Last updated: September 3, 2026
BufferMind is a real-time AI copilot for lectures, meetings, and conversations, operated by ZCC Labs LLC ("ZCC Labs", "we", "us"). It is available as a web app at buffermind.com, a macOS app downloaded from our website, and an iOS app from the App Store. This policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, who else can see it (including other BufferMind users when you use friends, messaging, calls, or sharing), how long we keep it, and the rights you have over it. Our Terms of Service govern your use of the Service.
At a glance
BufferMind never turns on your microphone or camera on its own. Capture starts only when you take one of the actions below, and stops when that action ends.
If you choose to transcribe audio playing on your computer (for example an online lecture), macOS asks for Screen & System Audio Recording permission because that is the system API that exposes audio from other apps. BufferMind requests the minimum 2×2-pixel video frame the API requires and discards it; no screen content is captured, stored, or transmitted — only the audio. On the web version, the browser's screen-share prompt is used for the same purpose and any video track is stopped immediately.
The camera is used only when you choose to: make a video call, scan a friend's QR code, take a profile photo, capture a photo or video to send in a chat, or snap a problem for Andy (our AI assistant) to explain. Photos you pick from your library are selected through the system picker, which does not give BufferMind access to the rest of your library. On iOS we write to your Photos library only to save a video you just captured if sending it fails, so the clip is not lost.
Calls with friends connect device-to-device where possible. iOS asks for local-network permission so that two devices on the same Wi-Fi can connect directly for better quality.
Voice Typing needs macOS Accessibility permission to notice when you press the fn key and to insert the transcribed text into the app you are using. The key listener subscribes only to modifier-key state changes (fn pressed or released); it does not see the characters you type, and it is removed entirely when you turn Voice Typing off. To insert text, BufferMind reads the type of the focused text field, places the text on the clipboard, pastes it, and restores your previous clipboard contents. The macOS app is distributed outside the Mac App Store and is not sandboxed; it checks for updates only when you ask it to (Settings → Check for updates), against our own update server, and that check does not include your account identity.
If you allow notifications, we store your device's push token so we can notify you of new messages and incoming calls from friends. Notifications are delivered through Apple's Push Notification service and include the sender's username and a short preview of the message text (or the type of attachment). Apple may hold an undelivered notification for up to 24 hours. You can turn notifications off in iOS Settings at any time.
BufferMind does not read your contacts or address book, does not use your location, does not record keystrokes, does not use advertising identifiers, and does not track you across other apps or websites.
You may use BufferMind as a guest without providing an email address. Guest accounts receive a temporary anonymous identifier for session management, are limited to shorter recordings, and cannot use friends, messaging, calls, QR codes, or referral features and are not discoverable by other users. Guest recordings are stored under the anonymous identifier and can be deleted from the app like any other recording; we may also delete inactive anonymous accounts and their data. If you later create an account, your guest data is not automatically linked to it.
We use the information above to:
Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, our legal bases are: performance of our contract with you (providing the features you use), your consent (microphone, camera, notifications, cross-border transfer, and processing of voice and image data as described below), and our legitimate interests in securing and improving the Service, which we balance against your rights.
Social features are one-to-one and require a mutually accepted friendship. There is no public feed or user directory. When you use them, other users can see:
Un-sending and deletion have limits. Un-sending a message removes its content from our servers and from the recipient's app, but a push notification that was already delivered to their device cannot be recalled, and the media file may remain in storage until routine cleanup or account deletion. Removing a friend closes the conversation to new messages but does not delete its history on either side.
Transcription, translation, summaries, titles, answers, and Andy conversations are produced by sending the relevant text — and, for photo questions, the image you submit — to the AI providers listed below. Photos are sent at the time you ask and are not kept on our servers. We do not use Your Content to train AI models, and our AI providers process it under commercial API terms that do not permit them to use it for training. Speaker labels ("Speaker 1", "Speaker 2") come from our speech-recognition provider, not from a language model. AI output can be wrong; please review it before relying on it.
Cloud storage. When you are signed in, your data is stored with U.S. providers: transcripts, messages, account and billing records in a Supabase database; audio recordings, profile photos, and chat media in Cloudflare R2 object storage (recordings are uploaded while you record so they are not lost if the app closes), with an hourly backup copy kept in a second Cloudflare bucket for disaster recovery; some older recordings and recordings made on macOS are stored in Supabase Storage. Our API runs on Cloudflare's network. All cloud data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest, and access to production systems is restricted to authorized personnel.
Local storage on your device. To support offline playback and fast session history, BufferMind also keeps a copy of your sessions and audio on the device itself — in IndexedDB (browser / iOS WebView) or the application's data directory (macOS app) — and, on iOS, a cache of your most recent chat messages. This local copy is stored as plaintext and relies on your operating system's user-account protections rather than client-side encryption. Anyone with physical or administrator access to your device may be able to read it, so please secure your device accordingly. Signing out clears the chat cache; you can delete local sessions at any time from the app.
We share data with the following providers only as needed to run the features you use. Each is bound by its own terms and privacy policy.
ZCC Labs LLC operates from the United States, and the providers above are U.S. companies whose primary storage for our data is in the United States. Cloudflare operates a global network and may process or cache requests at the data center nearest to you. When you use BufferMind from any other country, your personal data is transferred to, stored, and processed in the U.S.
Recipients of transferred data:
For users located in jurisdictions with data localization or cross-border transfer laws (including but not limited to the People's Republic of China under the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), and the European Economic Area / United Kingdom under the GDPR), this cross-border transfer is made on the legal basis of your explicit consent: the sign-in screen states that by continuing you agree to this Policy and our Terms and that audio and text are processed by U.S. cloud services, and you give that consent by continuing to sign in or create an account. You may withdraw consent at any time by deleting your account in Settings, which will cause us to cease processing and delete your data as described under "Data Retention & Deletion".
For transfers of personal data originating in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, ZCC Labs LLC's approach is to combine your explicit consent with contractual safeguards modeled on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), supplemented by the technical measures described in the "Data Storage & Security" section above.
English: BufferMind is operated by ZCC Labs LLC, a United States entity. When you use BufferMind from mainland China, your personal data (audio, transcripts, messages, photos, email) is transferred to and processed on servers located in the United States by the recipients named above. Under the Personal Information Protection Law of the PRC (PIPL), voice recordings and images may constitute sensitive personal information; your explicit consent, given by continuing past the sign-in notice, is the legal basis for this transfer under PIPL Article 38(3). You retain all rights granted by PIPL, including the right to access, correct, delete, or port your data, and the right to withdraw consent. To exercise these rights, contact support@buffermind.com.
中文：BufferMind 由美国实体 ZCC Labs LLC 运营。当您在中国大陆使用 BufferMind 时， 您的个人信息（音频、转录文本、聊天消息、图片、邮箱）将被传输至美国，并由上文列出的接收方在美国境内处理。 根据《中华人民共和国个人信息保护法》（PIPL），语音录音和图像可能构成敏感个人信息； 登录页面已明确告知「继续即表示您同意本隐私政策与服务条款，音频与文本将由美国云服务处理」， 您在阅读该告知后继续登录或注册所作出的单独同意，构成本次跨境传输在 PIPL 第三十八条第（三）项下的合法性基础。 您保留 PIPL 赋予的所有权利，包括查阅、更正、删除、可携权及撤回同意的权利。 行使权利请联系 support@buffermind.com。
Voice recordings and images of people may constitute biometric or sensitive personal information under certain laws, including PIPL Article 28, GDPR Article 9, and the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA, 740 ILCS 14). We take this seriously and disclose our practices below.
What we do not do. BufferMind does not perform speaker recognition or voice-based identification against a database of known individuals, does not use voice or face for authentication, does not perform facial recognition, emotion, or health analysis from voice or images, and does not use Your Content to train AI models.
Speaker diarization and transient voiceprints. When speaker diarization is enabled (to label "Speaker 1," "Speaker 2," etc. within a session), our transcription provider Soniox, Inc. generates transient voiceprints for the sole purpose of separating speakers within that session. These voiceprints are:
Your consent and opt-out (Illinois BIPA & similar laws). By using the Service with speaker diarization enabled, you expressly consent in writing to the transient processing of voiceprints as described above. This Policy, together with our Terms of Service (section "Voiceprint and Biometric Data"), serves as our written notice and record of your written consent under BIPA. You may opt out at any time by disabling speaker identification in the Service's settings; the Service will continue to function without speaker labels. Our retention schedule for voiceprint data is: not retained by ZCC Labs LLC at any point; destroyed by Soniox at session end. We will update this schedule and notify users if our practices change.
Raw audio handling. Raw audio is streamed to Soniox for real-time processing and is not retained by Soniox beyond the active session. The recording itself is saved to your device and to our cloud storage as described above, so you can replay it.
Recordings, transcripts, and AI content: kept on your device and in our cloud storage until you delete the recording or your account. There is no automatic expiration. Deleting a recording removes its audio and transcript from your device, our primary storage, and the backup copy, and revokes any public share link for it.
Messages and media: kept until you un-send them or delete your account. Un-sending removes the message content immediately; the underlying media file may remain in storage until routine cleanup or account deletion. Call setup records are kept for a limited time for troubleshooting and abuse prevention; the connection details containing IP addresses are cleared when the call ends.
Usage and billing records: the usage ledger, request logs, and payment event records are retained for as long as needed for accounting, tax, fraud prevention, and dispute resolution, which may extend beyond account deletion where the law requires.
Account deletion. You can permanently delete your account from the Settings page (or by emailing us). Deletion removes your recordings, transcripts, notes, folders, profile, photos, friend connections, and the messages and media you sent — including from your friends' conversations — and revokes your Sign in with Apple token. Please note:
BufferMind does not use advertising identifiers or any cross-app/cross-site tracking technologies, and we do not participate in ad networks or data brokers. We do not set marketing cookies. The web version uses Vercel Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights to collect aggregate, cookie-less page-view and performance metrics that do not identify individual users; the iOS app reports only aggregate, non-identifying usage statistics to us. When you pay on our website, Stripe's checkout pages set their own cookies for fraud prevention under Stripe's privacy policy. No other analytics providers are used.
We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes. We share data only: with the service providers listed above as necessary to provide the Service; with other users, at your direction, when you use friends, messaging, sharing, or calls; when required by law, legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of our users, the public, or ZCC Labs; and, if ZCC Labs is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, with the successor, who will remain bound by this Policy.
Depending on your location, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your personal data, to object to or restrict certain processing, to withdraw consent, and to lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority. California residents (CCPA/CPRA) have the right to know what data we collect, to request deletion or correction, and to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information — we do not sell or share your data for those purposes and do not discriminate against you for exercising your rights. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@buffermind.com from the email address on your account, or use the account deletion feature in Settings. We may ask you to verify your identity before acting on a request.
BufferMind is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date; for material changes we will also make reasonable efforts to notify you in the app or by email.
If you have questions about this privacy policy or your data, contact us at support@buffermind.com.
ZCC Labs LLC
United States