Privacy Policy

1. Who this applies to

This Privacy Policy describes how the MagicBPM app for Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch and Android ("MagicBPM," "the app," "we," "us") handles information. It applies to every build; where a platform differs, that is called out. By using the app, you agree to this policy. If you do not agree, please discontinue use of the app.

2. Information we collect

MagicBPM has no user accounts and no sign-in. We don't ask for your name, email address, contacts, location, photos, or similar information to use the app, and we (the developer) don't run our own servers that receive or store your personal data.

The free version does, however, involve some data collection through advertising. It shows ads using Google AdMob, a third-party service that collects a limited amount of data, such as your device's advertising identifier, to serve and measure those ads. What AdMob collects, and how you can limit or remove it, is described in Advertising, analytics & tracking below. Upgrading to MagicBPM Pro removes ads and the data collection that comes with them.

3. Microphone & audio

MagicBPM uses your device's microphone to listen to nearby music for two purposes: to measure the tempo (BPM) in real time, and, when song identification runs, to recognize which song is playing. Your phone will ask for your permission before the app can access the microphone.

• Tempo detection is entirely on-device. Audio is analyzed by an on-device signal-processing engine to compute a tempo reading, and is then discarded. Nothing about this leaves your device, and it works with no internet connection.
• Audio is not recorded or uploaded. Your microphone audio itself never leaves your device: the app does not record it, save it, or transmit it. Song identification does send a fingerprint derived from a few seconds of audio, never the audio itself, as described in Song identification below.
• Optional local recordings. If a build of the app offers a recording feature, any recordings are created only when you explicitly choose to start one, are saved only in the app's own storage on your device, and can be deleted by you at any time. They are never uploaded by the app; they leave your device only if you choose to share them yourself (for example, via AirDrop or Mail).

4. Song identification

MagicBPM can identify the song playing around you using ShazamKit, Apple's music-recognition technology, on iPhone and on Android alike. This is the only feature in the app that sends anything derived from your microphone off your device, and the only one that needs an internet connection.

• What is sent. Your device turns a few seconds of microphone audio into an acoustic fingerprint, a compact digital summary of the sound, not a recording, which cannot be played back or listened to, and sends that fingerprint to Apple's Shazam service to look for a match. Your audio itself is never sent, and no recording of it is created or stored.
• What comes back. If Apple finds a match, the app receives information about the song: its title, artist, cover artwork, and links to Apple Music. Cover artwork is then loaded from Apple's servers.
• When it runs. In the free version, identification happens only at the moment you tap Identify. With MagicBPM Pro, Auto-identify songs recognizes music continuously while a listening session is active. It is on by default for Pro and can be switched off at any time in Settings → Song identification, which limits identification to the moments you tap Identify. Identification never runs when you are not listening.
• Apple's role. The lookup is performed by Apple, and Apple's handling of it is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy. We do not receive the fingerprint, we are not told what you listen to, and we operate no server involved in any of this.

5. Data stored on your device

To make the app useful, MagicBPM saves a small amount of information locally on your device. None of it is transmitted to us, and it stays on your device, with one exception for MagicBPM Pro that is described under the list:

• Detected Songs: songs identified while you listen are saved to a history on your device: the song's title, artist, cover-artwork link, Apple Music and Shazam identifiers and links, the BPM measured at the time, and the date. When you play the metronome for 30 seconds or more with a song attached to it (the metronome shows which song, and you can detach it), how you practiced is added to that song's entry: the tempo you last practiced at, how many times you have practiced it, and the date. A song that was never identified is kept as an "Unknown song" with the tempo that was measured, and if you give it a name, the name is saved with it. The most recent 200 songs are kept. No audio is stored with an entry. This applies to the free version as well as MagicBPM Pro: what Pro unlocks is viewing the list, not the saving. Either way the history is never transmitted to us, and can be deleted at any time with the clear button on the Detected Songs screen.
• The last song identified: so the app can show it again when you reopen the screen.
• Your preferences: settings such as the detection tempo range, detection engine, capture mode, noise-gate options, and whether auto-identify is on.

iCloud sync (MagicBPM Pro on iPhone, iPad and Mac). With MagicBPM Pro, the Detected Songs history is also kept in your own iCloud account, in Apple's iCloud key-value storage, so the list is the same on your iPhone, iPad and Mac. What goes there is the history entries themselves, plus a random identifier for each device that syncs and the date it last did, which is how the app counts the devices taking part (that count, as a number, is part of the usage data described below). Sync is on by default for Pro, and Settings → History → iCloud Sync turns it off. The free version does not sync, a device that is not signed in to iCloud keeps its history to itself, and the Android app has no sync at all. Apple stores this data under your Apple Account, and its handling is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy. It travels between your devices and your iCloud and never reaches us; we have no way to read it.

This information is stored in the app's local storage on your device and is never transmitted to us. Deleting the app removes it from that device. It does not remove songs already synced to your iCloud, which come back if you reinstall with MagicBPM Pro and iCloud Sync on; to remove those too, clear the history while sync is on, before deleting the app. Your device's own backup (iCloud Backup on iPhone, Google's backup on Android), if you use it, covers the app's data as it does any other app's, and can restore it when you reinstall.

6. Network & third parties

The app talks to the network in exactly four situations:

• Song identification (Apple). When identification runs, the app sends an acoustic fingerprint to Apple's Shazam service and loads cover artwork from Apple's servers; see Song identification above. ShazamKit is Apple's own technology: built into iOS, and used on Android through Apple's ShazamKit library for Android.
• iCloud sync (Apple). On iPhone, iPad and Mac, MagicBPM Pro keeps the Detected Songs history in your own iCloud account while iCloud Sync is on; see Data stored on your device above.
• Ads (Google). The free version uses Google AdMob (the Google Mobile Ads SDK, including its consent component) to request and measure ads; see Advertising, analytics & tracking below. See also Analytics & crash reporting below, which uses Google's Firebase.
• Purchases (Apple or Google). The app communicates with Apple's App Store on iPhone, or with Google Play on Android, to support in-app purchases (see below).

Apple's handling of song identification, of iCloud sync, and of purchases made on iPhone, is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy. Google's handling of purchases made on Android is governed by Google's Privacy Policy.

We do not run our own servers, and no data reaches a machine we operate. Usage and crash reports go to Google's Firebase rather than to us, and what they contain is described below. The one-time MagicBPM Pro purchase removes ads, after which the app makes no advertising network requests; usage reporting is independent of Pro and is controlled by its own switch. Tempo detection itself never uses the network and works fully offline.

7. Purchases

MagicBPM may offer an optional one-time in-app purchase ("MagicBPM Pro"). On iPhone it is processed by Apple through the App Store using Apple's in-app purchase system; on Android it is processed by Google through Google Play Billing. We do not receive or store your payment details. The store may provide us with anonymized, aggregated sales information, but not information that identifies you personally. Your purchase entitlement is verified by the store (Apple's StoreKit or Google Play Billing) and is associated with your Apple Account or your Google account, not with any account we control.

8. Advertising, analytics & tracking

We do not build our own profiles about you, and we do not operate any server that receives your data. We do use two Google Firebase services, and this is what they do:

• Analytics. Records which screens and features are used, how long a listening or metronome session ran, and how detection went (whether a tempo settled, the audio route and sample rate, and whether you corrected the octave by hand). That last one is how we learn the tempo detector guessed wrong on music we have never heard, which is the main reason this exists.
• Crashlytics. Records crashes and a small amount of context about the audio setup at the time, so a crash report says which conditions it happened under rather than only where in the code.

What is never included: your audio, the titles or artists of songs identified, anything you have typed, and your precise location. Song identification reports only whether a match succeeded, on which kind of audio route, and how long it took.

Your control. Settings → Privacy → Share usage data turns all of it off, immediately and on every platform. Where a consent form is required by law (for example in the EEA and the UK), nothing is collected at all until you have answered it.

The free version of MagicBPM shows ads using Google AdMob. To serve and measure ads, Google may collect and process information such as your device's advertising identifier (IDFA), general device and usage information, and approximate (coarse) location derived from your IP address. Depending on your choices, ads may be personalized (selected using such data) or non-personalized.

• Consent. Where required by law (for example in the EEA and the UK), MagicBPM presents Google's consent message on first launch so you can choose how your data is used for ads. On iOS, the system "Allow Tracking?" prompt (App Tracking Transparency) also governs whether the advertising identifier (IDFA) may be used to track you across other apps and websites. On Android the equivalent identifier is the Advertising ID, which you can reset or delete in your system settings. If you don't allow tracking, ads are served in a non-personalized, less data-intensive way.
• Your controls. You can change tracking permission at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking, or on Android in Settings → Privacy → Ads. The surest way to remove ads, and the data collection that comes with them, is the one-time MagicBPM Pro purchase.
• Google's role. Google's handling of this data is governed by Google's Privacy Policy and how Google uses information for advertising.

Aside from advertising as described here, MagicBPM does not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

9. Children's privacy

MagicBPM is not directed to children and has no account or sign-in. Because the free version serves ads through Google AdMob, we do not knowingly direct personalized advertising to children; you can also decline tracking on the iOS prompt, reset or delete your Android Advertising ID, or remove ads entirely with the one-time MagicBPM Pro purchase. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction).

10. Your choices & rights

• Microphone permission can be granted or revoked at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone (or Settings → MagicBPM), and on Android in Settings → Apps → MagicBPM → Permissions → Microphone. Revoking it disables live detection.
• Song identification is under your control. Turning off Auto-identify songs in Settings → Song identification stops continuous recognition, so a fingerprint is sent only when you tap Identify. If you never tap Identify and auto-identify is off, nothing derived from your audio is ever sent.
• Detected Songs entries are stored on your device and, with MagicBPM Pro and iCloud Sync on, in your own iCloud. You can delete an entry on its own, or use Clear to remove the whole history; while sync is on, either one also removes it from iCloud and from your other devices. Settings → History → iCloud Sync turns sync off on that device: nothing further is synced from it, and what is already in iCloud stays there until you clear the history on a device where sync is on.
• Ad tracking can be changed at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking, or on Android in Settings → Privacy → Ads, and you can remove ads entirely with the one-time MagicBPM Pro purchase.
• Your on-device data is removed when you delete the app, which clears all locally stored data.
• We (the developer) don't keep a server-side profile of you, so there's nothing on our servers for us to access, correct, or delete. Depending on where you live, you may have rights regarding personal data under laws such as the GDPR or CCPA. For data processed by our advertising partner, Google, in the free version, use the consent and tracking controls described above, or remove ads entirely with MagicBPM Pro; for anything else, contact us and we'll help.

11. Security & retention

Because your data stays on your device, or in your own iCloud account if your history syncs there, its security is tied to your device's own protections (such as your passcode and device encryption) and to those of your Apple Account. The data MagicBPM stores locally is retained until you remove the app; a synced history stays in iCloud until you delete its songs or clear it.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Your continued use of the app after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, email us at support@magicbpm.com.