Terms of Service

Last updated: October 1, 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Shuovo application and related services (the "Services") provided by Shuovo ("we", "us", or "our"). By accessing or using the Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy.

1. Acceptance of Terms

By creating an account, accessing, or using the Services, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use the Services.

You must be at least 13 years old (or 16 if you reside in the European Economic Area) to use the Services. By using the Services, you represent that you meet this age requirement.

2. Description of Services

Shuovo is a voice-first bilingual keyboard designed for productivity. The Services include:

Voice Transcription — Speech-to-text optimised for accuracy and low latency. By default transcription is delivered via ElevenLabs; if you provide your own Groq API key (see Section 7), it is delivered via Groq's specialised AI hardware (LPU) using that key instead, and service speed and quality then depend on Groq's availability and on the rate limits applicable to your Groq account.
AI Post-Processing — Automatic punctuation, filler word removal, self-correction resolution, and formatting of voice transcriptions when Enhanced Editing is enabled. This text-only step is delivered via Cerebras or Groq (see Section 7).
Translation — On-device and cloud-based text translation between supported languages.
Custom Keyboard — A system-wide keyboard with bilingual (English and Chinese) support, personalised AI suggestions, pinyin input, shortcuts, and themes stored locally on your device.

3. Your Account

To access the Services you must create an account using a valid email address. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activities that occur under your account. You agree to provide accurate information and to notify us immediately if you suspect any unauthorised use of your account.

4. Subscription and Billing

Pricing — the standard plan is US $15 per month (billed monthly) or US $144 per year (billed annually, a 20% discount versus the monthly rate). Prices are exclusive of any local taxes, which are added at checkout where applicable.
Free trial — new subscriptions include a 14-day free trial. You will not be charged during the trial, and you may cancel at any time before it ends to avoid being charged. Unless you cancel, your subscription starts automatically at the end of the trial at the price shown above, and renews as described below. Full subscription features, including cross-device sync, are available during the trial.
What the subscription covers — your subscription provides access to the Shuovo keyboard, cross-device sync, multilingual engines, and the voice-dictation pipeline. Voice transcription is included; if you choose to provide your own Groq API key (see Section 7), transcription is delivered through that key instead and its fees and usage limits are governed by your direct relationship with Groq, not by us.
Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled. You may cancel at any time; access continues until the end of the current billing period. Annual subscriptions are non-refundable for the remainder of the prepaid term.
Payments are processed by Stripe and are subject to Stripe's terms of service.
We may change subscription pricing with at least 30 days' notice. You may cancel before the new pricing takes effect.
Refunds are issued only where required by applicable law.

5. Your Content

You retain ownership of all content you provide through the Services, including audio recordings and transcription outputs. By using the Services, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive licence to process your content solely for the purpose of providing the Services to you.

We do not retain audio recordings after transcription is complete, with one exception you control: if you turn on the optional Research mode setting in the app and then submit a specific recording for analysis, that recording, its transcript, your notes, and your voice settings are uploaded and kept on our servers, linked to your account, only until the problem you reported has been analysed or until you delete it (you can delete any submission from the app's Settings at any time, and all of them are deleted with your account). Nothing is uploaded under Research mode unless you submit it yourself. We do not use your content, including Research mode submissions, to train AI models.

6. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

Use the Services to transcribe or record another person's speech without their consent.
Reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble the application.
Share, resell, or transfer your account or session credentials to another person.
Attempt to bypass, circumvent, or disable licensing, metering, or security mechanisms.
Use the Services for any unlawful purpose or in violation of applicable law.
Interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Services.

7. Third-Party Services and Bring-Your-Own-Key (BYOK)

The Services rely on third-party providers for voice transcription, AI text processing, payment processing, hosting, and email delivery. The full list, and what each provider receives, is in our Privacy Policy; in summary:

ElevenLabs (elevenlabs.io) — default provider for speech-to-text transcription when you have not provided your own Groq API key. Our ElevenLabs account is opted out of model training.
Groq (groq.com) — provider for high-speed speech-to-text transcription using specialised AI hardware when you provide your own Groq API key, and one of our providers for AI post-processing of transcripts. Groq does not use your data to train their models.
Cerebras (cerebras.ai) — an additional provider for AI post-processing of transcripts and voice-editing requests, with Groq as the fallback. Cerebras receives text only, never audio, and does not retain it for model training.
Stripe (stripe.com) — processes subscription payments.
Cloudflare (cloudflare.com) — hosts our backend infrastructure and provides translation capabilities.
Amazon SES (aws.amazon.com) — delivers account and service emails such as magic-link sign-in messages.

We are not responsible for the practices or availability of these third-party services. Their respective terms and privacy policies apply to data processed by their services.

Bring Your Own Key (BYOK). You may optionally provide a Groq API key from your personal Groq account; while a key is on file, the Services forward each transcription request to api.groq.com using your key instead of to ElevenLabs. By providing your key:

You authorise us to store the key encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM and to forward it to api.groq.com on your behalf for the sole purpose of completing your transcription requests.
You remain responsible for all usage, fees, rate limits, and terms imposed by Groq on your account, including Groq's Terms of Use.
You may remove the key at any time from your account page; we will delete it from our database without further obligation. Voice transcription then reverts to the default ElevenLabs provider.
You agree not to upload another person's API key without their authorisation.
Subscription fees are not contingent on transcription usage; the subscription covers the Services described in Section 2 regardless of how many transcription requests you make through your Groq key.

8. Intellectual Property

The application, its source code, design, trademarks, and content are proprietary to us and protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Nothing in these Terms transfers any ownership or intellectual property rights to you beyond the limited licence to use the Services.

9. Termination

You may stop using the Services and delete your account at any time by contacting us.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access if:

You breach any term of these Terms.
Your use poses a risk of harm to the Services or other users.
You have not accessed the Services for twelve consecutive months.

Upon termination, your right to use the Services ceases immediately. Subscription fees already paid are not refunded except where required by law.

10. Disclaimer of Warranties

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

Transcription accuracy is not guaranteed. We are not responsible for errors in voice-to-text output. You should independently verify any critical transcription results.

11. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses arising from your breach of these Terms, your use of the Services, or your violation of applicable law or the rights of any third party.

13. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by updating the date at the top of this document and, where feasible, through an in-app notice or email. Continued use of the Services after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. If you disagree with the changes, you must stop using the Services.

14. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales, except where local consumer protection laws grant you additional rights.

15. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at legal@shuovo.com.