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Last updated: 29 September 2026

The short version

You upload an audio or video file, we transcribe it, you download the transcript and subtitles. Your upload is deleted the moment processing finishes (unless you ask for a clean or subtitled version, see below), and the generated files are deleted from the server within 45 minutes (24 hours with any pass, free or paid). No accounts, no profiles, no sharing, and we never train anything on your media.

What we process

• Your file: held only as long as needed to transcribe it. The upload is removed immediately after processing; the transcript/subtitle files are wiped within 45 minutes, or within 24 hours with any pass, free or paid.
• If you tick the box for a clean or subtitled version: then we need your original sound and picture to build it, so the upload is not deleted straight after transcribing. It stays on the server until your results are deleted, and goes with them: after 45 minutes, or 24 hours with a pass.
• Text-to-speech and the text tools: the audio we make from your text is wiped after 45 minutes, with or without a pass. Text you paste into the humanizer or paraphraser is rewritten and sent back; we do not save it.
• Basic technical data: IP address and standard request headers, used only for rate-limiting and security. Not linked to your file.
• If you buy a month pass: a random pass token, the order number we get back from the payment provider, and the e-mail address you entered at checkout. The token is what makes your pass work; it is stored in your browser and in our database. We never see your card details.

Files you choose to send us

Next to a result, you can click “Share these 2 files” to help us find mistakes our tests don’t catch. This is entirely optional and off by default.

• What we ask for: the one file you uploaded and the result we gave you, and nothing else: only the part we need: up to 30 seconds of audio, one page of a PDF, or an image with the location data (EXIF/GPS) removed.
• Faces: a separate checkbox, off by default, where you confirm the file shows faces and everyone in it agreed, with no children in it. Without it, faces are blurred or the file is refused.
• Why: to find mistakes our automatic tests don’t catch, and turn real ones into new test cases.
• Legal basis: your explicit consent (Art. 6(1)(a) and, for special-category data such as faces, Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR). For other people who may appear in your file, our legitimate interest with strict minimisation (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
• How long: at most 30 days, then it is deleted automatically.
• Withdraw any time: you get a one-time code on screen. Enter it whenever you like and we delete the pair, its label and the consent record immediately: as easy as giving it.
• Who sees it: one person on our team, and nothing else. A local AI model only adds a label for the kind of mistake, never a description of a person, and it never leaves our own computer.
• What we never do: we never store your IP address, filename or email with it; never train or fine-tune any model on it; never share it with anyone else, publish it, or offer it through the API; and never use it to identify or score anyone.

What we never do

• No accounts and no tracking of who uploaded what. We only have an email address if you chose to leave one for a free pass. See Email list below.
• No sharing or selling of your audio, video or transcripts, and no storing them longer than described above.
• No training of AI models on your files: transcription runs on our own hardware.
• No third-party AI services for your files. Transcription, translation, the text tools and the Pro meeting notes all run on computers we operate ourselves. Some heavy jobs run on a different one of our own computers than the web server. Your words are never sent to OpenAI, Google or anyone else.

Paying for a pass

The optional €5 month pass is paid through Stripe. Checkout happens on their pages, not ours: your card details go to the payment provider under its privacy policy, and we never see them. We receive a confirmation that the order was paid, its order number and the e-mail address you entered. We link the order to a random token, and that token is your pass. We use the address to send you one e-mail with a link to your pass, and we keep a one-way hash of it next to the pass so you can recover the pass on another device. The address itself stays until you use the unsubscribe link in that e-mail or ask us to remove it.

The pass is stored in your own browser (in local storage, and as a cookie so that download links work). It is not a tracking cookie: it identifies a paid pass, not a person, and it disappears when the pass expires or when you clear your site data.

Email list

You can leave your email address to get a free 12-hour Pro pass, and another one every month: what it unlocks changes from month to month. That is the only reason we ask for it. The tools work without it: nothing here needs an account, and nothing is hidden behind giving us your address.

We store the address, when you signed up, which site you signed up on, the IP address you used, and the exact sentence that was shown next to the button when you asked for the pass. That last part is the proof that you asked for this, which is what the law expects us to keep. We only ever email an address after you click the confirmation link in the first email, so nobody can put someone else on the list.

The emails themselves are delivered by Resend (Resend, Inc.), which sees the address in order to deliver the message and nothing else. We keep your address until you unsubscribe.

Every email has an unsubscribe link that works in one click, without logging in. Use it and your address comes off the list straight away, and we send nothing more. We keep a one-way hash of the address so we can show that we honoured it. Copies of emails we already sent you, with your address on them, currently stay in our send log. We never sell, rent or share the list, and we don't use it to follow you around the web.

Advertising

When ads are shown here, third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on those visits. You can opt out of personalised advertising in Google’s Ads Settings, and opt out of some other vendors’ advertising cookies at www.aboutads.info.

The free tool is kept running by advertising (Google AdSense). Visitors with a month pass see no ads at all, and the ad script is not loaded for them. Google and its partners may use cookies to show and measure ads; where required, consent is requested through Google's certified consent tools first. See how Google uses information from partner sites; manage preferences at adssettings.google.com.

Your responsibility

Only upload media you have the right to transcribe. What you do with the transcript is your responsibility.

Who we are, why we process data, and for how long

Who we are: ShinobiTools, registered with the KvK (Dutch Chamber of Commerce) under number 42147182. Questions about your data go to hello@shinobitools.com.

Each thing we do with your data, why the law allows it, and how long we keep it:

• Processing your file the way you asked, to provide the service you request (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). The upload is deleted right after processing, or with your results if you asked for a clean or subtitled version. Results are deleted after 45 minutes without a pass, and after 24 hours with any pass, free or paid. Text-to-speech audio: 45 minutes.
• Limits, security and usage counts, our legitimate interest in keeping the free tool running and abuse-free (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The counts use a short code made from your IP address instead of the address itself, and daily counts are deleted after 60 days.
• The contact form, to answer your message (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Messages are deleted after 180 days at the latest.
• “Report a problem”, with an optional screenshot, to see and fix the problem you report (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The screenshot box is ticked by default, and you can untick it before sending. Screenshots are deleted after 30 days. To sort reports, the text you type (not the screenshot) is read by an AI assistant, Claude, from Anthropic.
• If you tick “Also send my file and the result” in that window: the file you chose and the result of your job are stored for 30 days and used only to reproduce and fix the problem you reported. They are not shared, not included in our backups, and you can ask for earlier deletion at info@shinobitools.com. Basis: fixing the problem you reported (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR); the box is ticked by default and you can untick it.
• Email list and free pass, your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). We keep your address until you unsubscribe.
• Advertising cookies, your consent, asked through the cookie banner.
• Google Fonts, the typeface used on this site is loaded from Google's servers (fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com) as a page opens, so Google receives your IP address and browser details with that request. We use it to show the pages in the intended typeface. See Google's privacy policy.
• Microsoft Clarity, a script from clarity.ms that records how the pages are used, such as clicks and scrolling, so we can see where a page gets in the way. It is loaded only after you agree to it in the cookie banner. Where the cookie banner reports that consent is not required for your location, it is loaded without that step. See Microsoft's privacy statement.
• YouTube, the demo videos on some pages are played by YouTube (Google). Nothing is loaded from the YouTube player until you press play; then the video is loaded from youtube.com, which receives your IP address and may set its own cookies. On some video pages the preview picture is loaded from YouTube's image server (i.ytimg.com) when the page is shown. See Google's privacy policy.
• Cloudflare, the connection to this site runs through Cloudflare, which passes the traffic on to us and provides security. Cloudflare sees your IP address and the pages you request, and may set a cookie of its own, for example when it checks that a visitor is not a bot. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.

Where it runs: on computers we operate ourselves. Some heavy jobs run on a different one of our own computers than the web server.

Backups: uploads and results are never included in our backups.

Your rights: you can ask us to see, correct or delete your data, to restrict or object to its use, or to take it with you. Write to hello@shinobitools.com. You can also complain to the Dutch data protection authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl), or to the supervisory authority in your own country.

Contact

hello@shinobitools.com