The ground rules,
in plain words

1. Agreeing to these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and North Star (“we”, “us”). By downloading, installing or using the North Star app, website or services, you agree to them. If you use North Star on behalf of an organization, you agree on its behalf and confirm you are allowed to.

You must be at least 18, or the age of majority where you live.

2. The service

North Star is a Mac app for recording and transcribing meetings, dictation, screenshots and screen recordings, notes and snippets, with optional cloud features. It is in early access: features will change, some may be removed, and things may break. We may update, suspend or discontinue any part of it.

3. Your account

You sign in with Google. Keep your account secure and tell us if you think someone else has used it. You are responsible for what happens under your account.

If your organization manages a company account that covers you, its administrators decide which cloud features are available to you, and can see your email address and when you last signed in.

4. Your content

Everything you create in North Star (recordings, transcripts, notes, captures, snippets) is yours. We claim no ownership of it.

Most of it stays on your Mac. When you use a cloud feature, such as sync, share links or cloud AI, you give us permission to store, process and transmit that content only as needed to provide that feature to you. A share link you create can be opened by anyone who has the URL.

We don't sell your content, and we don't use it to train AI models. Our privacy page explains exactly what leaves your Mac, when, and where it goes.

5. Recording other people

Recording laws differ by place. Many require everyone on a call to know, or agree, that it is being recorded. You are responsible for getting any consent the law requires before you record, transcribe or capture anyone, and for how you use what you record.

6. Acceptable use

Don't use North Star to break the law or infringe anyone's rights; to record people without the consent the law requires; to upload or share malware or unlawful content; to probe, overload or get around the security or limits of our services; or to copy, resell or reverse engineer the app, except where the law allows it.

7. Our software

We give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the North Star app while you follow these terms. The app, its design and our brand stay ours. The app updates itself, and keeping it updated may be required to keep using cloud features.

8. Plans and payment

North Star is free during early access, with usage limits we may adjust. If we offer paid plans, the price, billing terms and what is included will be shown before you buy, and those terms will apply to that purchase.

9. Third-party services

North Star relies on other providers, for example Google for sign-in and, only if you turn it on, Anthropic for cloud AI. Their own terms apply to their services, and we aren't responsible for them.

10. Feedback

If you send us ideas or feedback, we may use them to improve North Star without owing you anything for them.

11. Disclaimers

North Star is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, to the extent the law allows. Transcripts, summaries and AI answers can be wrong. Check anything important before you rely on it. Keep your own backups of anything that matters.

12. Limitation of liability

To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for lost data, profits or business. Our total liability for any claim relating to North Star is limited to the greater of what you paid us in the 12 months before the claim and CAD $100. Some places don't allow these limits, so they may not all apply to you.

13. Ending your use

You can stop using North Star at any time: quit the app and delete it, along with its folders. To have your account and any data on our servers deleted, ask us through the app.

We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms or puts other people or our services at risk. The sections on your content, disclaimers, liability and governing law continue after your use ends.

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. When a change is significant, we'll say so in the app or on this page before it takes effect. Continuing to use North Star after a change means you accept the updated terms.

15. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of British Columbia and the federal laws of Canada that apply there. Any dispute will be resolved in the courts of British Columbia, unless the law where you live gives you the right to bring it elsewhere.

16. Questions

Reach us through the Feedback section in the North Star app.