Privacy Policy
Effective date: 15 May 2026
1. Who we are
Spokely is a podcast listening platform operated by Strawberry Gum, an Australian sole trader (ABN: 80 366 472 388). In this policy, “Spokely”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to that operator.
You can reach us about anything in this policy — including privacy questions, access or correction requests, and complaints — at support@getspokely.com.
2. Scope
This policy explains how we collect, use, store, share and protect personal information when you:
- visit the Spokely website at getspokely.com;
- create a listener account and use Spokely to discover, subscribe to and listen to podcasts; or
- create a creator account to view analytics about your show.
We handle personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Even though we are a small operator and not all parts of the Privacy Act apply to us by default, we have chosen to align our practices with the APPs.
3. The information we collect
3.1 Information you give us when you create a listener account
When you sign up as a listener you may give us the following directly, or via the sign-in provider you choose:
- your email address and a display name;
- a password (if you sign up with email and password — we never store your password in plain text);
- if you sign in with Google, the profile information Google passes us (typically your name, email and profile image);
- if you sign in with Apple, the email Apple passes us (which may be a private-relay address) and, if you choose to share it, your name.
We do not see or store your Google or Apple password.
3.2 Information we collect as you use Spokely as a listener
As you use Spokely we record:
- the podcasts you subscribe to and the episodes you play;
- the search queries you run and the playlists you save and share;
- preferences you set (for example playback settings).
3.3 Information about podcast creators
When you sign up as a creator we collect the information you provide (such as your name, email and the podcast(s) you control). If you choose to enable transcription on your show, we ingest the audio of the episodes from your public RSS feed and generate transcripts, summaries, timestamps, and numerical embeddings derived from the transcripts. Those transcripts and derived data are used internally to power search and to display your podcast content to Spokely listeners. We do not show the raw transcripts themselves to listeners.
If you later turn transcription off, we delete the transcripts within a reasonable period. We may retain the numerical embeddings derived from those transcripts to continue powering Spokely's search system. Embeddings are derived numerical representations of content, not the transcript text itself.
3.4 Information from public RSS feeds
Spokely pulls podcast metadata and audio from publicly available RSS feeds. That content (titles, descriptions, episode audio, artwork, etc.) is published by the podcast owner and is not personal information about our listeners.
3.5 Information collected automatically
When you interact with Spokely, our hosting provider and analytics tools record technical information automatically, including:
- IP address and approximate location derived from it;
- device and browser type and operating system;
- pages or screens viewed, referring URL, and timestamps of activity;
- diagnostic and crash information.
4. How we use your information
We use the information described above to:
- run and improve the Spokely service — for example, to authenticate you, sync your subscriptions, return relevant semantic search results, and recommend episodes;
- send transactional emails such as email verification, password resets, security notices and other messages that are necessary to operate your account;
- send marketing emails about Spokely (see section 8);
- give podcast creators aggregated analytics about their shows (see section 6.2);
- detect, prevent and investigate fraud, abuse and security incidents;
- comply with our legal obligations.
7. Overseas disclosure (APP 8)
As described in section 6.1, we disclose personal information to service providers located in the United States and, in some cases, the European Union. By using Spokely you acknowledge that your information may be processed in those locations.
8. Marketing emails
From time to time we may send you marketing emails about Spokely — for example, new features, podcast recommendations and tips for getting more out of the service. We treat your sign-up to Spokely as consent to receive these.
Every marketing email we send includes an unsubscribe link, and you can opt out at any time by following that link or by emailing us at support@getspokely.com. Opting out of marketing emails does not stop us sending you transactional emails that are necessary to run your account (such as verification and security messages).
This is consistent with our obligations under the Spam Act 2003 (Cth).
9. Data retention and deleting your account
We keep your personal information for as long as your account is active.
When you delete your Spokely account, we anonymise the personal information associated with it rather than keeping it in identifiable form. This means we remove direct identifiers (such as your email address, display name, and any links to a Google or Apple account) but may retain aggregated and de-identified data — for example, anonymous play counts that contribute to a creator's analytics. Once anonymised, that data can no longer reasonably be associated with you.
We may retain certain information for longer where we are legally required to (for example, records relevant to a regulatory request or legal claim), or where it is held in routine backups that are deleted on a rolling schedule.
You can request deletion of your account at any time by emailing support@getspokely.com.
10. Your rights
Under the APPs you have the right to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you.
- Correct information that is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.
- Withdraw consent to marketing communications (see section 8).
- Complain about how we have handled your personal information.
To exercise any of these rights, email us at support@getspokely.com. We will respond within a reasonable time — usually within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before we can act on a request.
If you are not satisfied with our response to a privacy complaint, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.
11. Children
Spokely is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us at support@getspokely.com and we will take steps to delete it.
12. Security
We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. These steps include encryption in transit (HTTPS), hashed password storage for accounts using email + password sign-in, access controls on our systems, and using reputable infrastructure providers (see section 6.1).
No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm to you, we will notify you and the OAIC in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we'll update the “Effective date” at the top and, if the changes are material, give you reasonable advance notice — for example, by email or via a notice on the website. Continuing to use Spokely after a change means you accept the updated policy.
14. Contact us
If you have any questions, requests or complaints about this policy or how we handle your personal information, email support@getspokely.com.