This policy covers the Photism website (photism.app), the Photism Max for Live device, Photism Lite, the browser version at photism.app/online, and the Photism audio plugin (VST3, Audio Unit, and standalone). Photism is run by Cerrone LLC, a one-person Colorado company. The short version: the app itself runs entirely on your own machine, and the website collects only what it needs to measure traffic and deliver your purchase.
The Photism app collects nothing
The Photism device and its browser renderer run locally at 127.0.0.1 on your computer. They have no account, no login, and no phone-home. Nothing about your Ableton project, your audio, your visuals, or your usage is streamed or uploaded anywhere. Any presets or images you use stay on your machine.
Analytics on the website
Third-party analytics run only if you accept the cookie banner. If you decline, or never answer, no third-party analytics cookies are set and nothing is sent to Google, Microsoft, or Meta. One tool, PostHog, also runs before you answer, in the cookieless mode described below. Your choice is saved in your browser and you can clear it (and be asked again) by clearing site data for photism.app. The first-party visit log described below is separate and runs either way.
The first-party visit log
Independently of the cookie banner, our own server records one row per page you view so we can tell which channel brought a visitor in. That row holds your IP address, your browser's user agent string, the country Cloudflare reports, the referring link, and the paths you viewed. It is stored in Cloudflare storage for 180 days and then deleted automatically. A first-party cookie named pa ties the rows of one visit together and expires after 30 days.
This exists because ad blockers and tracker blocking hide most traffic from third-party analytics, which left sales with no recorded source. It is used only to attribute traffic and purchases to a channel. It is never sold, never shared, and never used to build a profile or to target you with advertising. Write to hello@photism.app and we will delete the rows we hold for you.
With consent, the website uses Google Analytics 4 to understand how many people visit and which pages they read. This sets cookies and collects standard analytics data such as pages viewed, approximate location (derived from IP, not stored as a precise address), device and browser type, and referring links. We use this only in aggregate to improve the site. Google processes this data as described in its own privacy policy.
With consent, the website also uses Microsoft Clarity to understand how visitors use the site. Clarity records how a page is used (clicks, scrolling, mouse movement) and builds session replays and heatmaps from it. Clarity masks the content of anything you type, so recordings never contain the text itself. Microsoft processes this data as described in its own privacy statement. We use these recordings only to find where the site confuses people.
With consent, the website also uses the Meta Pixel to measure whether ads we run on Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) lead to visits and purchases. The pixel sets cookies and reports page views, checkout starts, and purchases to Meta, which processes this data as described in its own privacy policy. We use it only to measure and improve our own ads.
The website also uses PostHog to measure which pages and features lead people to buy. Before you answer the banner, and if you decline, PostHog runs without cookies or any browser storage: it records page views and clicks, but nothing ties one page load to the next and each one starts over as a stranger. If you accept, PostHog sets cookies so your visit holds together, and records session replays the way Clarity does, with typed text masked. When you buy, the purchase is recorded in PostHog along with the channel that brought you in. PostHog processes this data as described in its own privacy policy.
Checkout and payment
Purchases are handled by Stripe, which acts as the merchant of record. When you buy Photism, Stripe collects your payment details and email address and processes the charge. Photism never sees or stores your card number. Stripe handles that data under its own privacy policy.
To deliver your download and support your purchase, Photism receives and stores your email address and a record of the purchase (the order amount, currency, and a purchase identifier). This is kept in Cloudflare storage and used to fulfill your download, honor free v1.x updates, and answer support requests. It is never sold or shared for marketing.
When a purchase completes, our server also reports the sale to Meta for ad measurement: the order amount, currency, an order identifier, and a hashed (irreversibly scrambled) version of the purchase email. The plain email address is never sent. Meta uses this only to count which ads led to sales.
Hosting and email
The website and download delivery are hosted on Cloudflare. Cloudflare processes standard request logs (such as IP address and user agent) to serve the site securely, as described in its own privacy policy.
Purchase emails, download links, and release notes are sent through Resend, which processes your email address to deliver them under its own privacy policy. Every release note says how to opt out: reply with "unsubscribe" or write to hello@photism.app, and you come off the list the day we see it.
Your choices
You can ask what data we hold about you, ask for it to be deleted, or ask a question about this policy at any time. Email hello@photism.app from your purchase address and we will take care of it. Deleting your purchase record means we can no longer re-send your download, so keep your original download or receipt if you want it back later.
Changes
If this policy changes, the updated date at the top of this page changes with it. Continued use of the site after an update means you accept the revised policy.