1. Who we are
Sotto is a product of KonnectXR, LLC, a Minnesota limited liability company doing business as Kaperi Labs ("KXR," "we," "us," or "our"). You can reach us at contact@sottolab.com.
This Privacy Policy applies to (a) the Sotto desktop application, on any of its plans, and (b) the sottolab.com website. It also explains the limited data flows involved in obtaining a license and in the optional cloud features you choose to use.
2. Our privacy-first design (what stays on your machine)
Sotto is built so that your research data stays under your control.
Your research data stays on your machine. Sotto processes your documents, interview audio, transcripts, participant information, coding, themes, memos, and analysis locally, using a locally installed AI model (via Ollama). KXR does not operate a server that stores, processes, or receives your research content. The only exception is a cloud API call you explicitly initiate and approve (Section 3.5).
Because KXR does not hold your research data, KXR cannot access, recover, or produce that data in response to legal process, because we do not have it.
Nothing before you accept. The installer and its hardware check run on your computer and transmit nothing to KXR before you accept our Terms of Service, this Policy, and the End User License Agreement.
3. Data we collect
3.1 Website waitlist
When you submit the waitlist form at sottolab.com, we collect your email address and plan preference. We use this only to notify you when Sotto is available and to send a confirmation email. We do not sell, share, or use this data for advertising.
3.2 Licensing and payment
Sotto is licensed through Lemon Squeezy (lemonsqueezy.com), including the free Sotto Stacks plan. When you obtain a free Sotto Stacks license, Lemon Squeezy collects your email address in order to issue the key; no payment information is involved. When you purchase a paid plan, Lemon Squeezy collects your payment information, email, and billing details. KXR receives confirmation of your license status, plan, and a license key only. We do not receive or store your payment card information. Lemon Squeezy's privacy policy governs their processing of your payment data.
3.3 Application analytics (PostHog)
Sotto collects anonymized product-usage data to improve the application, processed by PostHog (posthog.com).
What is collected:
- Feature-usage events (for example, "Transcription started," "Analysis view opened")
- Navigation patterns and session counts
- An anonymized device identifier (a one-way SHA-256 hash of a machine ID, not reversible to identify you)
- Sotto version, operating system, Electron version, the result of the hardware check, and the selected local-model tier
What is never collected through analytics:
- Research data of any kind: transcripts, interview recordings, participant identifiers, coded segments, field notes, or any content from your research documents
- Local-model prompts or responses
- File names, project names, or folder paths
- Free-text input of any kind
All analytics events pass through a sanitizer that enforces these restrictions; only events on an explicit allowlist may be transmitted.
3.4 Analytics consent
Analytics are enabled by default on every plan, including the free Sotto Stacks plan, and you may turn them off at any time in Settings. This is disclosed at first launch, after license activation, and you must acknowledge that disclosure to proceed. No feature of Sotto is conditioned on leaving analytics enabled.
3.5 Cloud API calls (writing assistant and literature search)
Sotto's optional methodology search, literature search, and academic writing assistance connect to Anthropic (Claude), using API credentials maintained by KXR. Which of these are available to you depends on your plan. You do not need your own accounts or API keys. KXR is the contracting party and bears the cost of these calls.
Before any data is transmitted:
- Sotto displays the exact payload in a review panel;
- you must explicitly approve the transmission; and
- the approval and transmission are written to a local audit trail you can export.
What may be transmitted when you approve a call: researcher-composed or system-generated search queries, your research questions and theme summaries as context, and grounded context from search results, your writing instructions, and draft section text. Raw interview transcripts, participant identifiers, and coded segments are not transmitted to cloud APIs. You remain responsible for reviewing each payload before approving it. Anthropic's own privacy policies and terms govern how they process data they receive.
3.6 Automatic update checks
Sotto checks for updates via a public HTTPS request to GitHub Releases. No user data is transmitted and no authentication is required.
4. How we use data
- Waitlist email: notify you when Sotto is available; send confirmation.
- License status: validate access; manage plan and subscription state.
- Usage analytics (PostHog): understand feature usage; prioritize improvements.
- Cloud API payload: fulfill the literature-search or writing request you approve.
- Payment data (Lemon Squeezy): process license purchase; manage subscription.
We do not sell your personal data, do not use it for unrelated third-party advertising, and do not use your research data to train our own models.
5. Data sharing and sub-processors
We share data only with the providers needed to run the Service:
- Lemon Squeezy: license and payment processing (merchant of record)
- PostHog: anonymized usage analytics
- Anthropic: literature-search and writing-assistance API calls you approve
- Hugging Face: one-time download of the local transcription/diarization model (no research content)
- GitHub: update checks (no personal data)
6. Data retention
- Waitlist emails: retained until you request removal or Sotto launches, whichever is earlier.
- License status: retained for the life of your license plus up to 2 years after expiry.
- PostHog analytics: retained according to the retention period configured in our analytics settings and PostHog's retention policy.
- Cloud API approval audit trail: stored locally on your machine only; KXR retains no copies.
7. Your rights
You may have rights to access, correct, delete, or limit our use of your personal data. Contact contact@sottolab.com; we will respond within 30 days. Because your research data lives locally in your own environment, requests about that data are handled by you directly within the application.
EU/EEA residents (GDPR): You have rights including access, portability, and lodging a complaint with your supervisory authority. Our legal basis for waitlist emails is consent; for product analytics, legitimate interest, which you may opt out of on any plan.
California residents (CCPA/CPRA): You may request information about data collected, request deletion, and opt out of sale/sharing. We do not sell personal data.
8. Security
KXR uses commercially reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect the data we collect. Analytics data is anonymized before transmission; sensitive fields in the application (for example, participant identities and license keys) are encrypted at rest; payment processing is handled by Lemon Squeezy on PCI-compliant infrastructure. No method of internet transmission or storage is completely secure.
9. Children
Sotto is intended for doctoral and academic researchers and is not directed to anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from minors. If you believe a minor has provided information or activated a license (including through a parent's payment method), contact support@sottolab.com and we will take appropriate steps.
10. Changes to this policy
Material changes will be communicated in the application at first launch after the update and via email to waitlist subscribers. The effective date above reflects the most recent revision. Continued use after a revised policy takes effect constitutes acceptance.
11. Contact
KonnectXR, LLC, dba Kaperi Labs
contact@sottolab.com, support@sottolab.com, www.sottolab.com
See also the Terms of Service, the End User License Agreement, and our cookie policy for this website.