Terms of Use

1. Provider and scope

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and WhisperInk, an independent software project operated by Theodore Wanner in Switzerland (“WhisperInk”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). They govern the WhisperInk macOS application (the “App”), this website (the “Site”), and related updates and support.

You can contact us at theodore@getlumina.org.

2. Acceptance and contract formation

Please read these Terms before purchasing, installing, or using the App. You accept them when you actively agree to them during the Polar checkout. If you do not agree, do not purchase or use the App.

The product, total price, payment terms, and the point at which your order becomes binding are shown during checkout. Polar sends the electronic order confirmation. Downloading the free trial does not create a separate payment or store a Terms-acceptance record on the Site.

3. Trial, purchase, and licence

WhisperInk currently includes up to 30 minutes of successful local transcription before a paid licence is required. A paid lifetime licence permits one person to install and use the App on up to two Macs, subject to the activation controls shown at checkout and in the App.

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the App for personal or internal business purposes. You may make a reasonable backup copy. You may not sell, sublicense, redistribute, rent, or use the App to provide a competing hosted service. Mandatory rights to inspect, decompile, or interoperate with software are not restricted.

Payments and licence delivery are handled by Polar. Polar’s checkout terms and privacy information also apply to its services. Taxes, refunds, and statutory cancellation or warranty rights are handled as shown at checkout and as required by applicable law.

4. Local processing and optional cloud features

Dictation and speech transcription run locally on your Mac. Command can use an on-device writing model or, only if you deliberately add your own OpenAI API key and select an OpenAI model, an optional cloud writing model.

For an OpenAI Command request, the App sends the locally transcribed instruction and the context configured for that request to OpenAI. Depending on your settings and action, that context can include personal context, selected text, conversation history, attachments, or a screenshot of the selected app window. Audio is not sent to OpenAI for Command. The App requests that OpenAI not store model responses, but OpenAI’s own terms and privacy practices remain applicable.

5. Your third-party API account

Your OpenAI account and API key are separate from your WhisperInk licence. You choose whether to create that account, add its key, and activate an OpenAI model. OpenAI provides the API, sets its prices and limits, bills you directly, and may change or discontinue its service. We do not receive any portion of OpenAI API charges.

Your API key is stored in your macOS Keychain and is loaded only when needed for an OpenAI request. We do not receive or store it on our servers. You authorise the App to use the key only for Command requests you initiate while an OpenAI model is selected.

A Command, follow-up, or provider/client retry may create one or more billable API operations. WhisperInk does not currently impose or monitor a spending limit. Before enabling OpenAI, you should use a dedicated project and restricted key, configure the strongest spending and rate controls the provider offers, monitor usage and alerts, and revoke the key immediately if you see unexpected activity. You remain responsible for safeguarding your account, device, and key.

6. API charges and allocation of responsibility

You are responsible for API charges resulting from requests you initiate, your selected model and settings, follow-up requests, or use of your account or key by someone you authorise. You are also responsible for provider charges caused by compromise of your account or device that is outside our reasonable control.

Nothing in these Terms excludes responsibility that applicable law does not allow us to exclude. In particular, we do not exclude in advance responsibility for our own intentional or grossly negligent conduct, including a defect that causes unauthorised or uncontrolled API requests.

7. Your responsibilities

• Use the App lawfully and only with content and systems you are authorised to access.
• Review generated or transcribed text before relying on, sharing, or submitting it.
• Do not use the App to infringe rights, bypass security, distribute malware, or process content unlawfully.
• Keep suitable backups of important content and protect your Mac, licence key, and third-party credentials.

8. Third-party services and software

OpenAI, Polar, Apple, and any other third-party service or open-source component is governed by its own terms, privacy information, availability, and technical limits. We are not responsible for a third party’s independent service, pricing, outage, account decision, or change, but this does not exclude responsibility for how we select, integrate, or operate that service where the law imposes such responsibility on us.

9. Updates, availability, and support

We may provide maintenance, security, compatibility, or feature updates. Some updates may be required for secure or reliable operation. Features that depend on macOS, Apple hardware, local models, or third-party services may change when those dependencies change.

We use reasonable care in providing the App, but do not promise uninterrupted or error-free operation or that generated text will be accurate or suitable for every purpose. This does not affect any warranty or consumer right that cannot lawfully be excluded.

10. Liability

To the extent permitted by law, neither party is liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, business, goodwill, or data, where that loss was not reasonably foreseeable when the contract was formed. Any duty to reduce avoidable loss applies to both parties.

No exclusion or limitation in these Terms applies to intentional or grossly negligent conduct, death or personal injury where liability cannot be excluded, fraud, or any mandatory product, warranty, data protection, or consumer right. These Terms do not shift to you losses caused by App behaviour that you did not authorise and could not reasonably control.

11. Intellectual property

We and our licensors retain all rights in the App and Site not expressly granted to you. You retain your rights in the content you provide and the output created for you, subject to any rights of third parties and applicable law.

12. Suspension and termination

You may stop using the App at any time and can remove your OpenAI key in the App. We may suspend or terminate access where reasonably necessary to address fraud, unlawful use, security risk, or a material breach of these Terms. Where practicable, we will provide notice and an opportunity to remedy the breach.

13. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by Swiss law, excluding its conflict-of-law rules and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The courts of Zurich, Switzerland have jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory right of a consumer to rely on the law or courts of the consumer’s habitual residence.

Before starting formal proceedings, please contact us so that we can try to resolve the issue directly.

14. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms for legal, security, product, or service changes. We will identify the effective date and make the current version permanently available on the Site. If a change materially affects your rights, payment obligations, cloud-data use, or liability, we will give reasonable notice and request fresh acceptance before the change applies to you. Continued use alone will not be treated as acceptance of such a material change where affirmative consent is required.

15. Contact

Legal and support enquiries: theodore@getlumina.org.