Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 13, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Noise IQ LLC (“Noise IQ,” “we,” “us”) handles information when you use the Noise IQ mobile app for Android and iOS (the “app”) and our website at noiseiq.ai (the “website”). Questions or requests: founders@noiseiq.ai.

Summary

No account. The app doesn’t ask for your name, email address or phone number.
Microphone only while recording. The app never records in the background.
Recordings are sent for analysis. Our server processes clips temporarily as described below; our AI processing provider may retain them for abuse prevention or legal obligations. Copies you save remain on your phone, subject to the backup details below.
Your history stays on your phone. Results, saved recordings and tracked noises are stored only on your device.
Location only for repair-shop search, and you can type a city or ZIP code instead.
No ads, analytics or tracking. We don’t sell your personal information or share it for targeted advertising.

Part 1: The Noise IQ app

Information the app uses, and why

A short audio recording of your car, only when you tap to record, to suggest what the noise might be. Received by our server and our processing provider (see How we share information).
Your app language (English or Spanish), with each recording, so the result is in your language. Received by our server and our processing provider.
Your answers to “When do you hear the noise?” and “Where does it seem to come from?”, only if you answer them, to narrow down the possible match. Received by our server and our processing provider.
Your location (one reading, not tracked), only when you search for repair shops and allow location, to find shops near you. Sent from your phone to Apple Maps on iPhone, or to Overpass API servers and OpenStreetMap map-tile servers on Android and if Apple’s search doesn’t respond on iPhone.
A city or ZIP code you type, only when you search for a place, to find shops there. Sent to Apple Maps on iPhone, or to OpenStreetMap’s Nominatim service on Android and if Apple’s search doesn’t respond on iPhone.
A random app identifier, subscription status and purchase receipts, to check whether you’re subscribed. The app checks for an active subscription each time it starts; receipts are sent only if you buy or restore Noise IQ Pro. Received by RevenueCat, and Google Play or the App Store.
Technical request information (such as IP address and time), with any network request, because it’s needed to deliver the request and prevent abuse. Received by the service receiving the request; our server keeps your IP address in memory for up to one hour to count requests.

The app does not request access to contacts, photos or unrelated files, and does not use advertising identifiers, analytics or crash-reporting tools. Subscription processing uses the app identifier and technical information described under Subscriptions below.

Recordings

When you tap to record, the app records a short clip (up to 10, 15 or 20 seconds, as set in Settings). Leaving the app during a recording stops and discards it. If the app detects that the clip is silent, it’s deleted on your phone and never sent.

Before your first scan, the app asks for your permission to send recordings to our AI processing provider (see How we share information). Nothing is recorded or sent unless you agree. You can withdraw that permission at any time in Settings → Privacy → AI analysis; the app then asks again before your next scan.

Once you’ve agreed, each clip that isn’t silent is sent with your app language over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection to our server, which passes them to our processing provider to suggest a possible match. For some noises, the app then asks when you hear it (for example, when braking or turning) and, occasionally, where it seems to come from (for example, near a wheel or under the hood). You choose from a fixed list; you never type anything. If you answer, the same clip is analyzed again with your answers. If you choose “I’m not sure” or skip, nothing more is sent.

Our server handles the clip in memory only while answering the request and does not write it to disk. Our server logs contain only technical details, such as the request’s size, format, processing time and outcome, which step of the analysis it was, and the analysis service’s usage counts, and never the audio, your answers or the description of the sound. To limit abuse, our server briefly keeps your IP address in memory, for up to one hour, to count requests.

The temporary copy of the clip on your phone is deleted when you leave the result, or right away if the analysis fails, unless you keep it in History (see below).

Results history on your phone

Each result is saved only on your phone: the possible match, the confidence score and short description, the date, your answers to the follow-up questions and your optional “Was this helpful?” answer. Unless you turn it off, a copy of the recording is saved with it so you can play it back. We don’t receive any of this.

Settings → Auto-delete recordings deletes saved recordings immediately, after 7 or 30 days, or never (the default).
You can delete any entry, or clear all History, at any time. The app keeps up to 50 entries.

Tracking a noise over time (Noise IQ Pro)

If you tap “Track this noise” on a result, the app keeps a copy of that recording on your phone. Follow-up recordings you save for that noise are measured on your phone (loudness, pitch and rhythm) and are never sent to us, our processing provider or anyone else. Any mileage, note or vehicle name you add stays on your phone too. Tracked recordings are kept until you tap “Stop tracking,” which deletes them; the History auto-delete setting doesn’t apply to them. You can track up to 20 noises. For each, the app keeps the original recording and up to 30 later ones; when you add more, it deletes the oldest later recording, except the first, which later ones are compared with. On iPhone, the system may remove saved recordings if storage runs very low.

Location and repair-shop search (Noise IQ Pro)

The app asks for location permission only when you open the repair-shop map, and only while you’re using the app. It never reads your location in the background. It takes one location reading, or reuses one your phone already has from the last 10 minutes.

On iPhone, the app uses Apple Maps. It sends those coordinates, together with the search term ‘auto repair’, directly from your phone to Apple to find nearby shops, and Apple’s map service receives the map area being displayed in order to draw it. If you type a city or ZIP code instead, that text is sent to Apple to find the place. Apple handles these requests under its own privacy policy (https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/). If Apple’s search doesn’t respond, the app tries the OpenStreetMap services described below instead.

On Android, the app sends the coordinates to a public Overpass API server (overpass-api.de and, if it’s slow to answer, also overpass.private.coffee) to find nearby shops, and to the OpenStreetMap Foundation’s map-tile servers to draw the map. A typed city or ZIP code is sent to OpenStreetMap’s Nominatim service.

Our server receives none of this.

We don’t store your location. The shops found are kept in the app’s memory for up to 30 minutes so the map opens faster, and are never saved. Tapping Directions opens Google Maps or Apple Maps with the shop’s location; your own location isn’t added to that link. The OpenStreetMap Foundation’s tile and Nominatim services handle requests under the OSMF Privacy Policy (https://osmfoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_Policy); the Overpass servers are run by other operators under their own policies.

Subscriptions (Noise IQ Pro)

Noise IQ Pro is an optional auto-renewing subscription sold through Google Play and the App Store. Your payment details stay with Google or Apple; we never see them. Each time you open the app, it asks RevenueCat, Inc. whether this app installation has an active subscription, even if you’ve never subscribed. RevenueCat receives a random identifier it creates for the app (not your name or email address), basic device and app information, such as the platform, app version and country, and, if you buy or restore Noise IQ Pro, your purchase receipts. See RevenueCat’s privacy policy at https://www.revenuecat.com/privacy.

Notifications

Reminders, such as one that a result is ready, are scheduled on your phone. We don’t use a push notification service, and no notification data is sent to us. You can turn reminders off in the app or in your phone’s settings.

Permissions

Microphone: used to record a car noise, only while you record. If you say no, you can’t record; the rest of the app works.
Location (while using the app): used to find nearby repair shops. If you say no, type a city or ZIP code instead.
Notifications: used for reminders. If you say no, you get no reminders.

You can change these at any time in your phone’s settings.

Backups

Saved and tracked recordings are excluded from Google backups and Android phone-to-phone transfers. On iPhone, they’re stored where iCloud doesn’t back them up, and the system may remove them if storage runs very low. Other app data may be included in your phone’s backup or transfer if you have those turned on. This includes results and History text, settings, and the notes, mileage and vehicle names you add to tracked noises.

Part 2: The website

Information you give us

Messages: if you email us, we receive your email address, your message and any attachments.

Information collected automatically

Standard request information. When you visit, your browser sends technical information such as your IP address, browser and device type, the page requested, the referring page, and the date and time. Our hosting provider, Netlify, uses it to deliver the website and protect it from abuse, may keep it in server logs, and may give us aggregated traffic statistics such as page views.
Fonts. We serve the website’s font files from the same hosting infrastructure as the website. Loading those fonts does not require your browser to contact Google Fonts.

Cookies and analytics

With your permission, we use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the website, such as which pages are viewed, how long visits last, the referring site, and approximate location and device type derived from your IP address and browser. Google Analytics sets first-party cookies (named _ga and _ga_ followed by an identifier) that let it recognize repeat visits; they can last up to two years. Google processes this information as our service provider; see Google’s Privacy Policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy. We don’t use Google Analytics for advertising, and the website turns off its Google signals and ad-personalization features.

Google Analytics only loads if you choose “Accept” in the cookie banner. If you choose “Decline,” or make no choice, no analytics script runs and no analytics cookies are set. We store your choice in your browser’s local storage so we don’t ask again on every page. You can change it at any time with the “Cookie settings” link at the bottom of every page; withdrawing consent deletes the Google Analytics cookies the website set. Apart from this, our website code doesn’t set cookies, and we haven’t added advertising or social-media tracking scripts. Netlify supplies a script for its editing and preview tools. Our checks during ordinary top-level visits found no additional network requests or browser storage writes from that script. Authenticated editing or preview tools may behave differently.

Microphone and location

The phone demonstration on the website is an animation with illustrative results. The website doesn’t access your microphone, camera or location, and tells your browser to block them.

Part 3: Both the app and the website

How we use information

To provide the app’s features: analyzing recordings, showing results and finding repair shops
To provide and check Noise IQ Pro subscriptions
To respond to your messages
To operate, secure and protect our services, including preventing spam and abuse
To comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Use

With your permission, we share your recording, app language and any follow-up answers you provide with our third-party AI provider, currently Google, to analyze the sound. You can withdraw permission in Settings → Privacy → AI analysis.

Our server sends only clips that the app hasn’t detected as silent, and returns Google’s suggested match and short description to the app. Google processes this information as our service provider under Google’s terms for paid API services, under which it does not use it to improve its products. Google may keep it for a limited time to detect abuse and meet legal obligations; Google’s policies currently describe keeping prompts and responses for 55 days for this purpose. See Google’s API terms and Privacy Policy.

We share information only as described in this policy:

Service providers that process it on our behalf: Expo (EAS Hosting) runs our app server; our processing provider, described above, analyzes recordings; RevenueCat checks subscriptions; Netlify hosts the website; Google Analytics measures website use if you allow it; and our email provider sends and receives email. They may use it only to provide their services to us, except as described in this policy, such as our processing provider’s limited retention to detect abuse and meet legal obligations described above.
Services you use directly: Apple Maps on iPhone, and Overpass API servers and the OpenStreetMap Foundation’s map-tile and Nominatim services on Android (and as the iPhone fallback), for repair-shop search, and Google Play or the App Store for purchases, under their own policies.
Legal and safety: if we believe it’s required by law or legal process, or needed to protect the rights, property or safety of Noise IQ, our users or others.
Business changes: if Noise IQ is involved in a financing, merger, acquisition or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this policy or a successor policy.

We do not sell personal information, share it for cross-context behavioral or targeted advertising, or use it for advertising.

How long we keep information

Recordings sent for analysis: not stored by our server; held in memory only while the request is handled. Our processing provider’s retention is described under How we share information.
Data on your phone (History, saved and tracked recordings, settings): kept until you delete it using the relevant app controls, it is removed by an applicable auto-delete setting, or the app is uninstalled. Uninstalling does not delete existing device/cloud backups or records held by Google, Apple, RevenueCat or other providers. See Backups and the provider-retention descriptions above.
IP addresses used to limit abuse: kept in our server’s memory for up to one hour to count requests.
Server logs (technical details only; no audio, answers or descriptions of the sound): kept by our hosting providers under their own practices.
Subscription records: kept by RevenueCat, Google and Apple while needed to provide the subscription and meet legal and tax obligations.
Emails you send us: kept while needed to respond to you and follow up, unless you ask us to delete them sooner or we must keep them longer to meet legal obligations, resolve disputes or enforce our agreements.

Security

We protect information with encrypted (HTTPS) connections, by keeping recordings off our server’s disk, by keeping secret keys only on our server and never in the app, with request size and type checks and request limits, and by storing your history only on your device. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we can’t guarantee absolute security.

Your choices and rights

Don’t want to send recordings? Don’t agree when asked, or turn off Settings → Privacy → AI analysis. The rest of the app still works.
Skip the follow-up questions; you’ll still get a result.
Deny location and type a city or ZIP code instead.
Delete your data on your phone at any time in History, with Stop tracking, or by uninstalling the app.
Cancel Noise IQ Pro at any time in your Google Play or App Store subscription settings.
Stop receiving our emails by writing to founders@noiseiq.ai.
Access, correction and deletion: email founders@noiseiq.ai to ask what we hold about you, to correct it or to delete it, including subscription records held by RevenueCat for the app on your phone. We may need to confirm your request before acting on it. We don’t hold app data on our servers, so most app data can only be deleted on your phone. Because the app has no accounts, include your App Store or Google Play order ID for a Noise IQ Pro purchase, if you have one, so we can find the related subscription record.

Depending on where you live (for example, California or the European Economic Area), you may have additional rights, such as to know, access, correct, delete or port your personal information, to object to or restrict processing, and to complain to a data protection authority. We won’t treat you differently for using these rights. We process information to provide the services you ask for, for our legitimate interests in running and protecting them, and where required by law. We respond to requests as required by applicable law.

Children

The app is intended for adults 18 and older, and our services are not directed to children. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or the minimum age where you live). If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

International users

We and our service providers may process information in the United States and other countries where they operate. Data protection laws there may differ from the laws where you live.

Changes to this policy

We’ll post any update on this page and change the “Last updated” date. If a change is significant, we’ll also tell you in the app or by other appropriate means before it takes effect.

Contact

Noise IQ LLC, 2516 Bradford Sq NE, Atlanta, GA 30345-1336, United States. Telephone: 1-833-36-NOISE. Email: founders@noiseiq.ai