Privacy Policy

Last updated: 22 September 2026

This policy explains what iElevate does with your information. We've written it in plain language on purpose, because iElevate is an accessibility tool and everyone who uses it deserves to understand it.

iElevate is developed by Ronan Stannett trading as iElevate Software ("we", "us", "our"), a sole trader based in Australia. If you have any questions about this policy, contact us at contact@ielevate.com.au.

The short version

• Your camera video never leaves your computer. Eye tracking, head tracking and facial-expression detection all run on your own device. We never see, store, or upload any images of you.
• Your face, eyes and voice are read on your device to *control* the app, never to identify you. iElevate doesn't build a faceprint or voiceprint, and nothing about this reaches us. If you choose to record a custom hand gesture or facial expression, the app saves a small set of numbers describing it (not images or video) on your own computer so it can recognise it later (see section 4).
• Dictation is processed on your computer by default. Your voice only leaves your device if you turn on the optional "cloud dictation" feature.
• There are no accounts. No sign-up, no profile, no password. iElevate identifies a computer, not a person: mainly by a scrambled code, plus your computer's name so you can tell your own devices apart. If you've named your computer after yourself, that name will identify you as much as any computer name does (see section 2).
• We don't run any hidden tracking, analytics, or "phone-home" reporting. Nothing about how you use the app is sent to us automatically. (Once you hold a licence, the app does check at startup that the licence is still valid, which identifies your computer but says nothing about your use of the app. See section 3.2.)
• We never sell your data, and we don't show ads.
• Information only leaves your computer in a few specific, mostly optional situations, all listed below.

1. What stays on your device (and is never sent to us)

The following is processed entirely on your own computer and is never transmitted:

• Camera video. Every frame from your webcam stays on your machine.
• Eye gaze, head position, and facial expressions. These are worked out on your device using an on-device model (Google's MediaPipe, which runs locally). Only the result (for example, "looking left", "eyebrow raised") is used, and only inside the app on your computer.
• Local dictation. By default, speech-to-text runs on your device (using a local Whisper model). Your audio is not sent anywhere.
• Your settings and calibration (settings.json).
• Any custom gestures or expressions you record. If you create a custom hand gesture or a custom facial/tongue expression, iElevate saves a small numeric description of it (not images or video) on your computer so it can recognise it later (see section 4).
• Diagnostic logs kept on your computer to help troubleshoot problems.
• Your activity log. The app keeps a short local history of commands and dictated text on your computer (for about 7 days) so features work smoothly. This stays on your machine and is only ever sent to us if you choose to send a bug report (see section 3.5).

All of this lives in a folder on your own computer (typically %APPDATA%\iElevate). You can delete it at any time.

2. Identifiers we use

Because iElevate has no accounts, it identifies a computer rather than a person:

• Machine ID. A one-way, scrambled code (a SHA-256 hash) based on a stable identifier for your Windows installation (or, if that isn't available, your device's network address and computer name). It's a fixed code for a given computer, used only to tie a licence to your computer(s). It doesn't contain your name, and we never send the raw identifier it's derived from, only the scrambled code.
• Computer name. The name Windows uses for your PC is sent alongside the machine ID when you activate, so that your list of activated devices is readable ("Lounge laptop" rather than a row of hashes). We don't choose this name and can't tell what's in it: if you named your computer after yourself, it will contain your name. You can rename your computer in Windows before activating if you'd rather it didn't.
• Licence key (only if you have one). A code in the form IEL-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. iElevate isn't on sale during the free beta, so you don't need one.

3. When information leaves your device, and to whom

Here is every situation where iElevate sends anything off your computer.

3.1 Checking for the app's status and updates

When the app starts, it quietly checks our server to see whether there's a newer version and whether the current app mode has changed. This check is anonymous: it does not send your machine ID, licence key, or any information about you.

3.2 Licensing and activation (not used during the free beta)

During the free beta no licence is required and none are on sale, so the app sends none of the information below. We describe it here so you know what would happen if iElevate becomes a paid product, and we'll update this section before then.

If you activate a licence key, the app sends your machine ID, your computer's name (so your activations are recognisable if you manage your devices), and your licence key to our licensing server (hosted on Supabase), which records which computers the licence is active on. Once a licence is active, the app also re-checks it in the background when it starts, sending your machine ID and licence key so we can confirm it's still valid. Neither sends anything about how you use the app: no usage statistics, no dictated text, no camera or microphone data.

3.3 Cloud voice: dictation and voice commands (optional, off by default)

Cloud voice is part of iElevate Voice, which isn't offered during the free beta. This section explains how it works where it is available. If you turn on cloud voice (for dictation, and optionally for voice commands), then when you dictate (or speak a command that's handled in the cloud), a short sound clip of that audio is sent to our server, which passes it to our speech-to-text provider (Groq) and returns the text. Groq receives only the audio, the language, the model name, and any custom-vocabulary hint you've set up to improve accuracy; it does not receive your machine ID, licence key, or any identifying information. Our own server does see your licence details with each clip, so cloud use can be counted toward your plan. If cloud voice is off (the default), your audio never leaves your computer.

What our server keeps. Your audio is passed straight through and is not stored by us, and neither is the text that comes back. The only thing we record is a running total of seconds of audio for your licence key, for that day — the counter behind the daily cloud-voice allowance, which we'll set out in our terms before iElevate Voice is offered. It contains no words, no recordings, and nothing about which app you were dictating into.

3.4 AI writing and macro features (optional, off unless enabled)

iElevate may offer optional features that use an AI language model, for example tidying up dictated text, or turning a plain-English description into a macro. These features are off by default, and some may not be available in every version. If you use one, the relevant text you've chosen to process (such as the dictation to tidy up, or your description of the macro) is sent to the configured provider to produce the result, along with your licence details where the feature counts toward a paid plan. They never send your audio or camera data.

3.5 Bug reports (only when you choose to send one)

Nothing is reported automatically. If you click "Report a Bug", the app prepares a report and sends it to us. If you attach diagnostics, the report includes recent log files, the app's settings with passwords and keys we recognise automatically removed, basic technical information about your system and the app (for example your Windows version, the app build number, your computer's name and anonymous machine code, and file paths that may include your Windows user name), and your licence key if you have one (so we can find your purchase). If you had a visual troubleshooting option switched on, it can also include recent screenshots of application windows, never your webcam. Because logs can include things you recently dictated, please review whether that's OK for the problem you're reporting. We store bug reports privately and use them only to fix problems.

3.6 Payments (none during the beta)

iElevate is free during the beta and nothing is for sale, so we don't take any payments or collect any payment details. When our Kickstarter campaign runs, pledges are made and paid on Kickstarter, under its own terms and privacy policy; we never see your card details. If you back the campaign, Kickstarter shares with us what we need to deliver your reward (such as your name, email address, and your answers to the backer survey), and we use it only for that and to contact you about your pledge.

3.7 Launch and product updates (only if you ask for them)

If you give us your email address — either on our website or from the optional notice inside the app — we store that address, the date you signed up, and which of the two you used. We use it to email you about iElevate: when our Kickstarter campaign goes live, big new versions, and what we build next. We never use it for anything else, and we never share it with anyone for their own use. Every email includes a way to unsubscribe, or you can email us to be removed. Signing up is entirely optional and nothing in the app depends on it.

4. Biometric and sensitive information, and your consent

Some of iElevate's core features work by reading your face, eyes, head, and voice. Depending on where you live, some of this can be treated as biometric information or sensitive / special-category personal information under laws such as the Australian Privacy Act, the EU/UK GDPR, and biometric-privacy laws in some other places. We want to be precise about what we do and don't do with it:

• It is processed only on your own device. Eye gaze, head position, and facial-expression detection run locally on your computer using an on-device model (Google's MediaPipe). Local dictation is transcribed on your device. Camera frames and raw audio are used in the moment to work out an action and are not written to disk as a biometric record.
• We never receive this information, and we don't identify you. None of it is sent to our servers as part of normal use: iElevate does not build a faceprint, voiceprint, or any profile of who you are, and it does not try to recognise your identity. For live control it only derives an action, for example "looking left", "eyebrow raised", or the words you dictated.
• Custom gestures and expressions you record are saved locally on your device. If you choose to create a custom hand gesture or a custom facial/tongue expression, iElevate saves a small set of numbers that describe it: for a hand gesture, measurements of its shape (joint angles, finger spread, the direction your palm faces); for an expression, how strongly your face drives it. No camera images or video are saved, only these derived values. They are stored on your own computer (in the iElevate data folder), are used only so the app can recognise the gesture or expression you set up (not to recognise who you are), and in normal use are never uploaded to us or anyone else. Depending on where you live, these saved values may themselves count as biometric information, so we treat them that way. The one time any of it can leave your computer is if you choose to send a bug report with diagnostics attached: a copy of your settings is included, and the expression-tuning values live in that settings file (your custom hand-gesture file is not included). See section 3.5.
• We never sell or trade this information, and we do not use it for advertising, profiling, or to train models. (If we ever wanted to use camera, voice, or biometric data to improve our models, we would only do so with your separate, specific opt-in; see section 6.)
• Camera images never leave your device under any setting. The only time voice audio can leave your device is if you switch on the optional cloud-dictation feature (section 3.3); even then it is sent solely to transcribe your words, carries no identifying information, and is not kept as a biometric record.
• Retention and destruction. For live control, camera and microphone input is used in the moment and then discarded; we keep no biometric record on our servers. The only biometric-derived data that persists is any custom gesture or expression you chose to record, and it stays on your computer for as long as you keep it. You can delete it at any time: remove the gesture or expression in the app, or delete the iElevate data folder or uninstall. Because it stays on your device, there is nothing on our servers for us to delete.

Your consent. These camera- and microphone-based features are always under your control. When you first set up iElevate, the opening screen tells you that your camera and microphone are processed on your device and never uploaded, and links to this policy. By continuing past that screen, or by choosing to use eye, face, head, or voice control, you consent to iElevate processing your camera and microphone input on your device as described in this policy. You can withdraw that consent at any time by turning the feature off in Settings or by uninstalling iElevate. There is nothing on our servers to delete, because this processing never leaves your computer.

5. Third-party services we rely on

Some of these providers (for example, Groq) may process data on servers outside Australia, including in the United States. Where that happens, only the data described above is involved.

6. What we do not do

• We do not run background analytics, telemetry, or usage tracking. (The one count we do keep is the cloud-voice seconds counter in section 3.3, which applies only where iElevate Voice is offered and you turn cloud voice on. It meters the daily allowance and records no content.)
• We do not upload your camera video, ever.
• We do not create accounts or profiles about you.
• We do not sell, rent, or trade your information.
• We do not show advertising.

If this ever changes. Everything above is true today. We may one day want to collect some information to make iElevate better, for example anonymous usage statistics to see which features help, or samples to improve accuracy. If we ever do, we commit that it will always be:

• Optional and off by default: you choose to turn it on; we never switch it on for you.
• Only to improve the app: never to sell, rent, trade, or advertise, and never to identify you.
• Clearly explained first: we'll update this policy and tell you before it starts, not quietly afterwards.
• Separate consent for anything from your camera, microphone, or biometric data. We will never use your camera images, voice, or face/eye/hand data to train or improve our models unless you give a distinct, specific opt-in for exactly that; it will never be bundled into a general "help improve the app" setting.

You will always be able to turn any such feature back off.

7. How long we keep things

• On your computer: settings and logs stay until you delete them; the short activity history is kept for about 7 days and then deleted automatically.
• On our server: bug reports are kept while we investigate and then removed when no longer needed. An email address you signed up with is kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove it; if you unsubscribe we keep only a note that the address opted out, so it is never emailed again. No licence records exist during the free beta; if iElevate is sold later, we'll set out how long those are kept (including any records Australian tax law requires) before it goes on sale.

8. Security

Data sent between the app and our servers is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Our speech- to-text provider's key is held only on our server and is never placed in the app. Because there are no accounts, you stay in control of the data on your own computer.

9. Children and vulnerable users

iElevate is an assistive tool often used by people with disability and their carers. We have deliberately designed it to collect as little as possible and to keep your camera and voice on your own device by default. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from children.

10. Your rights

You can:

• Access or delete local data yourself at any time by removing the iElevate data folder on your computer.
• Ask us about, correct, or request deletion of any information held on our server (such as a licence record or a bug report) by emailing contact@ielevate.com.au.

We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). If you are in a region with additional rights (such as the EU/UK or California), you may also have rights under those laws; contact us and we will help.

If you have a privacy concern, please contact us first at contact@ielevate.com.au and we'll do our best to put it right. If you're not satisfied with how we handle it, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au.

11. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top and, for significant changes, note it in the app or on our website.

12. Contact us

Ronan Stannett trading as iElevate Software
ABN: 44 292 574 302
Email: contact@ielevate.com.au
Website: https://ielevate.com.au