Privacy Policy

Last updated: 19 May 2026

WinTranscribe is built so your voice doesn’t need to leave your computer to be useful. This page tells you exactly what data the app and this website handle, where it goes, and how to get rid of it. Plain English, no surprises.

Who we are

WinTranscribe is operated by Laurens van Leer B.V., a Dutch private limited company (besloten vennootschap) registered in the Netherlands. We are the data controller for any personal data described below.

• Company: Laurens van Leer B.V.
• Address: Diefdijk 23, 4145 MJ Schoonrewoerd, Netherlands
• Contact: info@wintranscribe.com

What we do collect

To run a paid product fairly, we keep a small amount of operational data. That’s it.

Per-device usage record

When you first launch WinTranscribe, the app generates a random UUID locally. We call this your device ID. It is not derived from anything that identifies you personally — it is a random number. The device ID, together with a small usage record, is stored in our Cloudflare D1 database so we can enforce monthly minute quotas on subscription plans.

The record contains:

• Device ID (random UUID)
• Plan tier (e.g. Bring Your Own Keys, Starter, Pro, trial)
• Minutes of premium AI upgrade used in the current month
• Last-seen date (so we can roll the monthly counter over)

That’s the entire record. There is no email, no name, no IP address, no transcript content, and no audio in this database.

Subscription data (paying customers only)

If you subscribe to a paid plan, our payment processor Stripe collects the data needed to process payment (name, billing address, card or bank details, country) under Stripe’s own privacy policy. We do not see or store your card details.

From Stripe we receive:

• A Stripe customer ID
• Subscription status (active, trialing, cancelled, past due)
• Plan and billing email (so we can email you about your subscription)

Support correspondence

If you email info@wintranscribe.com, we keep that email so we can reply and remember the conversation. We don’t use support emails for marketing.

How your audio is handled

WinTranscribe runs in two modes. The mode you pick controls who sees your audio.

Bring Your Own Keys mode

You enter your own provider API key in the app’s settings — supported providers are Groq, OpenAI, and Google Gemini Enterprise (formerly Vertex AI) (using your own Google Cloud project for Gemini access). When you transcribe, the audio is sent directly from your computer to your chosen provider under your account. WinTranscribe-operated servers are not in the path. We never see the audio. Costs and retention are governed by your provider account.

Managed mode (subscription)

For Starter and Pro subscribers, the app routes audio through Cloudflare AI Gateway with a zero-retention configuration to one of:

• Groq for live transcription
• Google Gemini Enterprise (formerly Vertex AI) (Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview) for premium accuracy upgrades, hosted in the europe-west4 region (Eemshaven, Netherlands)

Cloudflare AI Gateway proxies the request and is configured not to log request or response bodies. Groq and Google Gemini Enterprise (formerly Vertex AI) process the audio to produce a transcript and discard it after the request completes. Both providers’ commercial terms forbid using your audio to train their models — this is contractual under Groq’s API terms and under Google’s Gemini Enterprise (Vertex AI) customer data commitment, which prohibits training on your inputs and outputs. The transcript comes back to your computer. No copy is kept on our servers at any step.

Data residency & the “does it leave the EU?” question

For the premium transcript upgrade (Gemini), audio is processed in Google’s europe-west4 region. Google’s service-level guarantees keep customer data within the selected region for processing. For live transcription through Groq, audio reaches Groq’s US infrastructure briefly; this transfer is covered by the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, of which Groq is a participant via its parent entity. If your compliance posture forbids any US transfer at all, BYOK mode with a self-managed Gemini Enterprise (Vertex AI) project (described above) keeps everything within your own EU Google Cloud project.

Data Processing Agreement

If your organisation needs a signed Data Processing Agreement under GDPR Article 28 before adopting WinTranscribe (typical for legal, medical, financial, or government users), email info@wintranscribe.com. We have a standard template that names Laurens van Leer B.V. as processor, lists the sub-processors above, and aligns with the EU Commission’s 2021 Standard Contractual Clauses. No charge, signed within a few business days.

Local files

Recordings, transcripts and summaries are written to a folder on your computer that you select in the app’s settings. They are not encrypted by WinTranscribe; they are protected by your operating system’s normal file permissions (and any disk encryption you have enabled, such as BitLocker). You can delete them at any time using File Explorer.

Third-party services we use

Application updates

WinTranscribe is distributed through Microsoft Store and through the publisher’s own download (wintranscribe.com). Updates arrive through whichever channel you installed from. The app does not send telemetry, analytics, or usage statistics about update checks back to us.

The Settings page contains a “Check for updates” button. When pressed, it refreshes the list of AI models the app can offer in its dropdowns — this calls our Cloudflare Worker (wintranscribe-api.wintranscribe.workers.dev) and only the device ID is included in the request, never any audio, transcript, or content.

Legal basis for processing (GDPR)

For users in the European Union and the United Kingdom, we rely on the following legal bases under the GDPR / UK GDPR:

• Performance of a contract — processing the device ID, usage record, and Stripe customer ID is necessary to provide the licensed software and enforce the plan you bought.
• Legitimate interests — routing transcription requests through our managed providers in order to deliver the service you requested, and answering support emails.
• Legal obligation — keeping invoicing records as required by Dutch tax law.

How long we keep data

• Device ID and usage record: kept while you use the product. If you stop using WinTranscribe and ask us to remove the record, we will delete it.
• Stripe data: retained as long as your subscription is active, plus what we are required to keep for accounting (typically seven years under Dutch tax law).
• Support emails: kept for as long as is reasonable to maintain context, then deleted.
• Local files on your computer: kept until you delete them. We have no remote control over them.

Your rights under GDPR

If you are in the EU or UK, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Correct inaccurate data
• Have your data deleted (the “right to be forgotten”)
• Restrict or object to certain processing
• Receive your data in a portable, machine-readable format
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
• Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. In the Netherlands this is the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.

To exercise any of these rights, email info@wintranscribe.com. To help us identify your record without collecting more data than necessary, please include your device ID (visible in the app under Settings → About) or, for paying customers, the email address on your Stripe receipt.

International data transfers

Some of our processors (Cloudflare, Stripe, OpenAI, Google, Groq) are based in the United States or operate global infrastructure. When personal data is transferred outside the European Economic Area, we rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, whichever applies for that processor.

Children

WinTranscribe is a productivity tool for adults. It is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has used the service, please contact us so we can delete the associated record.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of the page and, where appropriate, notify subscribers by email at the address Stripe has on file. Older versions are available on request.

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