Terms of Service

1. About these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and ICONIC ALI PTY LTD (ABN 57 662 942 556), trading as Sovona ("we", "us"). They apply to the Sovona app, our account and licence service, and getsovona.com (together, "Sovona").

By creating an account, installing or using Sovona, you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy. Our Subscription & Cancellation and Refund Policy pages form part of these terms. If you use Sovona for an organisation, you confirm you're allowed to accept these terms for it.

2. Who can use Sovona

You must be at least 16 years old, or have the permission of a parent or guardian who agrees to these terms for you. You must be able to enter a binding agreement where you live, and not be barred from using software like Sovona by law.

3. Your account

• You sign in with your email address and a one-time code. Keep access to that email account secure, because anyone who can read it can sign in as you.
• Give us an email address you control and keep it up to date, so we can reach you about billing and security.
• Your account is personal. Don't share it or let others use your plan.
• Tell us straight away at [email protected] if you think someone else has used your account.

4. Your licence to use Sovona

While you have an active plan or trial, we give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and use Sovona on computers you own or control, for your own personal or work use, in line with these terms.

• Your plan can be used on up to two computers at the same time. You can remove a computer in the app to free its place. To protect accounts, adding a new computer needs an email code, and computers can be swapped up to three times a month.
• You may not copy, sell, rent, sublicense or share Sovona; reverse-engineer, decompile or modify it, except where the law allows this despite these terms; remove our notices; or get around its licence checks or limits.

5. Plans, trials and payment

• Plans. Sovona offers the Local plan (monthly or yearly), the Cloud plan (when available) and, during the launch month only, Founders Lifetime. The features and price of each are shown on our website and in the app before you buy.
• Free trial. The 7-day free trial needs a valid payment card. Unless you cancel before it ends, your chosen plan starts and you authorise us to charge your card for it. We remind you before the trial ends. One trial per person and per card.
• Automatic renewal. Monthly and yearly plans renew automatically at the end of each period, at the price shown when you subscribed, until you cancel. You authorise us to charge your card for each renewal.
• Cancelling. You can cancel any time in the app (Account, then Manage billing). Your plan keeps working until the end of the period you've paid for, and you won't be charged again. We don't refund the unused part of a period for change of mind.
• Switching plans. You can switch between monthly and yearly. The new plan starts when your current period ends.
• Founders Lifetime is a single payment for a licence to use the Sovona desktop app with Local plan features, including future desktop updates, for as long as we offer the Sovona desktop app. It covers one account on up to two computers at a time. It doesn't include mobile apps or the Cloud plan, it isn't a subscription, it can't be transferred, and it isn't refundable for change of mind.
• Prices and tax. Prices are in US dollars, or Australian dollars including GST for customers in Australia. The total is shown before you pay.
• Payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your full card details.
• Failed payments. If a renewal payment fails, we'll tell you so you can update your card. If it isn't fixed, paid features stop at the end of the period. If you were offline when your plan renewed, paid features keep working for 7 days while Sovona checks in.
• Price changes apply only to future billing periods. We'll tell you at least 30 days before, and you can cancel before the new price applies. Founders Lifetime is never charged again.
• Refunds and chargebacks. We don't give refunds for change of mind on any plan. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law always apply, as explained in our Refund Policy. If a payment is refunded or reversed, the plan or licence it paid for ends.

6. When a plan ends

When a plan or trial ends and isn't renewed, dictation and other paid features stop. Your notes, History and documents stay on your computer, and you can still open and export them.

7. Your content

Everything you dictate, write, record or create with Sovona ("your content") belongs to you. On the Local plan your content stays on your computer and we never receive it, so we don't need, and don't take, any rights to it.

If you use the Cloud plan once it's available, you give us permission to send the content you choose to process to our cloud provider, only to give you the result. We don't keep it. Because your content lives on your PC, you're responsible for backing it up. Sovona's export and backup tools help.

8. Acceptable use

You agree not to use Sovona to:

• break any law, or anyone's privacy, intellectual property or other rights;
• record, transcribe or monitor people without the consent the law requires (see section 9);
• harass, threaten, deceive or harm anyone;
• create or spread malware, spam or illegal content;
• overload, probe or attack our services, or try to access accounts or systems that aren't yours; or
• build a competing product by copying Sovona.

9. Recording meetings and calls

Laws about recording conversations differ between countries and states, and many require everyone's consent. You're responsible for telling people and getting any consent the law requires before you record or transcribe them. Sovona shows a consent reminder to help, but it can't tell you what the law requires where you are.

10. AI features

Speech recognition, cleanup, translation, summaries and AI chat are produced automatically and can contain mistakes. Check important text before you rely on it or send it, especially for medical, legal, financial or safety matters. Sovona's output isn't professional advice.

11. Third-party software and services

Sovona includes open-source software and AI models licensed under their own terms, listed in the app (Settings, then About). Those terms apply to those parts. If you connect Sovona to software you run yourself, such as Ollama or LM Studio, your use of that software is governed by its own terms.

12. Our intellectual property and feedback

Sovona, including its software, design, name and logo, belongs to us or our licensors and is protected by law. These terms don't give you any rights to them except the licence in section 4. If you send us ideas or feedback, you let us use them freely, without any obligation to you.

13. Updates and availability

We update Sovona to fix problems, improve it and keep it secure, and updates may change or add features. If we plan to remove a core feature of a paid plan, we'll tell you first. Some features may be labelled beta; they may change or be removed. Sovona needs Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), and an internet connection to sign in, check your plan, and download updates and speech engines.

14. Australian Consumer Law and other rights

Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or changes any right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law or any other law that can't be excluded. If you're a consumer in another country, you keep the rights your local law gives you.

Apart from those rights, and to the extent the law allows, Sovona is provided as it is and as available. We don't promise that it will be error-free or uninterrupted, or that it will suit every purpose.

15. Limits on liability

To the extent the law allows:

• where our liability for failing to meet a consumer guarantee can be limited, it is limited to supplying the services again or paying the cost of having them supplied again;
• we're not liable for indirect or consequential loss, such as lost profits or lost opportunities, that wasn't reasonably foreseeable; and
• because your content is stored on your computer, we're not liable for its loss, except where the loss is caused by our breach of these terms or our negligence.

Nothing in this section limits liability that can't be limited by law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

16. Ending this agreement

• You can stop using Sovona at any time, cancel your plan, and delete your account in the app.
• We may suspend or end your access if you seriously or repeatedly break these terms, if your payment is reversed, or if the law requires it. Unless that would be unlawful or cause harm, we'll tell you first and give you a reasonable chance to fix the problem.
• If we stop offering Sovona or end your access for a reason that isn't your fault, we'll give you reasonable notice and refund any prepaid subscription fees for the unused part of your plan.
• When this agreement ends, your licence ends. Your content stays on your computer, and the sections that by their nature should continue (such as 7, 12, 14, 15 and 18) keep applying.

17. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms, for example when we add features or the law changes. We'll show the new date at the top and, if a change materially affects you, tell you in the app or by email at least 30 days before it applies. If you don't agree, you can cancel before the change applies.

18. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia, and the applicable laws of the Commonwealth of Australia. If something goes wrong, please contact us first so we can try to fix it quickly and informally. If we can't resolve it, either of us can take the dispute to the courts of Victoria, Australia, and the courts that can hear appeals from them. If you're a consumer living elsewhere, you can also use the courts and protections of the place where you live.

19. General

• These terms and the policies they mention are the whole agreement between us about Sovona.
• If part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies.
• If we don't enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later.
• You can't transfer this agreement to someone else. We may transfer it to a business that takes over Sovona, as long as your rights under these terms aren't reduced.
• We'll send notices to the email address on your account or show them in the app.

20. Contact us

ICONIC ALI PTY LTD (ABN 57 662 942 556), trading as Sovona
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Email: [email protected] (we handle all enquiries by email)