Privacy Policy

Last updated October 5, 2026

This explains what HumHerd LLC collects when you use HumHerd, why, and the choices you have. The short version: we don't sell your data, we don't run ads, and we collect as little as we can to make the app work.

What we collect

If you use HumHerd as a guest

You can hum without an account. To do that, your device is given an anonymous session so your tone can join the shared sound. This is tied to a random identifier, not to your name or email. We store the frequency you are humming and basic session information so the collective sound works.

If you create an account

We collect your email address, the username you pick, and anything you choose to add to your profile, such as a bio, an avatar image, and a favorite frequency. Profile images are resized and re-encoded on your device before upload so embedded location, camera, and timestamp metadata is removed.

Your age

Accounts are for people 18 and older. When you create an account, we ask for your birth month and year. We use them once to check your age and then keep only the result (you are 18 or older, or you are not) and when you answered. We do not store your birth date. If the answer shows you are under 18, no account is created and nothing you typed into the form is sent to us. Your device remembers that the check did not pass so the form cannot simply be tried again.

In the iPhone and Android apps, we may also ask Apple or Google for your age range when you create an account, where the law requires it. Apple or Google may show you a prompt first. The answer is used on your device only to decide whether an account can be created. It is not stored or sent to us, and it is never used for analytics or advertising.

What you make and do in the app

We store the content you create, including saved tracks and their settings, rooms you host or join, and messages you send. Public content, such as public tracks and your public profile, is visible to others and can appear in link previews when shared. If you choose to complete a private mood check-in before or after a practice, we store the rating and any short note you add so you can keep that reflection with your account. Other members cannot see those check-ins.

What other people can see

• Your name in rooms. People you are with in a hosted room, jam, or circle see your username, even if your profile is private or friends-only. Elsewhere, if your profile is not public, people see a generated name (such as cosmic_heron_42) instead. Your profile page, bio, tracks, and photo follow the visibility you choose.
• Quiet rooms. In meditation, sound bath, and convergence rooms you can choose not to show your name. Others then see "Someone".
• A private tone. While your tone is private, other people cannot see your tone, its pitch, or that you are online. You are only part of totals, such as how many people are humming.
• Echoes. Echoes are public and anonymous. Other people cannot see who wrote one, in the app or in data our servers return.
• Credits on recordings. When someone saves a recording, they can credit only people our server saw in a room with them during the last day. Recordings you are credited on are listed under Credited on in your Library, where you can remove your credit.

Messages

Messages are text only. We store them so you and the person you are talking with can read them, along with who sent them and when. They are protected in transit and access to them is restricted, but they are not end-to-end encrypted. We do not read messages as a matter of routine. We may review a message when it is reported, when we need to investigate abuse or a safety risk, or when the law requires it.

Optional microphone pitch detection

When you start a microphone feature, HumHerd uses the microphone to estimate the pitch you hum or whistle (the tone ribbon, humming practice and Exercises, and Hum a pattern and Hum a take in the Sequencer) and to find drum hits when you beatbox. The sound is analyzed on your device. It is never recorded or uploaded. When you beatbox, the samples stay in memory only until the bar is read. The notes or drum hits you keep become part of what you save or play in a room, like notes you tap in. You can use the rest of HumHerd without granting microphone access.

Human-made signals

HumHerd looks at patterns in how things are made, to help discourage automated accounts. These include the timing of musical input and coarse touch characteristics such as contact pressure and width, pointer type, and short resampled gesture or scrub trajectories. Typing rhythm is read only in public text fields (username, bio, tagline, room names, and comments), never in direct messages or mood notes, and is kept as summary numbers such as counts and averages, not the timing of each key. These signals never include the text you type or any audio.

The signals are used for the Human-made mark and coarse trust labels, and to set some limits, such as whether a room can be listed publicly and how much you can publish. They do not keep anyone out of the shared sound. They are never sold or used for advertising. See our Human-made explainer for what the mark means and what it does not claim.

Basic usage information

We keep lightweight product analytics to understand how HumHerd is used, such as that a visit or a first tone happened, and which feature prompted an upgrade screen. These are counts and short trigger tags only. They do not include your content, your frequencies, your messages, or your location.

Like any website, our hosting and database providers process your IP address to deliver the app and to keep it secure.

Notifications

HumHerd does not send push notifications and does not collect device push tokens now. Reminders you set in the app, such as a daily hum reminder, are scheduled on your device and are not sent to us. If an earlier version of the app stored a push token with your account, it was never used for advertising or tracking, and we remove it when you sign out or delete the account.

Crash reports

In production, HumHerd sends a limited error report when the app crashes or an unexpected software error occurs. It can include an error message, a shortened technical stack trace, the page and app version, and a shortened device or browser description. These reports do not include your account ID, content, microphone audio, or typed text. We keep them for up to 30 days to diagnose reliability problems.

Feedback and safety reports

If you send feedback or report content, we collect what you submit. A reply email address is sent with feedback only if you tick "Follow up with me" and enter one. To limit spam, we temporarily keep a keyed, one-way technical identifier derived from the request network address. We remove that identifier after 24 hours. We may use service providers, including AI-assisted analysis tools, to organize feedback and identify repeated themes. We do not publish identifying details from those summaries.

Payments

If you subscribe on the web, Stripe processes your payment. If you subscribe in the iPhone app, Apple processes the purchase through your Apple Account. We do not see or store your full card number. We keep a record that links your HumHerd account to your subscription so paid features work across your devices, and we retain billing records as required for financial and tax purposes.

How we use your information

• to run the shared instrument and the features you use;
• to keep your account, streaks, and saved work;
• to keep the community safe and discourage automated accounts;
• to process subscriptions;
• to understand and improve the app in aggregate;
• to contact you about your account or important changes;
• to comply with the law.

Who we share it with

We share information only with the service providers that make HumHerd run, and only so they can provide their service to us:

• Supabase, for our database, sign-in, and file storage;
• Vercel, for hosting the website and app servers, and for cookie-free visit counts and page-speed measurements;
• Stripe, for web payments, and Apple, for purchases on iPhone;
• Resend, for account and safety emails;
• tools we use to organize feedback, as described above.

We may disclose information when the law requires it, or to protect the safety of our members or the service. If we find apparent child sexual abuse material or the exploitation of a child, we report it, with the information the law requires, to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), which works with law enforcement. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising.

How long we keep it

We keep your information while your account is active and for as long as needed to provide the app. Some records have their own limits:

• a guest's tone clears a few minutes after it stops, and a guest session with everything tied to it is deleted after 30 days without use;
• the record of who you shared a room with (each pair, how many sessions, and when) is deleted 30 days after you last shared one;
• which tracks you played is kept for 90 days, to count plays;
• usage analytics are deleted after about 13 months (396 days);
• behavioral signals are deleted after 180 days once they have been scored, and after 365 days in any case;
• crash reports are deleted after 30 days;
• resolved safety reports are deleted after 180 days;
• the network identifier kept with feedback and reports is cleared after 24 hours;
• push tokens stored by earlier versions are removed when you sign out or delete your account;
• billing records are kept as long as the law requires.

When you delete your account, we remove your data as described below.

Your choices and rights

You can view and edit your profile in the app at any time. To see or correct other information we hold about you, email us and we will help. You can delete your account from within HumHerd. This cancels any subscription billed directly by HumHerd and permanently removes your profile and the data connected to it: your tracks, saved patterns, tone shares, messages, friends and follows, comments and reactions, mood check-ins, rooms you host, Echoes you wrote and Echo flags you made, profile photos, notification tokens, feedback, usage analytics, crash reports, and the behavioral signals and trust scores tied to your account. For each tone share link, a placeholder stays with no link to you and its name and title erased, so no one can reuse the old link. Subscriptions billed through an app store must be canceled separately with that app store. Some records that the law requires us to keep, such as billing records, are retained in anonymized or minimal form. We may also retain safety reports needed to investigate abuse, but remove the reporter account identifier when that account is deleted. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights to access, correct, or export your information. To make a request, email hello@humherd.com.

Cookies and local storage

HumHerd uses your browser's local storage and similar technology to remember things like your session, your preferences, and that you have seen the safety notice. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

Do Not Track. We do not track you across other websites or apps, and we do not allow third parties to do so through HumHerd. Because of that, HumHerd works the same way whether or not your browser sends a Do Not Track signal.

Children and teens

Accounts, messages, comments, notes, and public profiles are only for people 18 and older. People of any age can hum as guests. A guest session uses a random identifier to keep the shared sound working and collects no name, email, or other contact details. Guests who are under 13 should not send us feedback or reports that include an email address.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, and we do not knowingly keep accounts for anyone under 18. If we learn that we have, we delete the information and close the account. If you believe a child or teen has given us their information or has an account, email hello@humherd.com or use the report button, and we will act on it.

Where your information is handled

HumHerd is operated from the United States, and your information is processed there. If you use HumHerd from another country, you understand your information is handled in the United States. If you are in a region with specific data-protection rights, the rights described above apply, and you can reach us at the address below.

Security

We use reasonable measures to protect your information, including encrypted connections and access controls. No online service can be perfectly secure, but we work to keep your information safe and to limit what we collect in the first place.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes, we will update the date at the top and, where appropriate, let you know in the app.

Contact

Questions or requests about your privacy? Email hello@humherd.com.