SideTape

SideTape privacy policy

Last updated: 26 October 2026. Contact: sidetapesupport@gmail.com. Website: https://sidetape.app.

SideTape is a rehearsal app for actors on iPhone and iPad. This policy explains what the app keeps on your device, what it sends and to whom, how long data is kept, and your rights. It also covers this website.

In short

  • Your scripts, recordings and self-tapes stay on your device. The one exception: if you choose an AI voice, the dialogue of that scene is sent to make the audio.
  • Speech recognition runs on your device.
  • Recordings of your voice are never uploaded, and never used to make or copy a voice.
  • AI voices are optional. If you choose one, SideTape asks first, then sends that scene's dialogue to ElevenLabs to make the audio.
  • During the beta, our server keeps a record of your tester code and how much of your allowance you have used.
  • There are no adverts, no analytics and no tracking.

Who we are

SideTape is made by Anil Patel in the United Kingdom. In this policy, "we" and "us" mean Anil Patel, who is responsible for your personal data (the "controller" under data protection law). Contact: sidetapesupport@gmail.com.

What stays on your device

These are stored only on your iPhone or iPad. Apart from the dialogue of scenes you prepare with an AI voice, they are never sent to us:

  • your scripts, imported documents, photos, page scans and pasted text
  • where you are in each scene, your notes and your read-through notes
  • recordings you make, and recordings friends send you
  • your self-tape videos

Self-tape videos and recordings of your voice are left out of cloud backups. If someone reads the other parts live during a self-tape, their voice is recorded in the video with yours.

Reader voices

  • Phone voices are Apple's voices on your device. Nothing is sent.
  • The sample scene has its readers' audio built into the app. It was made in advance with ElevenLabs, from lines the app wrote. Playing it sends nothing and uses no allowance.
  • AI voices are optional. They are made by ElevenLabs, Inc., a company in the United States.

What happens when you use an AI voice

When you prepare a scene, SideTape sends that scene's dialogue to our server. Our server passes it to ElevenLabs, which makes the audio. We never send your documents, photos, microphone sound, recordings or self-tapes.

The finished audio is saved on your device, so it plays offline. If you use an AI voice in a self-tape, the audio is mixed into the video on your device. The video is never uploaded.

Our server keeps a copy of the audio and its timing, which contain the dialogue, in private cloud storage. It reuses that copy for 24 hours. After that, a scheduled clean-up deletes it. This may happen later: 24 hours is not a deletion deadline.

ElevenLabs handles the dialogue under its own privacy policy. From 25 October 2026 we turned off ElevenLabs' option to use what we send to improve its models. ElevenLabs may still keep generated audio and related records under its own policy. Our account cannot switch that off.

Trying out an AI voice sends only a short sample sentence written by the app, not your script. The app also asks our server which voices are available. That request contains nothing from your script.

Your choice

SideTape asks before it sends any dialogue. It asks again if what we tell you about this changes in an important way.

If you say no, no new AI audio is made. Audio you already have, and your own and friends' recordings, still play offline. Replaying saved audio uses no allowance. Audio that is missing after the 24 hours has to be made again, which uses allowance.

Instead of AI voices, you can use phone voices to learn and rehearse. For a self-tape, you can use recordings or someone reading live.

Beta access

AI voices need the tester code you were invited with. Our server checks your code and counts the text characters of dialogue you prepare, so the shared allowance stays fair.

Our server's database stores:

  • a one-way fingerprint of your code, not the code itself
  • a tester ID, when your code expires or was cancelled, your limits and how much you have used
  • for each request: a fingerprint of the line, the time and the number of characters, linked to your tester ID

These records are linked to your invitation, so they are personal data even though your code is not stored. We also keep a private list of who we invited, to send codes and answer allowance requests. We delete it within 3 months after the beta ends.

Your code is stored securely on your device and is sent only to prove the request is yours. Never include your code in feedback. Beta requests send no device identifier.

A problem report, if you send one, includes the app version, your device model and iOS version, your allowance counts and what you write. You send it yourself, through the app you choose.

Our hosting provider receives your IP address and basic details of each request, to deliver the service and protect it from attack. We have turned off our own request logging.

TestFlight

The beta runs through TestFlight, Apple's app for testing new apps. Apple gives us the name and email address you were invited with. If you choose to, you can also send us feedback and screenshots through TestFlight. Apple also sends us crash reports and basic usage figures if your device is set to share them with app developers. Apple handles this data under its own privacy policy. We keep it only as long as we need it to run the beta.

Friend readings

When you ask a friend to read a scene, SideTape makes a file for you to share. It contains:

  • the whole scene's text and the scene title
  • the lines you are asking them to record, and which part you play
  • the name you gave SideTape, which you can change from Home

The message sent with the file names the script and the part you are asking them to read. You share the file yourself, through the app you choose. SideTape does not send it for you. Recordings your friend sends back are stored on your device.

Recordings of your voice

You can record the other characters' lines, so SideTape can read them back to you. You can also record your own lines to hear how you said them in Learn lines.

These are recordings of your voice. They:

  • are stored on your device and left out of cloud backups
  • are used only in SideTape: to read the other parts, in your self-tapes, and to hear your own lines
  • are never uploaded or sent to ElevenLabs
  • are never used to make or copy a voice

SideTape asks for microphone access to record them. A recording is kept only once every line is recorded and you choose to use it. If you leave part-way, what you recorded is deleted.

Removing a recording deletes its files. Deleting a script deletes all of its recordings, including recordings of earlier versions of its lines. Audio still used by another script, or already part of a saved self-tape, is kept. If a file cannot be deleted, SideTape tells you so you can try again. A few files from earlier versions of the app may no longer show which script they belong to. To avoid deleting the wrong thing, SideTape keeps them. Deleting the app removes them.

Speech recognition

Rehearse and self-tape cues use Apple's speech recognition to follow your lines. SideTape asks for it to run on your device, not on Apple's servers.

The first time it is needed, iOS may download Apple's speech model for the accent you chose. That download comes from Apple. It sends no sound, no words and nothing about your scripts.

If you pause Rehearse from your headphones or by saying "Pause", the microphone stays on for up to 10 minutes. This lets a headphone press carry on with your phone locked. While paused, what the microphone hears is thrown away at once: it is not recognised, recorded, stored or sent anywhere. Your device shows its microphone indicator during that time. A falling tone tells you when the microphone turns off. Pausing on screen, opening Settings or leaving Rehearse turns it off at once.

Reading a scene through

You can read a scene through once, so SideTape learns how you say your lines. It is optional.

While you read, SideTape keeps the words Apple's speech recognition heard for each of your lines, with the line as written and the time. No sound is recorded or stored. These notes stay on your device and are never sent to ElevenLabs or to our server. They are deleted when you delete the script or edit that line. We do not use them to work out anything about your voice, accent or identity.

This website

This website sets no cookies of its own and has no analytics, adverts or content from other websites. Our hosting provider receives your IP address and basic details of each visit, to deliver the pages and protect the site from attack.

Emails you send us

If you email us, we use your address and message to reply and to run the beta. Our email provider stores them and may keep them in the United States. We keep emails only as long as we need them to help you and to run the beta.

Do Not Track

SideTape and this website do not track you across other apps or websites. So Do Not Track signals, which some browsers send, have nothing to change.

Why we use your data

The law requires a reason, called a lawful basis, for each use.

  • Sending dialogue to ElevenLabs: your consent. You can withdraw it at any time by saying no or by choosing other readers. This does not undo audio already made.
  • Your tester records and TestFlight details: our legitimate interest in running the beta you joined, keeping allowances fair, and preventing misuse and unexpected costs.
  • Emails and problem reports: our legitimate interest in answering you.
  • Website visits: our legitimate interest in delivering and protecting the site.

You do not have to give us any personal data. Without a tester code, SideTape still works with phone voices, recordings and live readers. We do not make automated decisions about you that have legal or similar effects.

Who receives your data

  • Our hosting provider runs our server, its database and storage, and this website.
  • ElevenLabs receives the dialogue of scenes you prepare with AI voices.
  • Our email provider stores emails you send us.
  • Friends receive only the files you choose to share with them.
  • Apple provides TestFlight and its speech recognition and voices, which run on your device.

We do not sell your data or share it with anyone else.

Some of this data is handled in the United States. ElevenLabs, our hosting provider and our email provider are certified under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, including its UK extension (see ElevenLabs' Data Privacy Framework policy). The data processing terms of ElevenLabs and our hosting provider also include the European Commission's standard contractual clauses, with the UK addendum.

How long we keep data

  • On your device: until you delete it, the script it belongs to, or the app.
  • AI audio on our server: reused for 24 hours, then deleted by a scheduled clean-up. This may happen later: 24 hours is not a deletion deadline.
  • At ElevenLabs: under ElevenLabs' own policy.
  • Your tester records: nothing is deleted automatically. We delete them by hand within 30 days after your code expires or is cancelled. If we could not confirm whether a request finished, we keep its link to you until we have checked it, for up to 91 days.
  • Records of each request: a fingerprint of the line, the time and the number of characters. Once your tester records are deleted, nothing links these to you. We delete them automatically within 31 days after the audio is made, or within 91 days if we could not confirm the request finished.
  • Invitation list: deleted within 3 months after the beta ends.
  • Emails and TestFlight details: only as long as we need them to help you and to run the beta.

How we protect your data

  • The app talks to our server only over an encrypted connection.
  • Our server stores a one-way fingerprint of your tester code, never the code itself.
  • On your device, your code is kept in secure storage that is not copied to other devices.
  • Your scripts and prepared audio are encrypted by iOS until you first unlock your device after it starts.
  • Only we can reach the data on our server.

No system is completely secure. If you think something is wrong, email us.

Your rights

If you are in the UK or the European Economic Area, you can ask us to:

  • show you the personal data we hold about you
  • correct it or delete it
  • limit or stop how we use it
  • give you a copy

You can also withdraw your consent at any time. Email sidetapesupport@gmail.com with the name you were invited under. Never send your tester code. We reply within one month.

You can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or your local data protection authority.

Deleting your data

Deleting a script removes it, your place in it and all its recordings, yours and your friends'. Deleting the app removes everything SideTape keeps on your device. Copies you exported, such as self-tapes saved to Photos, are not affected. To delete data held by our server, email us.

Children

SideTape's App Store age rating is 4+, which describes its content. The beta, including AI voices, is for testers aged 13 or over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you think we have, email us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

When this policy changes, we update the date at the top. If a change affects what SideTape sends for AI voices, the app asks you again before it sends any dialogue.