local data file managed by the app (for example, read4me.json). Readwave does not sync this file to the cloud.

What Pro cloud features send

Two optional Pro features use our backend and a third-party AI service, and therefore send text off your device:

1. Premium cloud voices (a planned feature) — to produce studio-grade audio and additional languages, the text you're reading is sent to our backend, which forwards it to a text-to-speech provider that returns the generated audio.
2. Smart Reading — to summarize, translate, or simplify text before reading it, the text is sent to our backend, which uses a large language model (LLM) provider to process it.

If you never use Pro cloud voices or Smart Reading, no reading text is sent — even on a Pro plan, choosing a local voice keeps the read fully on-device. We do not use the text you send through these features to train models, and we only process it to return the result you requested.

Account, subscription, and payment data

• Account and licensing. If you create an account or activate a Pro license, we process the information needed to provide and validate your subscription (such as your email address, license key, and subscription status).
• Payments via Stripe. Subscriptions are billed through Stripe. Stripe collects and processes your payment details directly; Readwave never receives or stores your full card number. We receive limited billing metadata from Stripe (such as subscription status and the last four digits / card brand) to manage your plan. Stripe's handling of your data is governed by Stripe's own privacy policy.
• Support. If you email us at [email protected], we use the information you provide to respond.

Analytics and tracking

The app does not include third-party advertising SDKs or behavioral tracking, and we do not sell reading history. If we ever add privacy-respecting, opt-in product analytics, this policy will be updated and the choice will be yours.

How long we keep data

• Local data stays on your device until you delete it (for example, by clearing your queue/history or uninstalling the app).
• Cloud requests for Pro voices and Smart Reading are processed to return your result and are not retained to build a profile of you. Account and billing records are kept as long as needed to provide the service and meet legal and accounting obligations.

Children

Readwave is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age in your jurisdiction), and we do not knowingly collect their personal information.

Your choices and rights

• Use only the free local voices to keep every read on your device.
• Delete local data at any time from within the app or by uninstalling.
• Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete the personal data we hold (such as account and billing records). Contact us at [email protected] to make a request.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected here with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email [email protected] or visit readwave.org. This policy applies to the Readwave application and the readwave.org website, operated by Readwave.