Privacy Policy

Who we are

Sync-o’-Lantern is made by Minor Hiccup Limited (“Minor Hiccup”, “we”, “us”), a company registered in New Zealand. We are responsible for this policy and for the small amount of personal information we do handle, which is the email you send us if you contact support. You can reach us at support@minorhiccup.com.

What the app uses, and why

Songs, lyrics files and backing tracks

When you choose a song (for example an MP3 or M4A file), a timed lyrics file (.lrc) or a backing track (including MIDI files), you pick it with your phone’s own file picker. The app can read only the files you pick. It decodes and analyzes them on your phone to find when someone is singing, the syllables and the vowel shapes. That analysis, including separating the singer’s voice from the music, runs entirely on the device. The files and the analysis are never uploaded.

While it works, the app keeps temporary files, such as a song’s analysis and videos it is making, in its own private storage on your phone. Your phone may clear them at any time, and they are deleted when you delete the app.

The microphone (Sing live)

Sing live, the karaoke mode, lets the pumpkins sing whatever the microphone hears. The app asks for microphone access the first time you open it. While Sing live is running, the sound is read in memory about a hundred times a second, to tell whether you are singing, how loudly, and which vowel. Each slice of sound is kept only for the split second it takes to read, then discarded. Nothing you say or sing is recorded, saved or sent anywhere. If you turn on echo cancelling, the phone’s own built-in voice processing removes the backing track from what the microphone hears, also on the device.

The rest of the app works without the microphone. You can turn off access at any time in your phone’s settings.

Videos you make

Videos are made on your phone. They leave the app only when you choose to save or share one:

• Save puts the video in your Photos library on iPhone, or in your gallery on Android (in Movies/Sync-o-Lantern). On iPhone the app asks only for permission to add to Photos. It cannot see or read your existing photos and videos.
• Share opens your phone’s share sheet. What happens to the video next is up to you and the app you share it with, under that app’s own privacy policy.

Your settings and the full version

The app remembers, on your phone, whether you have unlocked the full version, so the unlock works offline. This is not linked to you in any way and never leaves the device.

Permissions

Choosing files does not need a permission: the system file picker hands the app only the file you select. Saving to the gallery on Android 10 and later does not need a permission either.

Purchases

The app is free to download. The full version is a one-time in-app purchase made through the App Store or Google Play. Apple or Google handles the whole payment in its own purchase screen. We never receive your name, email address, card or payment details.

To know whether to unlock the full version, the app asks the App Store or Google Play on your phone whether your Apple ID or Google account already owns it. It does this when the app starts and when you tap Restore. This purchase check, made through Apple’s or Google’s own software, is the only thing the app itself sends over the internet. The app’s Get our demo song link only opens this website in your phone’s web browser; the This website section covers that visit. Apple and Google process purchases under their own privacy policies:

• Apple: apple.com/legal/privacy
• Google: policies.google.com/privacy

The stores give us sales reports (for example, how many copies of the full version were sold in each country). These reports do not identify you.

What we never do

• We don’t ask you to create an account or sign in.
• We don’t show ads, and we don’t include advertising or analytics software in the app.
• We don’t track you across other companies’ apps or websites, and we don’t use your device’s advertising identifier.
• We don’t access your location, contacts, calendar, camera or photo library.
• We don’t sell, rent or share personal information with anyone.

Crash reports

The app has no crash reporting or diagnostics of its own. If you have chosen, in your phone’s settings, to share diagnostics with app developers, Apple or Google may send us crash reports and app performance statistics. These are anonymous: they describe what went wrong in the app, not who you are. You can turn this sharing off at any time in your phone’s privacy settings.

This website

minorhiccup.com uses no cookies, no analytics and no third-party trackers or embeds. Its fonts, images and video are served from this site, not from other companies’ servers. The demo song downloads from this site too.

Like every website host, our hosting provider keeps standard server logs: the IP address and browser type of each visitor, the pages requested and the time. The host uses these logs to run and secure the service and deletes them on its own schedule. We do not use them to identify visitors.

Emailing us

If you email support@minorhiccup.com, we receive your email address, your message and anything you attach. We use them only to answer you and to fix the problem you report, which is our legitimate interest in providing support. We don’t add you to any mailing list. Our email provider stores the messages for us, possibly on servers outside New Zealand. We delete them when they are no longer needed to help you, and you can ask us to delete them sooner at any time.

Children

Sync-o’-Lantern is meant for everyone, families included. Because the app collects no personal data, it collects none from children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, or under the minimum age that applies where they live. If a child emails us, we use the message only to reply and then delete it. Parents can control purchases with Apple’s Ask to Buy or Google Family Link.

Your rights

We handle personal information under New Zealand’s Privacy Act 2020, which gives you the right to see the personal information we hold about you and to ask us to correct it. Depending on where you live, laws such as the GDPR, the UK GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act give you further rights, such as having it deleted, objecting to how it is used, and receiving a copy of it.

Everything the app works with stays on your phone and under your control, so we hold no app data about you. For emails you have sent us, write to support@minorhiccup.com and we will respond within 20 working days.

If you’re unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to New Zealand’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner, or to the data protection authority where you live.

We do not sell or share personal information, as those terms are defined in California law.

Deleting your data

There is no account to delete. Deleting the app removes everything it stored on your phone: temporary files, rendered videos it was still holding, and the remembered unlock. Videos you saved to Photos or your gallery stay there until you delete them yourself. Your purchase stays recorded with your Apple ID or Google account, so you can reinstall the app and tap Restore to unlock it again for free.

Changes to this policy

If we change how the app or this website handles information, we will update this page and the effective date at the top. If a change means the app starts collecting data, we will say so here before that version of the app is released.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email support@minorhiccup.com. We read every message.

Minor Hiccup Limited
648c Haruru Road, Kaukapakapa, Auckland 0873, New Zealand