This agreement is between you and Scrinkle Labs ("we", "us"), the maker of ScrinkleScribe (the "Software"). Installing or using the Software means you accept it. If you do not, do not install or use it.
This is a plain-English agreement written by the people who built the Software, and it has not been reviewed by a lawyer. Every statement in it about what the Software does was checked against the code.
1. What you are buying
You are buying a license to use ScrinkleScribe, not the Software itself. We keep ownership of the program. Your purchase is a one-time payment, not a subscription, and the license does not expire.
The license covers the major version you bought (for example 1.x) on Windows and macOS, on up to 3 computers you own or use, for any purpose including commercial work. What you dictate is yours; we claim nothing over the text the Software produces.
The Software works entirely on your own computer, apart from the license check in section 2 and one optional feature you have to switch on yourself, which sends the text of your dictations to an AI provider you choose. Section 8 says exactly what that sends and to whom.
2. Your three computers, and the license check
Your key activates on up to three computers. You can free a slot at any time with Deactivate this device in the app's menu, or from Polar's customer portal.
To check your license the Software contacts Polar, our payment provider: once when you activate a computer, and once each time the app starts. Each check sends your license key, an activation id and a device label (your computer's name and operating system). It never sends audio or text. If Polar cannot be reached, the Software keeps working for 14 days after its last successful check, and then asks you to connect to the internet once. The Software does not check for updates and never contacts us.
A license problem refuses a dictation and explains why. It does not close the app, delete anything, or touch what the Software has already produced.
Honest limit, so it is not a surprise: Polar does not tell the app how many of your three slots are in use, and it answers "revoked", "expired" and "all three slots are taken" with the same error. So when a key is refused the app cannot always tell you which of those it was. Deactivating a computer you are no longer using is the first thing to try, and support can see the rest.
3. What you may not do
- Share, resell, rent or publish your license key, or install it for other people. One license is for one person. For a team, email us.
- Resell, rent, sublicense or redistribute the Software itself.
- Remove or work around the license check, or publish a way for others to.
- Remove or alter notices in the Software.
- Use the Software to break the law or anyone's rights.
Reading the code is not on that list. ScrinkleScribe is Python and ships readable. You are welcome to look at what runs on your machine, and we would rather you could. Decompiling or reverse-engineering beyond that is not permitted, except where the law gives you that right regardless of what this says, in which case you have it.
4. The free trial
The 14-day trial is the complete application. You get a trial license key from our checkout, it activates on up to three computers exactly as a purchased key does, and after 14 days it stops validating and the Software asks you to buy a license. Anything the trial produced is yours and stays on your computer.
5. Updates
Your license includes all updates within the major version you bought. If you bought 1.0, then 1.1, 1.2 and every fix in that line are free. A new major version such as 2.0 is a separate paid upgrade, and you can carry on using the version you bought instead, for as long as you like. This agreement covers updates unless an update arrives with its own new terms.
To be straightforward about how this works in practice: nothing in the Software measures which version your key was bought for. The line above is a commitment, kept by how we price and release, not something the license check enforces today.
6. Refunds
If ScrinkleScribe does not work for you, email support@scrinklescribe.com within 14 days of purchase for a full refund. No questions asked.
A refund ends your license and revokes your key. Uninstall the Software and stop using it. Polar, as merchant of record, may also refund a buyer directly within 60 days to prevent a chargeback. See the refund policy.
7. Open-source components
ScrinkleScribe runs on open-source components: a speech model, a language model, and the libraries that run them. Today the installers do not redistribute them: the app fetches them onto your machine at install or first run, so each component reaches you under its own license from its own publisher, and those licenses apply to those components. Nothing in this agreement overrides them; where one grants you more than this agreement does, it wins for that component.
8. Your data, and the one feature that sends it somewhere
We do not receive your dictations, your audio or your files. Your speech is turned into text by a model on your own computer, on both platforms, in every configuration.
One feature is an exception, and you have to switch it on. The Software can use an online AI provider for the cleanup step instead of the model on your machine. If you choose that engine, the text of every dictation is sent over the internet to the provider you selected, along with up to 60 characters of the text next to your cursor. It is off by default, it uses your own API key with your own account at that provider, and the request goes from your computer to them. It does not pass through us, we never see it, and we hold no key or account there. Your audio is still never sent. Before the first dictation reaches a provider the Software shows you a dialog naming that provider and what will be sent, and you have to confirm it.
What that provider then does with your text is governed by their terms and privacy policy, not ours. They may log it or retain it. Read their terms before you switch it on; we cannot make promises on their behalf, and choosing that engine is you deciding to send your words to them.
Switching back to a local engine stops it immediately.
Everything the Software stores on your computer, and everything it reads while you dictate, is described in the privacy policy, which forms part of this agreement.
9. No warranty
The Software is provided "as is", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement, to the fullest extent the law allows.
Speech recognition is never perfect. It uses statistical models and it will sometimes get a word wrong. We do not promise the Software will be error-free, uninterrupted, or work with every machine, microphone, language or accent. Check any transcript before you rely on it, and in particular do not rely on it alone where a misheard word would cause harm: medical notes, legal filings, financial instructions, or safety-critical work.
Some places do not allow these exclusions, so some may not apply to you.
10. Limits on liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost work, lost data or lost transcripts, arising from your use of or inability to use the Software, even if we were told they were possible. Our total liability for all claims relating to the Software is limited to what you paid for your license.
Your transcripts are stored only on your own computer, so back them up. We cannot recover them for you.
Nothing here limits liability that the law does not allow us to limit, and some countries give consumers rights that an agreement cannot take away. If that is where you live, you keep them.
11. Ending this agreement
You can stop at any time; uninstalling ends it. It ends automatically if you break section 3, or if you take a refund. When it ends, stop using the Software and uninstall it. Sections 9, 10 and 12 survive.
12. General
- Governing law: the laws of the State of New York, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. This does not remove consumer protections that the law of your own country gives you.
- Changes: we may update this agreement. We will post the new version on this page and change the effective date. Using the Software after that means you accept the new version.
- Whole agreement: this, together with the privacy policy, is the full agreement between us about the Software. If a court finds part of it unenforceable, the rest still applies.
- Contact: Scrinkle Labs, support@scrinklescribe.com