Privacy Policy

1. The short version

• Makers (people who create forms) sign in with Google or GitHub. We don't offer email-and-password sign-up, and for now only Google accounts we have invited can use Ears.
• Respondents (people who answer forms) don't sign in. Their answers go to the maker who created the form and are never shown on the public home page.
• If you answer by voice, the conversation is kept as text. A recording is kept only on forms where a Pro maker turned on recording and you separately agree to it; you can answer by voice without agreeing.
• The maker decides how long responses are kept (if they don't, until deleted). Respondents on public links can delete their answers right on the closing screen, and makers can delete responses, forms and their account themselves.
• We don't sell personal data, and we don't use analytics or ad-tracking tools. We count how many times a form is opened only as a number per form per day.

2. Our role and legal bases

Ears has two kinds of users: makers, who create forms and receive responses, and respondents, who answer them.

We process maker accounts, payments and the records needed to run the service (abuse-prevention and access records) as the controller.

Responses are different. The maker who created the form decides what responses are used for, so the maker is the controller of responses, and we receive, store and organize them on the maker's behalf as a processor. The data processing notice on a form's first screen is written by that maker. We don't use responses outside what the maker entrusted to us, and never for our own advertising, sale or model training. We only process them ourselves where needed to prevent abuse and to comply with the law.

Our legal bases are:

• Maker accounts, forms and paid plans — performance of the service contract (Korea's Personal Information Protection Act, Art. 15(1)(4)).
• Abuse-prevention and security records — our legitimate interest in running the service safely (Art. 15(1)(6)).
• Responses — processed for the maker on the maker's basis. Respondents start answering themselves after seeing, on the first screen, the maker's data processing notice and these notices (AI-run conversation, processing abroad, the under-14 restriction); a recording is kept only if the respondent separately agrees to keep one.

For questions about how a form's responses are used, ask the maker who created it first. If you can't reach the maker, or your question is about our processing, write to hello@ears.dev.

3. What we collect and why

We don't ask for government identifiers, sensitive data such as health information, or bank or card numbers, and our terms forbid makers from asking for them. The AI is instructed not to probe for personal information; only on forms where the maker added email or phone fields does it state the purpose and collect them (in voice conversations, on screen after the call). On forms with hidden fields, values carried in the link (such as a user ID) are saved with the response, and the first screen says so. Even so, if a maker's question or something a respondent volunteers contains such information, it is stored and transmitted as part of the response.

Card numbers and other payment methods are handled on the checkout pages of Polar and its payment processor (Stripe) and never reach Ears servers.

4. AI and voice processing

We use Anthropic's Claude models to write the next question in text conversations, to decide what the AI says in voice conversations, and to summarize each question and extract field values after a conversation ends. The form's questions and instructions and the respondent's conversation are sent to Anthropic for this, and field values given in text answers (including email) are part of that conversation. Claude also writes response summaries, quality and sentiment and groups responses into themes; when a maker drafts a form with AI, the goal they write and any survey or document they import (Google Forms questions, pasted text, an uploaded PDF) are sent too. Anthropic deletes API inputs and outputs within 30 days of receipt (with exceptions for policy enforcement and legal requirements) and does not train models on them.

If you answer by voice, or through a personal link the maker sent you (even by text), the conversation goes through ElevenLabs. Your browser connects to ElevenLabs directly, so your IP and browser information reach them too. ElevenLabs creates a conversation record and summary, and on Pro forms with recording turned on it also records voice conversations (while processing, the recording exists even if the respondent did not agree to keep one). When a conversation ends we fetch and store the text transcript (and the recording, if the respondent agreed to keep one), then delete the conversation at ElevenLabs, recording included. Conversations we fail to fetch are still set to be deleted after 7 days. The AI settings, such as the form's questions and instructions, stay at ElevenLabs as agent settings while the form exists.

Recording is available only when a Pro maker turns it on for a form, and a recording is kept only if a respondent answering by voice separately agrees on the screen where they choose how to answer. You can answer by voice without agreeing. Kept recordings are stored privately in Seoul-region storage (Supabase), and the maker can listen to them on the results page through a link that is valid for 10 minutes. When the response is deleted or its retention period ends, the recording is deleted too.

Text answers through a public link don't go through ElevenLabs.

5. The public home page

Forms a maker sets to “Public on home” are featured on the ears.dev home page while they accept responses. The home page shows the product name and one-liner, the form's public title and introduction, the answer mode (text or voice), estimated time, language and number of responses. The product URL appears on the form's first screen when it is opened. Response content and respondent information are never shown.

Forms set to “Anyone with the link” don't appear on the home page and can only be opened with the link. Forms set to “Close the public link” can only be answered through personal links the maker creates.

6. AI tools and integrations a maker connects

Makers can connect AI tools such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and claude.ai to Ears over MCP to create forms and read responses. A connection is only made after the maker approves it on an Ears screen, and depending on the approved scopes the tool may also receive account information such as the maker's email and name. Approval issues a refresh token, so the connection continues without signing in again until it is removed.

When a connected tool reads responses, that content goes to the provider of the tool the maker chose and is handled under that provider's policy. This happens at the maker's request, and the maker must reflect it in the data processing notice shown to respondents. Removing the Ears connection inside the AI tool leaves our approval record and refresh token in place, so ask us to disconnect completely. Deleting your account removes them too.

When a maker turns on a Slack or webhook integration for a form, each new response's summary, field values, per-question summaries and AI fields are sent to the address the maker set. If a voice respondent leaves contact details on the screen after the call, after the first alert went out, just those values are sent once more. This happens at the maker's direction, and the receiving service's policy applies. Once the maker removes an integration nothing more is sent, but what was already sent stays with the receiving service. When a maker turns on email, the same content is sent only to the maker's own sign-in email, delivered by Amazon Web Services' email service (SES, Seoul region).

7. Cookies and browser storage

• Sign-in cookies (starting with sb-) — set by Supabase Auth to keep a maker signed in. They last up to 400 days and are cleared when you sign out.
• ears_next — remembers, for 10 minutes, the screen to return to after signing in (the AI tool connection approval screen).
• ears_r — while you answer through a public link, ties that response to this browser so you can keep answering and delete it on the closing screen. Lasts 3 hours. If the maker embedded the form in their own site, it is set as a partitioned cookie that works only inside that site, so the form works there.

We use no analytics, advertising or retargeting cookies or scripts, and we don't keep personal data in browser storage such as localStorage. We count how many times a public form is opened only as a number per form per day, without cookies or IP addresses. When the first screen of a public form opens, and when you first click into the home page demo or its answer box, Cloudflare Turnstile processes browser information for a bot check (usually invisible; a checkbox appears only when needed).

If a maker embeds a form in their own site, the form opens in a frame (iframe) inside that site, but your answers go straight to Ears without passing through that site. Hidden-field values the maker puts in the embed code (such as a user ID) are saved with the response. That site's own cookies and analytics follow its operator's policy.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you block them, you can't sign in, and answering through public links and deleting answers on the closing screen won't work.

8. Processors and international transfers

We entrust processing to the providers below. Most of them run servers outside Korea, so data is transferred abroad. These transfers are entrustment and storage necessary to perform the service contract and are disclosed in this policy (PIPA Art. 28-8(1)(3)). Data is transferred over encrypted connections (HTTPS) when you use the service and when server jobs run, such as publishing a form, summarizing a conversation, receiving payment notifications and retention clean-up.

If you don't want these transfers, you can stop using the service and ask us to delete your data. Text answers through a public link aren't transferred to ElevenLabs, but we can't provide the service without the other processing.

Google and GitHub, used for sign-in, are not our processors; they are the sign-in method a maker chooses. When a maker approves sign-in, they send us the email, name and profile picture.

ears.dev used to belong to our reference service Refs, so requests to the API addresses the old Refs apps use are forwarded as they are to Refs (refs.one), where the Refs privacy policy applies. Ears sign-in cookies are not forwarded.

9. Provision to third parties

We don't provide personal data to third parties except as follows.

• Paid plans — when a maker presses the Pro checkout button, we provide their email and workspace identifier to Polar Software (United States, privacy@polar.sh) to create the checkout page (this happens even if the payment is never completed). Polar is the merchant of record and handles payment, tax and refunds under its own terms and policy; what the maker enters on the checkout page goes to Polar directly. This is sent over HTTPS when you press the button, and Polar keeps it under its policy and applicable law. Nothing is provided if you never press it.
• Legal requests — when investigative or other authorities request it through procedures set by law.

10. Retention and deletion

• Maker accounts — makers can delete their account right away with “Delete account” in settings (a Pro subscription set to renew must be canceled first), or ask us and we delete it within 10 days of the request. Deleting an account removes its workspace's forms, responses, recordings and billing records, the agent settings and conversations at ElevenLabs, and the approval records and refresh tokens of connected AI tools. Anything left after the sign-in account is removed is finished by the daily clean-up job.
• Forms — makers can delete a form right away on its page (it stops accepting responses first, and waits for any response in progress). Its responses, recordings, personal links, integrations, insights and records of deleted responses are deleted with it, along with the conversations and agent settings at ElevenLabs. If deletion stops partway (for example, a provider error), the daily clean-up job finishes it.
• Responses — if the form has a retention period, a clean-up job that runs once a day deletes overdue responses in turn. Deletion by the maker or the respondent works the same way.
• Deleting a response removes the transcript, recording, per-question summaries, response summary, field values and the insights (AI themes) that included it, and asks ElevenLabs to delete the conversation if it is still there. Only a record without content (“Records of deleted responses” in section 3) remains while the form exists, for usage accounting.
• Rate-limit counts — deleted within 5 minutes after the counting window (up to 24 hours) ends.

Deletion removes the content from our database (a deleted response keeps only the record without content described in section 3) and deletes recording files from storage, after which the data can no longer be viewed in the service. If a recording file can't be deleted right away, the daily clean-up job deletes it. Backups and logs our providers keep disappear under each provider's retention policy.

11. Your rights

Makers and respondents can exercise these rights at any time:

• Access — ask to see the data we hold about you.
• Correction — ask us to fix inaccurate data.
• Deletion — ask us to delete an account, forms or responses. Makers can also delete them themselves.
• Restriction and withdrawal of consent — ask us to stop processing, or withdraw your consent. Respondents withdraw consent by deleting their answers.

If you answered through a public link, you can delete your answers with “Delete answers” on the closing screen until you close it. If you answered through a personal link, whoever holds that link can delete the answers from its closing screen. After that, ask the maker who created the form, or ask us — include the form address, the date and time you answered and part of what you said, and we'll check with the maker and delete it. If we can't confirm the response is yours, handling may be delayed or impossible.

Send requests to hello@ears.dev. Requests from a maker's sign-in email are handled as they are; requests from another address may need an extra identity check. Legal representatives or people you authorize can also make requests, and we will verify the authorization. We act on requests within 10 days of receipt and tell you the result. We may refuse part of a request where the law requires us to keep the data or where it could infringe someone else's rights, and we will tell you why.

If you are in the EEA or the UK, you may also lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

12. Security measures

• All traffic is encrypted with HTTPS.
• Every database table has row level security enabled with no public access policy, so the key exposed to browsers can't read or write any row; only our servers can.
• API keys and secrets live in encrypted environment variables of the deployment, never in the code.
• Makers can only access the forms and responses in their own workspace, and access to operational data is limited to the people who run the service.
• Public forms are protected by a bot check (Turnstile) and rate limits. Ears never stores raw IP addresses — only an HMAC made with a server secret is used for counting — and respondent check values are stored only as hashes.
• AI tool connections go through OAuth (PKCE) approval, and access tokens expire every hour.
• Access and authentication logs are kept by our hosting and sign-in providers and used to spot unusual access.

13. Children

Ears is not directed at children under 14. Makers confirm they are 14 or older when they sign in, and respondents before they start answering. If we learn we have collected data from a child under 14, we delete it without delay.

14. Changes to this policy

When this policy changes, we publish the effective date and what changed on this page. Material changes — to the data collected, purposes, retention or international transfers — are announced on this page and in the service 7 days before they take effect (30 days for changes unfavorable to users), and to makers by email as well.

• 2026-10-14: First version
• 2026-10-15: Added new fields (phone, number, date, URL and hidden link values), response summaries, quality, sentiment and AI fields, insights (AI themes), AI form drafting and import, Slack and webhook integrations, site embeds and their cookie, form open counts, and self-serve form and account deletion
• 2026-10-15: Added new-response email alerts and Amazon Web Services (SES, Seoul region), which sends them, as a processor
• 2026-10-15: Updated wording to match the service (interview → conversation, individual invitation link → personal link, data notice → data processing notice); no change in substance
• 2026-10-15: Removed the owner-only voice lab, so its cookie (ears_lab) and its temporary conversation state are no longer listed
• 2026-10-15: Removed the consent step before answering and moved the same notices to the first screen (keeping a recording still needs separate consent); the public-form bot check now runs invisibly on the first screen
• 2026-10-15: Described what the home page demo (text and voice) processes and when it is deleted, and removed the demo consent checkbox (the bot check runs invisibly when you first use the demo)

15. Who we are and how to contact us

Notique Inc. handles personal data in the roles described in section 2. Send privacy questions, complaints or requests to our privacy contact at hello@ears.dev.

Company

Notique Inc. (주식회사 노티크)

Representative

Kim Sihyun

Privacy contact

Kim Sihyun

Business registration no.

331-87-01414

Mail-order business report no.

제2026-서울강남-05442호

Address

Room 641-A, 2F, 47, Gangnam-daero 112-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Phone

+82 2 6084 5005

Email

hello@ears.dev

Hosting provider

Vercel Inc.

If you are not satisfied with how we handled your request, you can also contact these Korean authorities:

• Privacy Infringement Report Center — privacy.kr / 118 (from within Korea)
• Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee — kopico.go.kr / 1833-6972
• Personal Information Protection Commission — pipc.go.kr