Privacy

Last updated 1 October 2026.

Sanoo is a free communication app made by Ellemsoft. This page explains what the app and this website do with information, who is responsible for it, and what your rights are.

Who is responsible

Sanoo is published by Ellemsoft (Finland), the controller for the personal data described on this page. Questions: [email protected]. Company details: ellemsoft.com.

Ellemsoft has not appointed a data protection officer, because the law does not require one for this kind of processing.

On the device

Boards, button photos, saved people, quick phrases, sentence history, button press counts, and settings stay in the app's local database on that device. There is no Sanoo account, and we cannot see any of it.

• Camera and photo library are used only if you add a picture to a button. Photos are saved without location data. They stay on the device unless you export a backup, print a board, send boards through the web editor, or your device backs up app data (Android backup or iCloud).
• Speech uses the text-to-speech engine chosen in your device settings. Sanoo sends text only to that engine; some engines (for example online voices) may process it under their own privacy policy.
• A PIN, if you set one, is stored in the device keystore. Sanoo never uploads it; an encrypted iPhone or iPad backup may include it.
• Word suggestions are worked out on the device from that device's own button presses. Sanoo makes no automated decisions about you and builds no profile.

Web editor (optional)

The web editor at sanoo.app/editor is optional. You choose when to start a session, after the app shows what it will send.

• The device uploads boards, quick phrases, saved people (names and portrait pictures), embedded images, button press counts, and up to 200 recent spoken sentences to a temporary session, identified by an 8-digit code.
• A session is deleted about a minute after it's first opened, and after 10 minutes if it's never opened. Until then, anyone with the code can open it, so only enter it on a computer you trust. We keep no permanent copy of anyone's vocabulary.
• The browser keeps the open boards and quick phrases in local storage on that computer so a refresh does not lose unsaved edits. Saved people, usage counts, and sentence history are kept in memory only and are gone when the tab closes. Clearing site data removes the rest.
• To stop people guessing codes, the session service keeps a one-way code derived from your IP address (never the address itself), with recent request counts and the last mistyped session code. These are deleted 15 minutes after the last mistyped code, and at most an hour after the last session you started. Request logging is turned off.

Other services the app and site use

These services act on their own behalf, not for us, and their own privacy policies apply.

• Pictogram search sends the word you type and your device's IP address straight to ARASAAC (Government of Aragón, Spain), and pictogram images load from ARASAAC. We never see your searches.
• Downloads and updates go through Apple or Google. If you allowed it in your device settings, they may share anonymous app statistics and crash reports with us. We add no analytics or crash reporting of our own.
• This website sets no cookies and runs no analytics. Its fonts and scripts come from sanoo.app itself. It remembers your chosen language in your browser's local storage.

Why we use data, and the legal basis

• Running a web editor session you started, so your boards can travel to your browser and back: providing the service you asked for (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)). Sentences and boards can reveal health information, so the app only sends them after you choose to start a session with the full list of what will be uploaded in front of you: your explicit consent (Art. 9(2)(a)). You can withdraw it at any time: close the session or don't open it, and it deletes itself within 10 minutes.
• Abuse protection for sessions, and delivering this website securely: our legitimate interest in keeping the service safe and working (Art. 6(1)(f)).
• Answering your emails: our legitimate interest in helping you (Art. 6(1)(f)).

Using Sanoo never requires giving us personal data. If you don't start a web editor session or email us, we receive nothing.

Who receives data

Cloudflare, Inc. hosts this website and the web editor session service for us as our processor, under a data processing agreement. Like any web host, it processes IP addresses and browser details to deliver pages and block attacks. Cloudflare runs a global network, so data can be handled outside the EU, including in the United States. Those transfers are covered by Cloudflare's certification under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and by the EU Standard Contractual Clauses in its agreement. We share data with no one else and sell nothing.

How long data is kept

• On your device: until you delete it, clear history and suggestions, or uninstall Sanoo.
• Web editor session: about a minute after it's first opened, or 10 minutes if it's never opened.
• Abuse-protection codes: 15 minutes to one hour, as described above.
• Support emails: as long as we need them to answer you and follow up, then deleted.

Your rights

You have the right to access, correct, and delete your personal data, to restrict or object to how it's used, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time. Most of your data never reaches us, so you can use these rights directly in the app: view, edit, export, or delete it. For anything we hold, email [email protected]. Because there are no accounts, we may have nothing we can link to you.

You can also complain to a data protection authority: in Finland, the Data Protection Ombudsman, or the authority in the EU country where you live or work.

Children

Sanoo is made for people of all ages, and many people who use it are children. We design for that:

• High privacy by default: nothing leaves the device until someone chooses to start a web editor session.
• No ads, no in-app purchases, no tracking, no profiling, no location data, and no prompts that push anyone to share more.
• Sentence history and button press counts stay on the device so the people who support a Sanoo user can see how the board is used. Anyone who can open Settings can see them, and Settings can be locked with a PIN. We ask anyone who looks at this history to let the person who uses Sanoo know, in a way they understand.

If you think a child's personal data has reached us, email [email protected] and we will delete it.

What we do not do

• No advertising networks, no trackers, no sale of personal information.
• No sign-in with Google, Apple, or email.
• We cannot recover a forgotten PIN or restore boards we never stored.

Deleting your data

Settings → Reset → Clear history and suggestions removes the current profile's sentence history and usage counts. Uninstalling Sanoo removes everything it stored on the device, except that iOS can keep the edit-mode PIN in the device keychain.

Questions and changes

Email [email protected]. If this page changes, the date at the top changes too.