Privacy Policy
Effective date: 2026-08-23
This policy explains what the Software does with data on your computer and over the network. It is written to be specific rather than reassuring.
What stays on your computer
- Source video and audio files.
- Generated clips and exported MP4s.
- Transcript text files.
- The Whisper and optional speaker-labeling model weights, cached after first run.
- The minute meter, yield log, and your settings, stored under
%LOCALAPPDATA%\ClipForge\. - Your encrypted license key, license-key hash, tier, and verification state.
- Any optional cancellation-survey reason, contact preference, contact email, and timestamp you enter. This survey is stored locally only and does not cancel a subscription by itself.
Except for the explicit outbound requests described below, the Software does not upload these files or local records to the Vendor or a third party. If you enable LLM scoring, transcript text is sent to the provider you choose as described below.
What leaves your computer
The Software makes outbound network requests only in the following situations.
- First-run model download. The Software fetches Whisper and, when speaker labeling is enabled, PyAnnote/WavLM model files from a third-party model host. This is a one-time download per model. The host receives the normal connection data for that download, but not your source video, audio, transcript, or voice embeddings. The host's privacy practices apply to that request.
- License activation. On first activation, the Software contacts Lemon Squeezy or Gumroad, depending on where the key was issued. The request contains your license key and product identifier. For Lemon Squeezy keys, it also contains the generic device label
ClipForge for Windows; Lemon Squeezy returns an instance ID that the Software stores locally. ClipForge does not send your computer hostname. The issuing store's privacy practices apply to that request. - License re-verification. The Software re-verifies the license at most once per 24 hours with the issuing store. Lemon Squeezy validation uses the Lemon-issued instance ID; legacy Gumroad validation uses Gumroad's license service. If the request fails because the network is unavailable, the Software continues to operate normally and retries on the next launch.
- LLM scoring, if enabled. The Software sends the text transcript of your source video to the LLM provider you chose (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, or a custom endpoint) using your own API key. The provider's privacy practices apply to that request. The source video file is not sent. The audio is not sent. The rendered clips are not sent.
- Update check. On launch, and when you click "Check for updates," the Software fetches a small static JSON file from the ClipForge website. The request does not contain your license key, media, transcript, API key, or app settings. As with any web request, the hosting provider may receive standard connection data such as your IP address and user-agent.
The Software itself has no telemetry, usage analytics, crash reporting service, advertising identifier, or third-party analytics SDK.
What we collect when you pay
When you purchase a new license, Lemon Squeezy acts as merchant of record and processes the payment. Lemon Squeezy receives the information required for checkout, tax, fraud prevention, receipts, and payment support under its own privacy policy (lemonsqueezy.com/privacy). Legacy Gumroad purchases continue under Gumroad's privacy policy at gumroad.com/privacy. The Vendor may receive your purchase email, product, transaction identifier, license information, and transaction status so it can deliver and support ClipForge. The Vendor does not directly collect or store your full payment-card number.
What we use email for
The Vendor uses your purchase email only to:
- Deliver your license key.
- Respond to support requests you initiate.
- Process refund requests.
- Send transactional notices if the product changes in a way that materially affects what you bought (e.g. a price change for renewals).
The Vendor does not send marketing email. The Vendor does not sell or share email addresses.
Cookies and the website
The product website (useclipforge.app) may load a Cloudflare Web Analytics beacon for aggregate traffic counts. ClipForge uses no ad pixels, cross-site profiles, analytics cookies, local storage, or fingerprinting. Cloudflare may separately set strictly necessary security cookies and receive standard connection data such as your IP address and user-agent to deliver and protect the site. Support links open your email provider; the website does not store those messages.
Retention
- Lemon Squeezy (and Gumroad for legacy purchases) controls retention of purchase and license records under its own policies. The Vendor may retain records as reasonably required for tax, accounting, fraud prevention, refunds, disputes, and other legal obligations.
- Support email threads are retained only as reasonably needed to provide support, document resolutions, handle disputes, and meet legal obligations.
- Your local license state includes an encrypted copy of your license key, a key hash, tier, verification state, and any Lemon-issued instance ID. Optional cancellation-survey responses also remain local. These records remain until you uninstall the Software and remove its app data. The issuing store retains purchase and license records under its own privacy and retention policies.
Your rights
You can request a copy of data the Vendor holds about you, request correction of inaccurate data, or request deletion, subject to applicable legal retention obligations. Email jgarci.lugo+clipforge@gmail.com from the address associated with your purchase. Removing the Software's local app data deletes its local settings and license state; you can reactivate later with a valid license key. Deleting or disabling a store purchase or license record may end access to paid features.
Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies to you, the lawful basis for processing your licence key, generic device label, and Lemon-issued instance ID is performance of the contract (Article 6(1)(b)) — a licence cannot be validated without them. Beyond access, correction, and deletion above, you also have the right to restrict or object to processing, to receive your data in a portable form, and to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.
Deleting everything yourself. Uninstall ClipForge, then delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\ClipForge\ and the .clipforge_sys file in your home directory. That removes settings, licence state, cached models, logs, and trial counters. To have the activation record removed at the licensing provider, email the address above; the Vendor will action it within 30 days and confirm when it is done.
Children
The Software is not directed to children under 13 and the Vendor does not knowingly collect data about children.
Changes
This policy may be updated. The effective date at the top of this page is the date of the most recent revision. Material changes will be announced on the product website 30 days before they take effect.