Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 15, 2026 Last updated: July 15, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how TechMO LLC (“refiner-ai”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information when you use the refiner-ai macOS application (the “App”), the website at refiner-ai.app, and the associated account and sync services (together, the “Service”).

We are based in Japan and are subject to the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (“APPI”). Depending on where you live, you may also have rights under the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended (“CCPA/CPRA”), and other laws. Sections that apply to specific regions are marked below.

Please read the section “How we handle the text you refine” carefully — it is the most important part of this policy and describes how your selected text is processed by artificial intelligence providers.

1. Who we are and how to contact us

• Controller / business operator: TechMO LLC
• Registered address: Minami-Aoyama 2-2-15, WIN Aoyama 531, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
• Privacy contact: support-team@techmo.jp
• Personal information protection manager: Maiku Ogawa (support-team@techmo.jp)

If you are in the EU/UK and we are required to appoint a representative, our representative is: not applicable (we have not appointed one; contact us at the address above).

2. Information we collect

a. Account information. When you create an account, we collect your email address, authentication credentials (or the identifier from a third-party sign-in provider — Google, Apple, or GitHub — if used), and, optionally, your name.

b. Text you submit for refinement (“Input Content”). When you select text and trigger the App, that text is transmitted off your device to be processed (see Section 3). This may include whatever you have highlighted — emails, documents, messages, or code — and can contain personal information about you or about third parties. Only submit text you are authorized to share.

c. Refined output (“Output Content”). The rewritten, translated, or summarized text produced by the Service.

d. Context and Profiles. Content you save through the “Store Context”, “Store as New Context”, and Profile/Card features. This is stored on our servers and synced across your devices, and may contain personal information you choose to include.

e. Subscription and payment information. If you purchase a paid plan, our third-party payment processor collects and processes your payment details. We do not store full card numbers; we receive limited billing data (such as your plan, subscription status, a payment-processor customer identifier, and credit/usage balance) needed to manage your subscription.

f. Device and diagnostic data. Technical information such as App version, operating system version, device model, language settings, and non-content usage events. For each refine action we keep a usage record containing the endpoint used, the AI provider and model, token counts, a request identifier, which card type was used, and how many saved contexts were included — together with a short preview of the input (see Section 3).

g. Website data. When you visit refiner-ai.app or the account dashboard, we and our providers may collect standard log data (such as IP address and browser type) and use local storage as described in Section 10 and our Cookie Notice.

Accessibility permission. The App requires macOS Accessibility permission to read the text you select and to replace it in place. We use this access solely to perform the action you trigger. In some applications where the App cannot write text back directly (for example certain browsers or Electron apps), the App falls back to simulating copy/paste, which briefly reads and then restores your system clipboard in order to capture the selection and insert the result. We do not monitor, capture, or transmit text you have not explicitly selected and submitted for refinement.

We do not knowingly collect “special care-required personal information” under the APPI or “special category” / “sensitive” data under GDPR/CPRA. Please avoid submitting such information as Input Content.

3. How we handle the text you refine (AI processing)

To provide the Service, your Input Content is transmitted from your device to our servers and then to one or more third-party artificial intelligence providers that generate the Output Content.

• AI provider(s): third-party AI processing providers located in the United States. The specific providers may change over time; the identities of our current providers are available on request (see Section 6).
• Provider location(s): United States.
• Training use: We do not permit our AI providers to use your Input or Output Content to train their models, consistent with those providers’ standard commercial/API terms.
• Provider retention: We have not enabled a zero-retention arrangement. As a result, our AI providers may retain your Input and Output Content for a limited period (typically up to 30 days) for security and abuse-monitoring purposes, after which it is deleted, in accordance with their terms. Our providers’ data-processing terms are available on request.
• Our own storage of Input Content. We do not store your full Input Content or Output Content on our servers after returning the result. We do retain a short preview (approximately the first 10 characters) of each submission in our usage records, for at-a-glance identification of activity on your account.

We instruct our AI provider(s) to process content only to return a result to you. Because this processing involves sending data outside Japan, please also read Section 5 (cross-border transfers).

If you do not want specific text processed this way, do not submit it for refinement.

4. How we use personal information and our legal bases

We use personal information to:

• provide, operate, and maintain the Service (including refining, translating, and summarizing text, and syncing your Context, Profiles, and Cards);
• create and manage your account and authenticate you;
• process payments, manage subscriptions, and track credit usage;
• provide customer support and respond to your requests;
• monitor, debug, secure, and improve the Service (using diagnostic and non-content usage data);
• send service-related communications and, where permitted, marketing (you can opt out at any time); and
• comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service.

Legal bases (EU/UK users). We rely on: performance of a contract (to provide the Service you request); legitimate interests (to secure and improve the Service, and for direct marketing where permitted); consent (for certain processing, including your Input Content and the cross-border transfer of it); and legal obligation.

We do not use your Input Content or Output Content to train our own models.

5. International and cross-border data transfers

Because our AI providers and certain infrastructure are located outside Japan, using the Service involves transferring your personal information across borders. Specifically:

• AI processing: to third-party AI processing providers in the United States.
• Account, Context, Profiles, and sync data: to our cloud hosting, database, and authentication provider in Singapore.
• Payment data: to our third-party payment processor (United States / Ireland).

(Our application compute is hosted with a cloud infrastructure provider in Tokyo, Japan.)

For users in Japan (APPI). We rely on your consent to transfer your personal information to third parties in foreign countries. Before you use the refinement features, we ask for your consent to this cross-border transfer and provide: (1) the names of the destination countries — the United States (AI processing) and Singapore (hosting and sync); (2) information about those countries’ personal-information-protection regimes, confirmed by appropriate means; and (3) the security measures taken by the recipients. If you do not consent, please do not use the refinement features. We may in future move to an equivalent-safeguards basis (a data-processing agreement obligating APPI-equivalent handling, monitored at least annually) and will update this policy accordingly.

For users in the EU/UK (GDPR). Where we transfer personal data outside the EEA/UK to a country without an adequacy decision (including the United States and Singapore), we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK Addendum). You can request a copy of the relevant safeguards using the contact details in Section 1.

6. How we share personal information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only as follows:

• AI providers — third-party AI processing providers (United States), to process your Input Content and return Output Content (Section 3).
• Cloud hosting and infrastructure — a cloud hosting, database, and authentication provider (Singapore), and a cloud infrastructure provider for application hosting (Tokyo, Japan).
• Payment processing — a third-party payment processor, to handle subscriptions and billing.
• Professional advisers, and in corporate transactions — such as a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, subject to this policy.
• Legal and safety — where required by law, legal process, or to protect rights, safety, and security.

We do not currently use third-party analytics or crash-reporting providers.

We describe our sub-processors here by category. The identities of our current sub-processors are available on request at support-team@techmo.jp.

7. Data retention

We keep personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes above, and in any event no longer than seven (7) years, except where a longer period is required by law:

• Account information: for the life of your account, and up to seven (7) years afterward to the extent needed for legal, tax, audit, or dispute purposes.
• Input Content: processed transiently and not stored in full by us after the result is returned. The short (~10-character) preview kept in our usage records is retained with those records (see below).
• Output Content, Context, Profiles, and Cards: until you delete them or close your account.
• Billing and usage records: as required by Japanese tax and accounting law, typically seven (7) years.
• Diagnostic/usage data: up to seven (7) years.

You can delete your account and its associated data at any time from the App or the account dashboard (see Section 9).

8. Security

We implement organizational, personnel, physical, and technical safeguards designed to protect personal information, including:

• encryption in transit (TLS/HTTPS) for all traffic between the App, our servers, our providers, and our AI providers;
• encryption at rest via our managed database and cloud providers;
• access controls — database Row-Level Security so each user can access only their own records, and least-privilege handling of administrative credentials;
• authenticated access to accounts using signed JSON Web Tokens verified against our identity provider;
• internal service-to-service authentication for privileged operations; and
• input limits (a maximum length per submission) and secure development practices.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Where we process data in a foreign country, we take into account that country’s data-protection environment as required by the APPI.

9. Your rights

Subject to applicable law and verification of your identity, you may:

• access, correct, update, or delete your personal information;
• request a copy of, or restrict or object to, certain processing;
• withdraw consent where processing is based on consent (including consent to the cross-border transfer of your Input Content);
• request data portability (EU/UK); and
• lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

You can delete your account and associated data directly from the App or the account dashboard; deletion cascades to your Context, Profiles, Cards, and billing records (subject to records we must retain by law).

Japan (APPI). You may request disclosure, correction, addition, deletion, cessation of use, or cessation of third-party provision of your retained personal data, and information about our cross-border transfer safeguards.

EU/UK (GDPR). You have the rights described above; you may complain to your local Data Protection Authority.

California (CCPA/CPRA). You have the right to know, delete, correct, and to opt out of “sale” or “sharing” of personal information (we do not sell or share your personal information as those terms are defined), and not to be discriminated against for exercising your rights.

To exercise any right, contact us at support-team@techmo.jp. You may also contact Japan’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PPC).

10. Cookies and website analytics

Our website and account dashboard do not currently set advertising or analytics cookies. The account dashboard uses browser local storage for essential functionality — keeping you signed in (authentication tokens) and remembering your interface-language preference. Our marketing site loads a web font from Google Fonts. We do not currently use a third-party analytics or advertising provider. For details, see our Cookie & Consent Notice.

11. Children

The Service is not directed to, and may not be used by, anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a person under 18 has provided us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email and/or in-app notice and update the “Last updated” date. Where required, we will obtain your consent.

13. Contact

Questions or requests: support-team@techmo.jp, or TechMO LLC, Minami-Aoyama 2-2-15, WIN Aoyama 531, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan.