Privacy, in plain language
TalkBeam is built for talking to people you trust. We collect as little as we can, and we tell you exactly what happens to it.
The waitlist
When you join the waitlist, we store your email address and whether you told us you’re asking for a company or team. We use it only to tell you when TalkBeam launches. We don’t sell it, share it for marketing, or add you to other lists.
Want off the list? Reply to any email we send you and we’ll remove your address.
This website
This site doesn’t use cookies, analytics or third-party trackers, and it doesn’t load fonts or scripts from other companies. Like most websites, our server may keep short-lived technical logs (such as IP address and browser type) to keep the service secure and running.
Which page or campaign brought you. When you arrive, the site notes the first page you landed on, the address of the site that sent you (without its search terms) and any campaign tags or ad click IDs in the link you followed (such as utm_campaign or gclid). This stays in your browser tab only (it’s cleared when you close the tab), it’s never stored in a cookie, and it reaches us only if you submit one of our forms, so we can count which pages and ads lead to sign-ups. There are no tracking scripts.
Business forms
When you start a team trial, book a demo, ask for a guide, register for a webinar, apply to partner, email yourself a cost report or contact us, we store what you enter (such as your name, work email, company, role, phone number, industry, team size, message and how you heard about us) along with the page or campaign that brought you. We use these business contact details to reply, set up your trial, send what you asked for and follow up about TalkBeam for your company. We don’t sell them. To stop hearing from us, use the unsubscribe link in any of our emails, or email hello@talkbeam.net.
Business contacts
We may email businesses about TalkBeam using business contact details (such as a name, role, work email and company) that come from public sources, like company websites and business directories, or from business data providers. Every email says who we are and includes an unsubscribe link. Unsubscribing, or emailing hello@talkbeam.net, stops further emails, and we keep your address on a do-not-contact list so it stays that way.
Your voice
- Audio is relayed live. When you talk, your voice is sent through our servers to the people listening in your channel. We don’t store recordings by default.
- Recording is opt-in. Pro includes recording. Audio is only saved when recording is turned on.
Transcripts
- Made on your phone. Each transmission is turned into text on your device.
- Shared with your channel. The text is sent to the channel so members can read and search the feed.
- AI features (Pro). When you use live translation or voice summaries, the transcript text involved is processed on our servers and by the AI service we use for that feature (for example Anthropic) to produce the translation or summary. If on-device transcription is unavailable, a short audio clip may be sent to a speech-to-text service to create the transcript. On TalkBeam for desktop, your browser’s own speech recognition makes the transcript while you talk (in Chrome and Edge that’s the browser maker’s speech service); where the browser can’t, the audio goes to our speech-to-text service instead.
- Public channels are moderated. In channels open to anyone, each transcript is checked by an automatic moderation service (OpenAI’s moderation endpoint) before it’s shown, and messages that break the rules are removed and reviewed by our team.
Photos
- Shared with your channel. Photos you share are visible to the members of that channel. Before a photo is stored, the app shrinks it and removes hidden data such as the location and camera details a phone adds to pictures.
- Checked before anyone sees them. Every photo is checked by an automatic moderation service (OpenAI’s moderation endpoint) for sexual, graphic or self-harm content. A photo that breaks the rules is never shown or stored; our moderators get a report of what was detected. The owner of a private channel can turn this check off for that channel. Anyone can report a photo.
- Voice captions aren’t recorded. A caption you say goes out live like any transmission; only its transcript is kept, as the photo’s caption.
- How long they’re kept. Until the channel’s owner clears its transcripts, your company’s retention setting removes them, the channel is deleted, or you delete your account.
Location
TalkBeam only uses your location when you allow it, and only for three things:
- Live channel map. Only in channels where you turn on sharing. Members of that channel see you on its map while you’re in the channel, including when TalkBeam is running in the background (your phone shows its location indicator while it’s on). Other channels never see it, and you can stop sharing in any channel at any time.
- Emergency alerts. When you send an SOS, your location is attached so your channel can find you.
- Nearby channels. To show public channels around you.
You can turn location access off at any time in your phone’s settings. On TalkBeam for desktop, your location is used only while it’s open in a channel where you share it, with your browser’s permission. The channel map’s streets come from OpenFreeMap, whose servers see your internet address when your device loads map tiles, like any website.
The apps
TalkBeam runs on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, on Android phones and tablets, and in your web browser on a computer (TalkBeam for desktop). The same rules on this page apply everywhere.
- Your account. TalkBeam creates your account on first launch with the name and picture you choose. There’s no password, and we don’t ask for your email or phone number.
- TalkBeam for desktop. A computer signs into your account only when you scan the code it shows with your phone and approve it. Each linked computer gets its own key, and you can unlink it from your phone or from the computer at any time.
- Deleting your account. Use Me → Delete account in the app, or email hello@talkbeam.net. We delete your profile and picture, and remove your name from your past messages.
- Company accounts. If you join a company on TalkBeam, that company can see its channels’ transcripts, locations shared with its channels and safety alerts, and may sign you in with your work account (which gives us your work email).
Safety features
- Crash and fall detection uses your phone’s motion sensors, on your phone, only when it’s turned on (usually by your company). If you don’t answer the “Are you OK?” check, an alert with your location goes to your team and supervisors.
- Lone-worker check-ins and SOS share your location only with the people and channels you or your company chose.
Purchases
TalkBeam Pro is sold through the App Store and Google Play. Apple and Google handle your payment; we never see your card. We receive a signed record of your subscription (which plan, when it renews or ends) so we can turn Pro on for your account.
Changes
If we change how we handle your information, we’ll update this page before the change takes effect and update the date at the top.