Privacy
Last updated 2 October 2026
SmoothDetect is made by Nicholas Pitt, trading as SmoothDetect, in Sydney, Australia. This page says what we collect, why, where it goes, and how to have it removed. It is written to be read, not skimmed past. If anything here is unclear, email support@smoothdetect.com.
The short version
- Your footage never leaves your Mac. SmoothDetect analyses video locally and does not upload clips, frames, thumbnails or file names.
- We collect your first name and email address only when you join the waitlist, ask for a trial key or buy a licence.
- The app contacts our licence server to activate and renew your key. It sends the key, a hashed device identifier and the app version. As with any web request, the server also sees your connection details such as IP address.
- There is no analytics, tracking or advertising in the app or on this site.
What we collect, and why
| When | What | Why | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| You request a trial key | First name, email address, which page or offer you came from, and whether you ticked the box for product updates | To email you the key. Product updates go only to people who ticked the box | Until you ask us to remove it |
| You join the waitlist | First name, email address, which page you came from, and whether you ticked the box for product updates | To email you when free trials reopen, plus a one-off confirmation when you join. Product updates go only to people who ticked the box | Until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove it |
| You buy a licence | Email address, order reference and licence details from Paddle, our merchant of record. Card details never reach us | To issue and support your licence | For the life of the licence and as long as tax law requires records of the sale |
| The app activates or renews a key | Licence key, a hashed device identifier, app version, date and time, and the connection details every web server receives (IP address) | To enforce the seat limit on your licence and stop a key being shared. The IP address is also used to rate-limit trial requests | Licence details for the life of the licence; connection logs are short-lived |
| You send a bug report or feature request from inside the app (optional, and only once this feature is switched on) | What you type, your email if you give it, an installation identifier, app, macOS and panel versions, processor type, the app's settings, what it was doing at the time, recent actions and error codes, timings, and technical facts about the media involved such as codec, frame rate and dimensions. Never the footage itself. Bug reports are encrypted on your Mac before they are sent; feature requests travel over an encrypted connection but are not separately encrypted | To fix the problem or consider the request | Until resolved, then deleted |
| You email support | Whatever you send us | To reply | As long as the conversation is useful |
About the device identifier
To tie a licence to a Mac, the app derives an identifier from hardware details of the machine and hashes it on your Mac before anything is sent. Raw hardware identifiers are not transmitted. The hashed identifier is pseudonymous rather than anonymous: it identifies the machine to us for activation and trial-abuse prevention, but it is not linked to you beyond the licence it belongs to. Our server logs keep only a short prefix of it.
What we do not do
- We do not upload, view or keep any of your video, audio, images or project files. Analysis runs entirely on your computer.
- We do not use analytics, cookies for tracking, advertising pixels or third-party trackers.
- We do not sell, rent or share your details with anyone for their own use.
- We do not send marketing email to people who have not joined the waitlist, asked for a trial or bought a licence.
Who else touches the data
A small number of service providers process data on our behalf, only to run the service:
- Hostinger hosts this website and sends our email. Like every web host, its servers keep short-lived access logs that include visitor IP addresses.
- Railway hosts the licence server, which holds the waitlist, trial and licence records and the hashed machine identifiers. Its servers are in the United States.
- Vimeo plays the walkthrough video, but only when you choose to watch it. When you press play, your browser loads the video from Vimeo, which sees your IP address. We switch Vimeo’s tracking off (“do not track”). The site’s fonts are served from our own server, so simply visiting a page sends nothing to a third party.
- Paddle (Paddle.com Market Ltd) will act as merchant of record for purchases once checkout opens: it handles card details, tax and invoices under its own privacy policy, and passes us your email address and order reference so we can issue the licence. We never receive card numbers.
Our own systems are in Australia. If you are outside Australia, your details are transferred to the providers above in the course of using the service.
Email from us
When you join the waitlist, we send one confirmation email and then email you when free trials reopen. When you request a trial, we send the key by email. If you ticked the updates box we may also send occasional product updates, never more than a few a year. To stop those, click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any update email: it takes effect immediately, no login needed. You can also reply "unsubscribe" or email support@smoothdetect.com, and we will do it by hand within five working days. We record which version of the sign-up wording you saw and when your choice changed. Addresses that bounce are marked so we stop sending to them. Licence and security notices about a key you hold are not marketing and will still be sent.
Your rights
Whether or not a particular law gives you these rights, we offer them to everyone. Email support@smoothdetect.com and we will, within 30 days:
- tell you what we hold about you and send you a copy;
- correct anything that is wrong;
- close your trial or licence and erase your personal information. What this removes and what it keeps is set out under "Deleting your data" below;
- stop all non-essential email.
Australian residents can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Residents of the European Union and United Kingdom have the rights set out in the GDPR and UK GDPR, including the right to complain to their local supervisory authority.
Deleting your data
Three different things can be asked for, and they are not the same:
- Unsubscribe. Stops product-update email. Your licence is untouched. Instant via the link in any update email, or within five working days by request.
- Close a licence or trial. The key stops working. We keep the licence record for as long as tax law requires us to keep records of the sale.
- Erase my personal information. We delete your name and email address from the trial list and from support correspondence. Two things remain, without your name or email attached: the licence key itself, marked as revoked, and the hashed device identifiers that were activated on it. We keep those so the same trial cannot be claimed again on the same machine. They cannot be traced back to you by us or anyone else. Backups that contain the deleted data expire on their normal cycle.
Security
Traffic to the licence server and this site is encrypted in transit. Licence keys carry a cryptographic signature that the app verifies before accepting them. Bug reports sent from inside the app are encrypted on your Mac before they leave it. Server-side records are stored with access limited to the developer. No system is perfect; if we learn of a breach affecting your data we will tell you.
Data and compliance
For readers who need the formal version:
- Controller: Nicholas Pitt, trading as SmoothDetect, Sydney, Australia. Contact for all privacy matters: support@smoothdetect.com.
- Legal bases (GDPR / UK GDPR): performance of a contract for issuing and activating licences and answering support; consent for product-update email (the tick box, withdrawable at any time; we record the wording version you agreed to and when); legitimate interest in preventing licence abuse for the hashed device identifier and short-lived server logs.
- Retention: as set out in the table above. Server access logs and backups are short-lived and expire on our providers' normal cycles; we do not keep separate long-term copies.
- Sub-processors: Hostinger (web hosting and email, EU and US data centres), Railway (licence server, United States), Vimeo (walkthrough video, only when you press play), and Paddle (checkout, merchant of record). We have no other sub-processors.
- International transfers: from Australia to the providers above under their standard contractual terms.
- Automated decisions: none that affect you. The only automated rule is the seat limit on a licence key.
- Cookies: this site sets none. The app stores its settings and licence token locally on your Mac only.
- Requests: access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability and objection are handled by email within 30 days, free of charge; marketing unsubscribes within five working days. We may ask you to confirm the request from the email address on the record.
- Breach notification: affected people and, where required, the OAIC or the relevant supervisory authority are notified without undue delay once a breach likely to cause harm is confirmed.
Children
SmoothDetect is a professional tool and is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect their details.
Changes
If this policy changes in a way that matters, we will update the date at the top and, for changes affecting how we use your details, email licence holders. The current version always lives at smoothdetect.com/privacy/.