The short version
- No telemetry. The Echo app sends us no record of what you play or how you use it.
- No account, no cloud. No sign-up, no login. Your listening history lives only on your Mac.
- The extension stays local. It sends what it reads only to the Echo app on your own machine, over a private channel between the two that never reaches the internet.
- No page reading. The extension never reads your page text, passwords, form inputs or browsing history.
- No cookies or fingerprinting on this website. It uses Umami, a cookieless, privacy-first analytics tool that can't identify you (details below).
Who is the data controller?
The data controller for any personal data we hold about you is:
TJH/CO LIMITED (trading as THEODORE HQ)
A company registered in England and Wales
Company number: 16589593
Registered office: Fairway House, Links Business, Fortran Rd, St. Mellons, Cardiff, CF3 0LT, United Kingdom
Email: support@theodorehq.com
Given the small scale and low-risk nature of our processing, we are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer and have not done so. For any data question, contact us at the email above.
What does Echo store on your Mac?
Everything Echo remembers stays on your Mac, in your Library folder. It keeps a local history of what you play so it can resurface and resume it: the title, artist, album, artwork image URL and playback position that a media app or web page already publishes, the source it came from, and your own additions such as Moments, pins and renames. It also keeps your settings, and your licence key and activation ID (stored in the macOS Keychain, encrypted by the operating system). Your listening history is never transmitted off the device. Your licence key and activation ID are sent to Polar when you activate and check your licence, as described below.
The browser extension
The companion extension is optional and does nothing unless the Echo app is running on the same Mac. When a page has audio or video on it, it reads the now-playing details the page publishes (title, artist, album and artwork), whether it is playing, paused or muted and where it is up to, the page and tab address and title, the address of the media file, and which browser you use. It sends all of this only to the Echo app on your own Mac, over a connection that never leaves your computer, and we run no server that receives it. In Chrome and Firefox it runs only on the streaming and video sites listed when you install it; in Safari you allow it on every website. It does not read your passwords, form inputs, page text or browsing history. The full details are in the Extension Privacy Policy.
Does Echo make any network requests?
Yes, four kinds, described below. None of them sends your listening history to us.
Update checks. Echo checks for updates automatically about once an hour by downloading a small file from our website (https://www.theodorehq.com/echo/appcast.xml). Like visiting any website, this shares your IP address with our web host, and the request includes your Echo version so we can serve the right update. It carries no unique identifier, and updates are signed so Echo can verify them before installing.
Licence checks. Echo talks to Polar.sh, our licensing provider, in three situations: when you activate your licence, each time Echo starts to confirm it is still valid, and if you deactivate it to move Echo to another Mac. Activation sends your licence key and a device label (your Mac's local name, for example "Theodore's MacBook Pro"). Checking and deactivating send your licence key and the activation ID Polar gave your Mac. If Echo cannot reach Polar it keeps running from its saved result for up to seven days.
Artwork. To show a cover beside something you played, Echo downloads the image the app or web page itself published for it, such as an album cover or a YouTube thumbnail, from the address that app or page gave. The request goes to that image's own server, the same one your browser or music app already loads it from, and carries nothing else.
The floating video player. A YouTube video in Echo's floating player is played by YouTube's own embedded player, loaded from youtube.com exactly as an embedded video on any website is, and YouTube's own privacy policy covers it. So that the player opens instantly, Echo loads YouTube's player code a few seconds after it starts, and when a YouTube video has been playing in your browser for a few seconds, it prepares that same video in the background, without showing or playing it. YouTube therefore sees that video loaded a second time, as well as in your browser. Other videos open in the floating player from the page they came from. Echo sends YouTube nothing from your history. YouTube may keep cookies in the web view the floating player uses, which stay on your Mac.
If you use Echo through Setapp, Setapp delivers updates and handles licensing in place of the first two, under Setapp's own privacy policy. The app also tells Setapp's own framework when it is used so that Setapp can pay us. Setapp's privacy policy covers what it collects.
What personal data do we hold, and on what basis?
Three categories. The law requires us to name a lawful basis under Article 6 of the UK GDPR for each.
Your purchase email and licence-key record
Held so we can deliver and verify your licence. We receive your email from Polar.sh, the Merchant of Record that processes your purchase.
Lawful basis: contractual necessity (Art 6(1)(b)).Newsletter subscription (the same email)
When you buy, you can tick an optional box to get the THEODORE HQ newsletter. It is unticked unless you tick it. You can also sign up on our website. You can unsubscribe at any time by replying to any of our emails, and every newsletter includes an unsubscribe link.
Lawful basis: consent (Art 6(1)(a) UK GDPR), given by ticking the box at checkout or signing up on our website.Licence-activation logs
Timestamp, country and the IP address of the activation request, kept to detect fraud and licence abuse.
Lawful basis: legitimate interests (Art 6(1)(f)).How long do we keep it?
- Purchase email and licence record: while your licence is active, plus seven years after your last purchase, to meet HMRC tax-record requirements (Schedule 11 of the VAT Act 1994 and corresponding income-tax rules).
- Newsletter subscription: until you unsubscribe, plus thirty days while we process the unsubscribe.
- Licence-activation logs: twelve months from activation, then automatically deleted by Polar.
- Support emails: two years, then deleted, unless you ask us to keep them for an open issue.
Storage and your control
Your history lives on your Mac, under your control. You can remove individual items, clear everything from a source, or delete your whole history from within the app, and removing Echo removes its stored data. The extension keeps no lasting record of its own; uninstalling it stops all browser capture immediately.
Crash reports
Echo does not send crash reports or diagnostics automatically. Nothing about a crash leaves your Mac unless you choose to send it. If macOS itself shows a "Send to Apple" dialog, that is Apple's standard system, not us, and you control it in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements.
Cookies and this website
No cookies, no third-party trackers, no advertising scripts, no fingerprinting. Our web fonts are self-hosted (served from this site), so loading a page makes no third-party requests. Website analytics is handled by Umami (see the next section), which is cookieless.
When you first visit, your browser keeps a small note of the page you landed on, the site that sent you and any campaign tags. If you buy, this note is passed to Polar, our payment provider, with your order so we can see which pages lead to sales. It is never used for advertising. If you turn analytics off with the button on this page, no note is kept or sent. It is not a cookie and it stays in your own browser until you clear this site's data. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests (Art 6(1)(f) UK GDPR) in understanding how people find Echo.
We do not track you across other websites and we do not run advertising, so there is nothing for a Do Not Track signal to switch off. If you are in the United States, including California: we do not sell or share your personal information, and you can ask to see or delete what we hold by emailing support@theodorehq.com.
Website analytics (Umami)
To understand which pages people find useful, this website uses Umami, a privacy-friendly analytics tool we self-host on our own server at analytics.theodorehq.com. (Echo the app contains no analytics of any kind; this is the website only.)
Umami records aggregate, non-identifying information: the page URL, page title and referrer, the country your visit came from (derived from your IP address, which is then immediately discarded and never stored), and your browser, operating system, device type and screen size. It sets no cookies, does not fingerprint your device, does not follow you across other websites, and shares nothing with any third party. We cannot identify you from it.
Lawful basis: under PECR (as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025), this aggregate, cookieless analytics falls within the "statistical purposes" exception, which requires us to tell you about it and to give you a simple, free way to opt out (both done here). The brief processing of your IP address to derive a country relies on our legitimate interests (Art 6(1)(f) UK GDPR) in understanding aggregate traffic without identifying you. Retention: aggregate figures indefinitely; raw event records for twelve months.
How to opt out. Use the button below and we will save a small flag that tells Umami to ignore this browser on this site permanently, and stops the note described above being kept or sent. Any standard content blocker (uBlock Origin, Ghostery, Brave's shields) also blocks it automatically.
Who handles your data, and international transfers
We keep suppliers to a minimum. Where one is based outside the UK, an approved UK transfer safeguard is in place:
- Polar.sh (United States) is the Merchant of Record and seller of record for your purchase. For the data it collects at its own checkout (your email, country, and payment and tax details) Polar acts as a separate, independent controller under its own terms; for anything it handles purely on our behalf it acts as our processor. Polar uses Stripe as its payment processor, and we never receive your card details. See Polar's data-processing agreement and privacy policy.
- Vercel (United States) hosts this website. Vercel is certified under the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, and its data-processing agreement also incorporates the UK International Data Transfer Agreement.
- Apple iCloud runs our
support@theodorehq.commailbox. For UK and EU users this is controlled by Apple Distribution International Limited in Ireland (within the EEA), with Standard Contractual Clauses for any onward transfer. - Missive is the email app we read our
support@theodorehq.commailbox in, so your support emails pass through it. - Website analytics is self-hosted on a server we control (Umami), so your analytics data is never shared with a third-party analytics company.
You can ask us for more detail on any of these safeguards at support@theodorehq.com.
The support button on this website
Messages sent through the support button on this site are posted publicly on our Support Centre and get an automatic first reply, then a person follows up. See the Support Centre privacy policy for how that works.
Your rights under UK GDPR
To exercise any of these, email support@theodorehq.com. We respond within thirty days, free of charge.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, you have the right to complain to us directly (a right under section 164A of the Data Protection Act 2018). The easiest way is to email support@theodorehq.com. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, investigate it, and tell you the outcome.
You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Helpline: 0303 123 1113. ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. You can contact the ICO at any time, though we would appreciate the chance to resolve things for you first.
Chrome Web Store Limited Use
Echo's use of information received from Google APIs and the Chrome Web Store adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. The extension uses the media information it reads only to provide Echo's remember-and-resume feature on your own device; it does not transfer that information to any server, use it for advertising, or sell it.
Children
Echo is a general-purpose productivity tool and is not directed at children under 13 (the UK age of digital consent under section 9 of the Data Protection Act 2018). We do not knowingly collect any personal data from anyone under 13. If you believe we hold such data in error, email us and we will delete it promptly.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top. If a change takes something away from you or means we collect more, we will also email anyone on the customer list a plain-English summary of what changed at least fourteen days before it takes effect. We will not start collecting more from existing users.
Contact
For any questions or concerns, email support@theodorehq.com. Every message is read by a person on our team.
See also our Terms of Service.