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Privacy Policy

SpanStudio · Last updated: June 29, 2026

Overview

SpanStudio is a live-production studio for macOS. It lets you build scenes from your cameras, your screen, and an Android phone used as a wireless or USB webcam, mix audio, and send the result to a virtual camera, a recording on disk, or a live stream. All capture and processing happens on your own Mac. This policy covers the SpanStudio app for macOS.

In short

  • No accounts, no SpanStudio servers, and no personal data collection
  • No analytics, advertising identifiers, tracking, or cookies
  • Your camera, screen, and audio are processed entirely on your Mac and, by default, never leave it
  • The only time media leaves your Mac is when you choose to record it to a file or start a live stream to a destination you enter

Data Collection

We do not collect personal data. SpanStudio has no accounts and operates no servers of its own. It does not collect, store, or transmit any personal information to us. Specifically:

  • No personal information is collected
  • No usage analytics are collected
  • No advertising identifiers are used
  • No cookies or tracking technologies are used
  • No crash reports are sent automatically

Using a Phone as a Camera

SpanStudio can optionally use an Android phone as one of its camera sources. The phone runs our separate Spancam app, which has its own privacy policy. Spancam hardware-encodes the phone's video and sends it to your Mac over a direct connection — either the attached USB cable or your local Wi-Fi network (discovered with Bonjour / DNS-SD). SpanStudio decodes and processes that video on-device. This phone-to-Mac link runs only between your own devices and is never routed through any external server.

Camera, Screen & Audio Capture

SpanStudio captures only the sources you add to a scene and processes them locally on your Mac to build your program output:

  • Cameras— your built-in or connected cameras, and your phone's camera over USB or local Wi-Fi.
  • Screen & windows— when you add a screen or window source, SpanStudio captures it using Apple's ScreenCaptureKit while you have it on the canvas.
  • Audio— your microphone and, if you enable it, your computer's system/desktop audio (also via ScreenCaptureKit — no virtual audio driver is installed). Audio is mixed on-device.

Captured camera, screen, and audio data is held in memory only as long as needed to render the live picture. It is not written to disk, retained, or logged unless you explicitly record or stream (see below).

On-Device Processing

Optional enhancements — eye-contact correction, background effects, scaling, and the teleprompter's speech recognition — run entirely on your Mac using on-device models. No video or audio is uploaded for processing, and any optional calibration data (such as your eye-contact calibration) is stored only on your device.

Virtual Camera

SpanStudio can publish your program output as a virtual camera using a macOS system camera extension, so you can select it in apps like FaceTime, Zoom, Teams, or your browser. The virtual camera feed stays on your Mac; SpanStudio simply makes it available to the app you point it at. It is sent to those apps only while a virtual camera output is active.

Recording

If you record, SpanStudio writes a video file to a folder you choose on your Mac (or its own Documents folder if you don't pick one). The optional replay buffer keeps the most recent moments in memory until you save a clip. Recordings:

  • Are saved only to your own Mac, in the location you choose
  • Are not uploaded to us or any cloud service
  • Are entirely under your control to keep, move, or delete

Live Streaming

When you start a live stream, your video and audio leave your Mac. SpanStudio sends your program output over RTMP directly to the streaming server you configure — for example, a service such as YouTube, Twitch, or any custom RTMP endpoint you enter. SpanStudio does not operate this server and does not receive a copy of your stream. The stream URL and key you enter are used only to connect and are stored locally on your device. How that destination handles your stream is governed by its own privacy policy.

Permissions

SpanStudio requests only the macOS permissions needed for the features you use.

  • Camera — capture your cameras and publish the virtual camera.
  • Microphone — capture your microphone for the audio mix (only if you add a mic source).
  • Screen & System Audio Recording— capture a screen/window source and, optionally, your computer's audio.
  • Local Network — discover your phone on your Wi-Fi using Bonjour. No data leaves your local network.

Network Communication

SpanStudio communicates over:

  • USB — a direct wired connection between your phone and Mac. Data never leaves the cable.
  • Local Wi-Fi — a direct connection between your devices on the same network, discovered via Bonjour (DNS-SD). Data does not pass through any external server.
  • RTMP (only when you go live) — an outbound connection to the streaming destination you configure. This is the only connection that leaves your Mac, and only while you are streaming.

Data Storage

SpanStudio stores your settings and projects locally on your device — such as your scenes and sources, audio mixer settings, chosen camera and transport, theme, and optional eye-contact calibration. This data:

  • Is stored only on your device
  • Is not synced to any cloud service or external server
  • Is removed when you uninstall the app (recordings you saved remain until you delete them)
  • Contains no personal or identifiable information

Data Deletion

Since SpanStudio does not collect or store any personal data on external servers, there is no user data for us to delete. Locally stored settings are removed when you uninstall the app, and any recordings you saved can be deleted by you at any time.

Third-Party Services

SpanStudio does not include any third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking SDKs. The third parties involved are only those you choose to use: the platform app store used to distribute the app, and — if you go live — the streaming destination you enter, which is governed by its own privacy policy.

Children's Privacy

SpanStudio does not collect any personal information from anyone, including children under the age of 13. Since no personal data is collected, the app is safe for users of all ages.

Your Rights (GDPR / CCPA)

Since SpanStudio does not collect, store, or process any personal data, the rights typically granted under GDPR and CCPA — such as the right to access, rectify, delete, or port your data — have no personal data to act upon. If you have any concerns, please contact us using the information below.

Changes to This Policy

If we update this privacy policy, we will post the new version on this page with an updated date. Please check this page periodically for any changes.

Contact

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please contact us at [email protected].