Privacy

Last updated: July 2026

Local-first by design

QualBuddy is designed as a local-first tool. Your audio files, transcripts, pseudonym maps, notes and exports are stored on your device unless you choose to move or share them.

Interview audio, transcripts, analysis notes, codebooks, quote banks and pseudonym maps are processed on your own machine. QualBuddy does not upload your interview data for processing.

What the app may download

During setup, QualBuddy may download software components or transcription model files so that transcription can run locally. These downloads bring software to your device; they do not send your research materials anywhere.

This website

This website is a static site. It has no login, no database and no contact forms that submit to a server — the beta request form opens an email in your own mail client. If we enable analytics in future, we intend to use a privacy-friendly, cookieless option and will describe it here.

Pseudonymisation, not anonymisation

QualBuddy supports pseudonymisation, but it does not guarantee full anonymisation. Researchers remain responsible for checking outputs and meeting their own ethics, governance and data protection requirements.

Your responsibilities

• Use QualBuddy only where it fits your ethics approval, data management plan and local institutional or NHS governance requirements.
• Review pseudonymised outputs before sharing them — automated support is a help, not a substitute for researcher judgement.
• Manage backups, retention and deletion in line with your own data management plan. QualBuddy provides project backup and deletion controls to support this.

Questions

Email hello@qualbuddy.com with any questions about how QualBuddy handles data.