Privacy

Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 23, 2026

This policy explains what information HonkBoard LLC (“we”, “us”) gets when you use the HonkBoard app, visit honkboard.app, or buy a license, and what we do with it.

1. Who we are

HonkBoard LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company, makes HonkBoard and is responsible for the information described here (the “controller”, in EU terms). Contact: support@honkboard.app, or HonkBoard LLC, 116 Agnes Rd, Ste 200, Knoxville, TN 37919, USA.

2. What stays on your PC

Your sound library, settings, Stream Deck layouts, recordings, instant replays and text-to-speech text are stored on your computer. HonkBoard reads the tags and album art inside your sound files and watches your download folder for new sound files, all on your computer. To switch your Stream Deck to an app’s layout, it notes which app is in front (and, while SteamVR runs, which game it’s showing), also only on your computer. We never see any of it.

Other apps on the waveform. While HonkPlayer or a Stream Deck touch strip is showing a waveform, HonkBoard listens to the app Windows says is playing media (or the app you choose, or all sound but HonkBoard’s own, if you pick that) to draw its waveform. The sound is turned into the waveform’s shape as it plays and then thrown away: it’s never recorded, saved or sent. Each song’s shape and name are kept on your PC so it shows whole the next time. You can turn it off in Settings → Waveform.

The local log. HonkBoard keeps a log of errors and crashes in its own folder on your PC (%APPDATA%\HonkBoard\logs): what went wrong, where in the app, HonkBoard’s and Windows’ version numbers, the Stream Decks that connected, and when a sound stopped before its end and what stopped it (the sound by an internal number, not its name). Your Windows user name and home folder are replaced before anything is written, and it holds no sounds, sound names, typed text or audio. Old files are deleted after 14 days. You can turn the log off in Settings → About. The log only reaches us if you choose to send it: with a bug report (Settings → About → Send feedback, with “Include my log” ticked), or attached to an email to support.

3. What leaves your PC, and why

Automatically, for two things

• Checking your license. When you activate or deactivate a key, at startup if the last check is more than a day old, and about once a day while HonkBoard runs, it sends your license key, your computer’s name, the activation ID for this computer and a one-way code made from your computer’s Windows ID to our license server at license.honkboard.app (on Cloudflare), which checks the key with Lemon Squeezy, our payment and license provider. The Windows ID code can’t be turned back into the ID; we keep it, with a one-way code of the trial key, only to allow one free trial per computer. It gets back whether the key is valid, which product it’s for, its expiry date (for trials), how many computers use it, and the email address it was bought with (shown in Settings → License). If it can’t reach Lemon Squeezy, HonkBoard keeps working for 3 days. For beta testers, the license server also records when your copy last checked its license, so we can see who’s still testing. It keeps only the latest time, next to the email you were approved with, and deletes it when you leave the beta.
• Checking for updates. At startup and every few hours it downloads a small version file from updates.honkboard.app (hosted by Cloudflare), and downloads the new version when there is one, sending its signed license so only licensed copies get updates.

Remembering a used trial. When you start a free trial, HonkBoard records on your computer (in the Windows registry and a small file) that this computer has used its trial. It stays after uninstalling. This stays on your PC.

Only when you ask for it

• websites you open in its built-in browser, and the search engine you choose;
• files you choose to download;
• the optional natural voices, if you download them (from Hugging Face and GitHub);
• the ad blocker’s filter lists, if you turn ad blocking on;
• Discord, if you connect it using your own Discord app;
• Home Assistant and Philips Hue, if you connect them: HonkBoard talks to your own Home Assistant and Hue bridge on your local network. Your Home Assistant access token and the key your Hue bridge gives HonkBoard are stored on your computer, encrypted with Windows’ data protection. “Find my bridge” asks Philips’ discovery service (discovery.meethue.com) which Hue bridges are on your network;
• Weather keys and dials, if you put one on your Stream Deck: while it’s on your deck, HonkBoard asks Open-Meteo (open-meteo.com) for the weather at the place it shows (that place’s coordinates), at most every 15 minutes, and the key editor’s place search sends what you type to Open-Meteo’s place search;
• System Vitals ping keys, if you use one: about once a second while it’s shown, HonkBoard opens a connection to the website the key names, to time it;
• Logitech G HUB battery keys, if you use one: HonkBoard reads your devices’ battery levels from G HUB on your own computer;
• Elgato lights keys and dials, if you use one: while it’s on your deck, HonkBoard asks your local network which Elgato lights are there and talks to each light directly; nothing leaves your network;
• an email to support, with whatever you choose to attach (such as the local log);
• a bug report or idea from the Feedback window (Settings → About → Send feedback, or the Feedback button in beta versions), when you press Send. It sends what you write, the Discord name you type (if any), your local log (only if you tick “Include my log”), HonkBoard’s and Windows’ version numbers, and from your license its type, the last 4 characters of its key and the email it was bought with, so we can tell who sent it and reply. It goes to our license server, which checks your license and posts the report to a private channel in HonkBoard’s Discord server that only HonkBoard’s team can read. To limit reports to 10 a day per computer, the server keeps a one-way code of your activation ID and the time of each report for a day, then deletes them.

VB-CABLE. HonkBoard’s installer can install VB-CABLE, a virtual audio cable made by VB-Audio Software, if you leave its box ticked. It’s VB-Audio’s own program, installed from the installer itself (nothing is downloaded), and it runs on your computer. Installing it sends nothing to us or to VB-Audio. Its links to vb-cable.com and VB-Audio’s shop only open if you click them.

Those sites and services have their own privacy policies, and what you do on them is between you and them. Every internet request, these included, carries your IP address.

Features that let other devices in are off until you turn them on. The phone and tablet remote serves a page on your local network to anyone who has its secret link. Share links let anyone who has one of your links press the sounds on it from anywhere, within the limits you set: while share links are on and you have at least one, HonkBoard stays connected to HonkBoard’s relay (relay.honkboard.app, which we run on Cloudflare), which passes messages between HonkBoard and the share page (honkboard.app/s) and keeps none of them. The messages are encrypted with a key that’s only in the link (after the #, which browsers never send to honkboard.app), so the relay can’t read them. It sees your IP address while you’re connected, as any website does, but doesn’t record it, and the people with your links never see it. To host links, HonkBoard shows the relay your signed license (as it does the update server); the relay keeps only a scrambled ID of your installation and how many messages its links sent that day, for the daily fair-use allowance. People with a link see its name, its sounds’ names, lengths and Stream Deck key pictures and, if you allow it, what’s playing and what’s up next, and its waveform; you see the name each of them types in, and can remove or block them. OSC accepts commands from apps on your computer, or on your local network if you allow it. If you turn on the VRChat chatbox, HonkBoard sends what you play (the text you set, such as the title, artist and album) to VRChat on your computer, which shows it to the people near you in VRChat. The VR panels (on your wrist, in the air, the HonkBoard panel and HonkPlayer’s), if you turn them on, talk only to SteamVR on your computer; HonkBoard reads SteamVR’s settings but never changes them. MIDI controllers are read only on your computer.

Other companies’ software. Stream Deck plugins you install are made by others and may connect to the internet on their own. The natural voices use Microsoft’s DirectML on your graphics card, which may send diagnostic data to Microsoft under Microsoft’s terms.

4. Buying a license

Payments are handled by Lemon Squeezy, which acts as the seller of record. They collect your name, email, billing address and payment details, and handle tax. We never see or store your full card number. Their privacy policy covers what they do with your information: lemonsqueezy.com/privacy.

From each purchase or free trial we receive your name, email address, country, what you bought, your license key and the order details, plus the computer names your key is activated on. We use these to deliver and manage your license, help you if something goes wrong, and keep the records the law requires.

5. The website (honkboard.app)

The site is hosted by Cloudflare. Like any web host, Cloudflare processes basic technical information (such as your IP address and browser type) to deliver the pages and protect against attacks. Cloudflare Web Analytics counts visits to the front page (pages viewed, country, browser), without cookies and without identifying you; the share page doesn’t load it. The site sets no cookies and has no ads or trackers. Its fonts are served from honkboard.app itself, so your visit isn’t sent to anyone else.

People who open a share link. Someone with a HonkBoard can send you a link to press some of their sounds (honkboard.app/s). You don’t need HonkBoard or an account for it, and this part of the policy is about you too:

• The page keeps three things in your browser: a random ID that tells your presses apart (so the owner’s per-person limits work), the name you type, and the sounds’ key pictures (so they load faster next time). “Forget me on this device” at the bottom of the page deletes them.
• Nothing is sent until you type a name and press Join. Then your name, that ID and what you press travel encrypted through HonkBoard’s relay, which we run on Cloudflare, to the owner’s HonkBoard. The relay can’t read them and keeps none of them. It sees your IP address while you’re connected, as any website does, but doesn’t record it, and the owner never sees it. If the owner blocks you, the relay keeps a scrambled form of your IP address (a salted hash, not the address) for up to 30 days, so that network can’t use that link.
• The owner sees your name and when you pressed (HonkBoard shows it in its press log, its People list and a note; none of that is saved, and it’s gone when they close HonkBoard). If the owner blocks you, their HonkBoard keeps, on their computer, the name you typed, that random ID and the relay’s scrambled codes for your network, so the block lasts, until they unblock you or delete the link.
• We (HonkBoard LLC) can’t read any of it: your presses and your name are sealed with a key only the link holds, and the relay knows only that a link’s page is open while it is, not who’s behind it. The page itself is served by Cloudflare, as above. No cookies, ads or tracking.

5a. The beta

Before HonkBoard goes on sale, it’s tested in a closed beta.

• Applying. The application form is a Google Form. It asks for your email (to send your beta invite and beta news), your Discord username (to find you in the HonkBoard Discord), a name or handle to credit you with (optional), your age group, your country and time zone (optional), your setup (Windows version, the apps and hardware you use, whether you stream, your channel if you want to share it) and what you’d use HonkBoard for. Answers are stored in HonkBoard LLC’s Google account and used only to pick testers and run the beta. They’re not shared or sold, and they’re deleted within 90 days after the beta ends, except the names of testers who agree to be credited. Google’s privacy policy covers how Google handles the form: policies.google.com/privacy.
• Your beta key. You get it through Lemon Squeezy’s free checkout for the beta (section 4); it works on your computer like any license (section 3).
• The beta testers page. If you’re chosen as one of the most helpful testers and you said yes on the form, we list the name or handle you gave us on honkboard.app. Ask us any time and we’ll take it down.
• The HonkBoard Discord. When you join it, Discord’s own terms and privacy policy apply to what you post there: discord.com/privacy. Posts in the testers’ channels are seen by the other testers and by HonkBoard’s team.

6. Who handles the data for us

We only share information with them so they can do that job, or when the law requires it. HonkBoard LLC is in the United States, and so is most of this. If you’re in the EU, the UK or Switzerland, your information is transferred to the United States under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework (and its UK and Swiss extensions) or the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, whichever the company uses.

7. What we don’t do

We don’t sell your personal information. We don’t share it with advertisers. We don’t use it to build profiles of you.

8. How long we keep it

• Purchase and license records: as long as your license exists and as long as tax and accounting laws require (usually up to 7 years).
• The one-way trial codes: as long as HonkBoard offers free trials, so each computer gets one. They can’t be turned back into your Windows ID.
• Support emails and anything attached to them (logs included): up to 2 years, then deleted. Logs you send are used only to fix your problem.
• The local log on your PC: deleted by HonkBoard after 14 days; you can delete it any time.
• Bug reports and ideas sent from the app (with any log in them): in our private Discord channel until they’ve been dealt with, and no longer than 2 years. The one-way activation codes used to count reports: one day.
• Beta applications: until 90 days after the beta ends, then deleted, except the names of testers who agreed to be credited (kept while the beta testers page lists them).

9. Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of the information we have about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it (except what we must keep by law). Email support@honkboard.app and we’ll answer within 30 days. Depending on where you live (for example the EU, UK or California), you may have further rights under your local law, such as to object to or restrict how we use your information or to take it elsewhere, and you can complain to your local data protection authority.

10. Children

HonkBoard isn’t made for children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect information from them. If you think a child has sent us information, email us and we’ll delete it.

11. Changes

If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top. Before HonkBoard starts sending anything new, we’ll update this policy first, and for big changes we’ll say so on the website or in the app.

12. Contact