Privacy Policy
Effective 10 October 2026
This page explains what ShortSmith collects, why, who it is shared with and how long it is kept. We never receive your recordings, audio, transcripts, captions or finished clips.
Who we are
ShortSmith is made and sold by Tanishq Raj Mandowara, an individual (sole proprietor) of Bellandur, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560103, India (“we”, “us”). We decide how your personal data is used, so we are its data fiduciary under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. For any privacy question or request, write to [email protected]. Our Grievance Officer is Tanishq Raj Mandowara (Proprietor). Details are on the Contact page.
What we never receive
None of the following is ever sent to us or anyone else:
- your recordings and replays, their audio, and frames from them
- transcripts, captions, titles and edit decisions
- the Shorts ShortSmith renders
- your settings, folder paths, the results of the app's PC check (processor, memory, graphics card) and the app's work log
The app has no analytics, tracking or crash reporting.
What we collect, and why
| Data | Why |
|---|---|
| Email address and password | To create your account and sign you in. Your password goes to our sign-in provider, Appwrite. A new password set from a reset link passes through our server on its way there. We never store it. |
| Account record: email, account dates, plan, access end date, and any referral or coupon code you use | To run your free trial and subscription, and to stop the free trial being claimed twice. |
| Device ID and PC name: a scrambled code made from your PC's Windows ID (never the ID itself) and your computer's name | A licence covers one PC at a time. These tell your PCs apart and show you which one is signed in. |
| Clip usage: how many clips your account has made this calendar month, and on the Free plan also how many were made from your PC and with your email address. The PC and email address are stored only as one-way scrambled fingerprints. | To give the Free plan its 5 clips a month, and so a new account on the same PC or email address shares those 5 instead of starting over. Free clips are counted when you make them, so they need an internet connection. |
| Clip receipts: for each clip the app asks to make, a one-way fingerprint of the replay file it comes from (never the video itself), with your account and PC | So remaking the same clip never counts twice, and so a free clip can only be made with a receipt we signed. |
| Trial check: a one-way scrambled fingerprint of each PC's device ID that has started a free trial | So each PC gets one free trial. It can't be turned back into the device ID. We keep it for 2 years, also after an account is deleted. |
| Licence check-ins: your sign-in token, device ID and app version, when the app starts and then about every 5 minutes while it is open and signed in (more often while it is making clips or waiting for a payment) | To keep your licence valid. ShortSmith keeps working offline for up to 72 hours after the last check-in. |
| IP address | Every internet connection reveals it. We use it to block abuse (for example, too many sign-in attempts) and record the last one seen for each signed-in PC. |
| Payment records: amount, date, status, payment and subscription IDs, the type of payment method, and a masked label such as “Visa •••• 4242”. The payment notices Dodo Payments sends us also include the name, email, phone number (if you gave one) and billing address you gave at checkout, and payment details as Dodo Payments reports them (such as your card's network and last 4 digits). We keep those notices for 90 days. | To give you access when you pay, show you your payment history, handle refunds and disputes, and keep the accounts tax law requires. |
| Messages you send us from the app, with the reply email you give or your account email, plus a random install ID | To answer your questions. Messages are text only. Logs and files are never attached. |
| Update and message checks: the app version and that your PC runs 64-bit Windows each time the app opens, and a random install ID every few minutes, even when you're signed out | To offer you updates that fit your PC and to show replies to your messages. Nothing is stored until you send a message. |
We never see or store your full card number, CVV, UPI PIN or bank login. You enter them only on Dodo Payments' secure checkout page.
Who we share it with
We don't sell your data or use it for advertising. We share only what each of these services needs to do its job:
- Appwrite (sign-in service, servers in Singapore): your email, password, one-time sign-in codes and password-reset requests. Appwrite sends the sign-in and reset emails.
- Dodo Payments (Dodo Payments, Inc. and its group companies; our reseller and Merchant of Record): processes your payment and subscription, and handles invoices and tax. It decides how it uses your billing details, under its own privacy policy. We send it your account email and numbers identifying your account and subscription. You give your payment and billing details to Dodo Payments directly, and it emails you receipts.
- Cloudflare (Cloudflare, Inc., USA): carries traffic to our licence server and hosts this website, which means it processes IP addresses.
- GitHub, Hugging Face, Microsoft and the Python Package Index: during first-time setup the app downloads tools and AI models from these. Like any download, the request shows your IP address. No account or personal data is sent.
We may also disclose data when Indian law requires it.
Where it is stored
Account, licence, payment and message records are kept in a database on our own server in India. Appwrite keeps your sign-in details in Singapore.
How long we keep it
- Account data: until you delete your account.
- Signed-out PCs and PC moves: 90 days.
- Payment notices from Dodo Payments (which hold your billing details as Dodo Payments reports them): 90 days.
- Payment records: as long as Indian tax and accounting law requires, even after you delete your account. Your email and payment-method label are removed from them when you delete your account.
- Free-trial check: when an account is deleted or its email is changed to a different address, we keep a one-way scrambled fingerprint of the old email (not the email itself), the codes it used and, for deleted accounts, any referral code, for 2 years. This stops the free trial being claimed again.
- Clip usage and receipts: the PC and email-address counts until the end of that calendar month, also after an account is deleted; clip receipts for 62 days; your account's own monthly count until you delete your account.
- Messages: until the conversation is deleted. Deleting your account does not delete messages sent from the app. Email us and we'll delete them.
Copies in our database backups are removed when those backups are deleted.
Your choices and rights
- Delete your account any time in the app. It cancels auto-renew, then deletes your sign-in and account data as described above. Clips on your PC are untouched.
- See, correct or erase your data, or withdraw consent, by writing to [email protected] from your account email. We acknowledge within 48 hours and respond within one month.
- Complain: if you aren't happy with our answer, you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India.
- Nominate someone to exercise these rights for you if you die or can't act yourself. Email us from your account email with their name and email address.
Security
All connections use HTTPS. Your sign-in token is stored on your PC encrypted for your Windows user. Passwords are never written to disk, and device IDs are scrambled before they leave your PC.
This website
This site uses no cookies, analytics or tracking scripts. Cloudflare, which hosts it, processes your IP address to serve pages and block attacks.
Children
If you are under 18, you may use ShortSmith only with the consent of a parent or guardian, who agrees to this policy and our Terms for you.
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll update the date above. If a change affects how we use your data, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it applies.