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Data privacy in Terpside

Terpside listens to what plays in your headphones, turns it into text on your computer, translates it on your computer and shows it to you. When you close the program, that text is discarded. There is no account and no save button, and nothing from your calls leaves your computer.

This is not a policy we promise to follow: it is how the program is built. The edition that is sold does not include the functions to export text or to send sentences to an external translator. They are not turned off; they are not there.

Last updated: October 21, 2026.

The details

  • Audio: only the output (WASAPI loopback) of the device or app you choose is captured. The microphone is not opened and there is no setting that opens it.
  • Recognition: Moonshine and Whisper run locally. Audio is processed in memory turn by turn and discarded once transcribed.
  • Translation: Opus-MT runs locally. The public edition includes no cloud translation provider.
  • History: a list in memory for the session; discarded when the program closes. Terpside does not write it to disk. As with any program, Windows may move part of memory to disk (page file, hibernation or a crash dump); with your disk encrypted (BitLocker or Device Encryption), that is protected too.
  • Local server: the window is drawn by talking to the program itself over a port on your computer (127.0.0.1), protected with a session key. It is not a server on the internet and accepts no outside connections.
  • Technical log: the program keeps an operational log (starts, errors, timings) with no sentences from calls, so we can help you if something fails. Your settings, the license or trial voucher and, on the Free plan, today's minutes used (the date and the number, nothing else) are also on disk.
  • License: it is verified with an Ed25519 signature inside the program; checking it needs no server.
  • Network: there are two outbound connections, both on by default and both can be turned off. The first is the new-version notice: once a day Terpside reads the latest version number from terpside.app, sending nothing about the computer or your calls (only the program version in the header, as any browser does); turn it off in ⚙ → Privacy → “Notify me of new versions”, and if you installed it from the Microsoft Store it is not used. The second is renewing a paid license. With a subscription license, from 3 days before it expires until 45 days after (also if that expiry already moved you to Free), Terpside asks terpside.app at most once a day whether there is a new license. The request carries the computer code (a one-way summary of the Windows identifier) and the Terpside version; nothing from your calls. Without a paid license—Free if you never paid, or the trial—it does not connect. Turn it off in ⚙ → Privacy → “Renew the license automatically”. With both off there is no connection at all, and you can check it with the cable unplugged or with a firewall.
  • Tests: in every release, an automated test starts the app and checks that the export and cloud routes return 404, just like a made-up route.

The Chrome extension

The extension does the same inside Chrome: what plays in the call's tab is turned into text and translated on your computer, and shown in the side panel. This is what differs from the Windows program.

  • Audio: only the sound of the tab where you click the Terpside icon is captured, and only from that moment. The microphone is not opened.
  • Recognition and translation: Moonshine, Whisper and Opus-MT run inside Chrome, on your computer. Audio is processed in memory turn by turn and discarded once transcribed. The text is only shown in the panel: the extension does not save it or send it.
  • What it saves in Chrome: your settings (theme, size, language, engine and whether it translates), your glossary, the license, a random identifier for the installation and which engine works best on your computer. Nothing from your calls. It is deleted when you remove the extension.
  • Models: the recognition models ship inside the extension. The translation models (Opus-MT) are downloaded from Hugging Face the first time and Chrome keeps them. It is a file download: nothing of yours is sent, although Hugging Face sees the request like any server does (with your IP address).
  • License: it is verified with an Ed25519 signature inside the extension, with no server. Its code (it starts with “ext-”) is a one-way summary of that random identifier, not of your computer, and it only leaves when you buy or activate a license on this website.
  • Network: apart from that download, the extension connects to nothing: it does not check for versions, does not renew the license on its own and has no analytics. Updates are installed by Chrome from the Chrome Web Store, as with any extension.

What does leave your computer, and when

Nothing from your calls. Anything else leaves only in these cases. From this website, when you send it: the contact form or the waitlist; the computer code (or the extension's) when you request the trial or buy (and, if the page was opened from Terpside, a one-way summary of the motherboard identifier, used only to prevent repeat trials); and the purchase, on Paddle's checkout. From Terpside, only with a paid license and renewal turned on: the computer code and the version, as explained above. The details are in the site privacy policy.