Privacy policy

Updated 26 October 2026. Gregory Joseph George Fowler, trading as Podium, based in Vietnam, is responsible for the account and support information described here. For privacy questions or requests, email gfowlervn@gmail.com.

Classroom recordings stay on your computer by default

The Windows app stores debate names, participant names, recordings, transcripts, notes and reports locally. The beta’s default data location is %LOCALAPPDATA%\Podium Beta\debates. Local speech recognition and the bundled text AI run on your computer. Normal local processing does not upload classroom recordings or transcripts to Podium’s account service.

Podium also contains optional browser dictation, which may send microphone audio to your browser provider under its own privacy terms. Local transcription is the default. Files you export, email, back up or place in a synced folder are also handled by the services you choose.

Accounts, payments and support

Supabase processes your email address, authentication credentials and records, sign-in sessions and account-access status so you can sign in and use the correct plan. Resend delivers account verification and password-reset emails. Vercel hosts the public and account websites. Cloudflare provides DNS and installer downloads; hosting and authentication services may process IP addresses, browser information and security logs.

When paid checkout launches, Paddle will process payment and billing information as merchant of record. Podium will use transaction and subscription identifiers, status and access dates to manage Pro. Card details are entered with Paddle; Podium does not need your full card number.

If you email support, we receive your address and the information you send through Gmail. Please remove student names and other identifying details from screenshots where possible. Do not send passwords, verification links or payment-card details.

Why information is used

We use account information to provide the service, session and security information to protect access, billing records to manage purchases and legal obligations, and support messages to respond to you. Where applicable, the relevant grounds are performing our agreement with you, legitimate interests in operating and securing the service, legal obligations and consent where required. We do not sell personal information. Personalised advertising and advertising trackers are not enabled in the current release.

Public website analytics and your choices

Cloudflare Web Analytics measures visits and page performance on our public marketing pages without analytics cookies. If you choose “Allow analytics”, Microsoft Clarity also collects website interactions such as clicks, scrolling and technical browser information to help us find confusing pages and improve usability. Clarity uses cookies and provides heatmaps and session replays; strict text masking is enabled. Advertising consent is denied, and we do not use this integration for personalised advertising.

Clarity does not load before you opt in. Choose “No thanks” to leave it off, or use “Analytics choices” in the footer at any time to change or withdraw your choice. Withdrawal reloads the page to stop recording. Your choice is stored in this browser for up to 180 days. If browser storage is unavailable, your choice applies to the current page only. We respect Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track by not loading either analytics service. Analytics are excluded from the app, account, checkout and organisation dashboard, and from public URLs containing query parameters.

Microsoft and Cloudflare process analytics under their privacy terms, potentially outside your country. See the Microsoft Privacy Statement and Cloudflare Privacy Policy. Withdrawing consent stops future collection; for requests concerning previously collected information, contact us using the address above.

Storage and retention

Local files stay on your device until you remove them. The app’s delete action moves debates to a recoverable .trash folder; it is not permanent erasure. Account sign-out, cancellation and uninstalling do not automatically erase your debates. Backups and exported reports may contain additional copies.

Account information is retained while needed to provide your account. Contact us to request account deletion or a copy of information we hold. We may retain records required for tax, accounting, security or disputes for as long as those purposes require. Provider logs and backups follow provider retention arrangements; deletion may not remove backup copies immediately. Support correspondence is kept while needed to resolve requests and maintain relevant records.

Schools and children

Podium accounts are intended for adults. Teachers and schools decide which student information to record and are responsible for appropriate notices, permissions, safeguarding and retention. We do not need student accounts for classroom participation. A school should review its requirements before using browser dictation or sharing classroom files with external services.

Your choices and requests

You can choose not to record audio, use local transcription, manage local files and request access, correction or deletion of account information. Depending on applicable law, you may also have rights to restrict or object to processing, portability, withdrawal of consent and a complaint to a relevant authority. Contact us from your account email; we may need to verify ownership. Deleting an account does not cancel a separate paid subscription or erase files on your computer: request cancellation and local deletion separately.

Providers, international processing and browser storage

Our providers may process information outside Vietnam or your home country under their applicable terms and transfer arrangements. Read the privacy notices for Supabase, Resend, Vercel, Cloudflare, Paddle and Google. Account pages and the app use browser storage for sign-in and preferences. Clearing that storage may sign you out or remove unsaved drafts. We will update this notice when material data practices change.

Optional profiles and reviews

You can save your name, role, school or organisation, country, biography and profile picture in your account. These optional details and photos are stored with Supabase and are private to your account and authorised service administration. You can edit or clear the fields and remove your picture from your account page. Photos are resized and re-encoded before upload.

Submitting a review is separate from saving a profile. With your permission, we may publish your review, saved profile name, position, country and review date after checking it. We do not publish your account email, profile photo, organisation, biography or other private details with it. You can withdraw your review in your account. Edits require approval again. Please do not submit student information. Account deletion removes the associated profile and review; ask us to remove any remaining stored photo as part of your deletion request.