Privacy Policy

First published July 25, 2026 · Last updated October 31, 2026

1. Who we are

Cut "Buddy" Studio is operated by SATUS LLC, a limited liability company registered in Washington, United States.

This policy explains what we collect when you visit cutbuddystudio.com or use the Cut "Buddy" Studio desktop application, why we collect it, and what you can do about it. Questions about anything here: support@cutbuddystudio.com.

2. What we collect

Account information. Your email address, an optional display name, and — if you register with a password — that password stored only as an Argon2 hash. We never store or see your actual password. If you sign in with Google or Microsoft instead, we receive a unique identifier for your account with that provider and your email address; we never receive your provider password.

Purchase information. Payments are processed by Stripe. Card numbers never reach our servers and we do not store them. We keep a reference to the transaction, the billing country and state you entered, the amount paid and any tax, so we can connect your license to your purchase, issue your receipt or confirmation, and handle refunds.

If you buy from outside the United States and Canada, Link (Link, LLC, a Stripe company) is the seller. Link receives your payment and billing details directly, issues your tax invoice, and handles that information under its own privacy policy, as a separate controller. We receive from Link the same transaction details as above, plus a copy of the tax invoice and any refund receipt it issues, which we keep so you can download them from your account page.

License and device information. Which computers you have activated (up to two), a one-way hash of a device fingerprint, a device name you choose, and activation timestamps.

Technical information. IP addresses recorded alongside sign-in sessions and administrative actions, used for security, rate limiting and abuse prevention.

Country lookup. When you view our prices or start a purchase, our server works out which country your IP address belongs to, using database files kept on our own servers — your IP address is not sent to anyone for this. We use the country only to show the right price and to decide who sells to you (see section 2 of our Terms & Conditions). We do not keep the IP address for this purpose; if you go on to buy, only the two-letter country code is saved with your purchase record. This product includes GeoLite Data created by MaxMind, available from https://www.maxmind.com.

Email preferences. Whether you asked us to tell you about new features, and when you asked — or when you later changed your mind. We keep those dates so we can show that any message we sent you was one you had agreed to receive.

Analytics. How the website is used — see section 4.

Troubleshooting reports — only if you send one. If you ask us for help with a problem we cannot reproduce, we may open a troubleshooting window on your account. While it is open, and only when you choose to, the application can package up what it needs to understand the fault and send it to us. It shows you the exact list of files, with their sizes, before anything leaves your computer, and nothing is ever collected or sent without you asking for it.

Such a report can contain the list of cuts you are looking at and the detection settings behind them, a short excerpt of the recording you are working on, the transcript if you have run one, the application's own logs, and information about your computer. It is encrypted on your machine before it is sent, using a key we hold only half of — see section 10. We delete it after 30 days.

What we do not collect. Apart from a troubleshooting report you have chosen to send us, we never receive your videos, audio, transcripts or projects. Detection, speech recognition and rendering all run on your own computer, and your media stays there.

3. Why we use it

• To provide the application and manage your license — necessary to perform our contract with you.
• To send transactional email: address verification, password resets, device confirmations and purchase receipts — necessary to perform our contract.
• To show you the right price and send your purchase to the right seller, based on your country — necessary to perform our contract with you, and to meet tax obligations.
• To tell you about new features and important changes to the product — only if you asked us to, and then just a few times a year. This is with your consent, it is never a condition of having an account, and you can withdraw it at any time from your account page or the unsubscribe link in any such email.
• To investigate a fault you have asked us to look into, using a troubleshooting report — with your consent, given each time you choose to send one. You never have to send one, and you can close the window without sending anything.
• To keep the service secure and prevent abuse — our legitimate interest.
• To meet tax and accounting obligations — a legal obligation.
• To measure how the website is used — see section 4.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising or share it with advertisers.

4. Cookies and analytics

Essential cookie. When you sign in we set a single secure, httpOnly cookie that holds your session so you stay signed in. The site cannot work without it, so it is not optional.

Analytics cookies. We use Google Analytics to understand how many people visit and which pages they use. It sets its own cookies. If you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom, nothing is set unless you accept it first. Elsewhere analytics starts automatically, and you can turn it off below. Either way, refusing has no effect on your use of the site.

5. Who else processes your data

We use a small number of service providers, each only for the purpose listed:

• Stripe, Inc. — payment processing and refunds. For purchases from outside the United States and Canada, Stripe's Link (Link, LLC) is the seller and handles your purchase as a separate controller (see section 2).
• Amazon Web Services (SES) — delivery of transactional email, and of feature announcements if you asked for them.
• Microsoft Azure — application hosting and secret management.
• Google LLC and Microsoft Corporation — optional sign-in, and only if you choose to use it.
• Google LLC (Google Analytics) — website analytics (see section 4).

We do not share your information for any other purpose. We may disclose it if we are legally required to.

6. Where your data is processed

Our infrastructure is operated in the United States, so if you visit from elsewhere your information is processed there. Google LLC is certified under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, which covers transfers of analytics data.

7. How long we keep it

• Account information — for as long as your account exists.
• Purchase and license records, including the copies of Link's tax invoices and refund receipts — retained after account closure where tax and accounting law requires it.
• Sign-in sessions — expire automatically after 30 days.
• Emailed confirmation links — expire after 30 minutes.
• Email preference dates — kept for as long as your account exists, including after you unsubscribe, so we have a record of what you agreed to and when you withdrew it.
• Troubleshooting reports — deleted 30 days after we receive them. We keep a short record that a report arrived, and its size, after the contents are gone.
• Security and administrative logs — retained for security purposes.

8. Your rights

You can ask us to give you a copy of your data, correct it, delete it, or stop using it, and you can withdraw consent at any time. Email support@cutbuddystudio.com and we will respond within 30 days.

If you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom you also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority. If you are a California resident, you have the right to know what we collect and to request deletion; we do not sell personal information.

9. Children

Cut "Buddy" Studio is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Security

Passwords are hashed with Argon2, traffic is encrypted in transit, secrets are held in a managed key vault rather than on disk, and administrative access requires two-factor authentication. No system is perfectly secure, but we take this seriously.

A troubleshooting report is encrypted on your own computer before it is uploaded, with a key that can only be undone inside our key vault. The server that receives and stores it holds no key that can open it, so a report is unreadable to the machine it sits on.

11. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we will update the "last updated" date at the top of this page, and we will tell you directly if the change is significant.

12. Contact

Questions, requests or complaints: support@cutbuddystudio.com, or write to us at the address in section 1. See also our Terms & Conditions.