Privacy Policy

Effective October 8, 2026

1. Who we are

Montage Studio (“Montage”, “we”, “us”) is a Mac app and the website at montagestudio.app. It is operated by Trần Thanh Hải (Tom Tran), an individual developer based in Vietnam, who is the controller of the personal data described here. Questions and requests: hello@montagestudio.app.

This policy covers the Montage Studio app for macOS, the Montage Clipper browser extension, our servers (api.montagestudio.app, assets.montagestudio.app, updates.montagestudio.app) and this website.

2. What stays on your Mac

Montage is local-first. The following never leave your Mac for our servers:

• Projects, briefs, moodboards, references, notes, storyboards, renders and exported films.
• API keys for third-party providers. They are stored in the macOS Keychain.
• The conversations of your coding agent (Claude Code or Codex) while it works on your film.

Your coding agent runs under your own Anthropic or OpenAI account, and calls to providers you add (for example ElevenLabs, Google Gemini, fal, Freesound, Pixabay or Pexels) go directly from your Mac to that provider with your key. Those companies process that data under their own privacy policies, not this one.

3. What we collect

3.1 Your account (Google sign-in)

You sign in with Google. We request only the openid, email and profile scopes, and receive:

• your Google account ID, email address, name and profile picture URL.

We also store, with your account:

• when you created your account and when the app last checked in, and the app version it runs;
• your release channel and whether you want product news by email;
• sign-in sessions. Our server keeps only a one-way hash of each session token; the token itself sits in your Mac’s Keychain.

We never receive your Google password and we can’t access your Gmail, Drive or any other Google data.

3.2 Requests to our servers

When the app checks your account, downloads the content library (templates, music and other library assets) or checks for app updates, our servers receive your IP address, the app version and your session. Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, processes this to deliver and protect the service.

3.3 Diagnostics (off unless you turn them on)

Settings → Advanced → Share diagnostics is off by default. When you turn it on, the app sends:

• error reports (crashes and unexpected errors, with technical details like stack traces);
• a few product events, such as a production step finishing or a film being exported;
• performance traces: how long steps, renders and agent turns took, token counts, estimated costs, and model and tool names.

These are linked to your account so we can help you when something breaks. Before anything leaves your Mac, the app removes content and credentials: briefs, prompts, text, titles, project names, API keys, tokens and email addresses are dropped or redacted, file paths are shortened and project IDs are hashed. Turn the switch off and the app stops sending immediately.

3.4 This website

montagestudio.app uses PostHog (EU cloud) to understand how the page is used. It does not set cookies or keep an identifier between visits; each visit is counted on its own. It records page views, clicks, scrolling, page performance and errors, and may record the session on the page with every input field masked. Your approximate location (country and city) is derived from your IP address.

3.5 Product news

If you tick “Email me product news”, we use your email address to send occasional updates about Montage. You can turn it off in Settings → Account or with the unsubscribe link in any email. We still email you about your account or important changes to these documents when needed.

3.6 Montage Clipper (browser extension)

The Clipper sends the address of the page you clip, the video moments you mark and your notes to the Montage app running on your own Mac (127.0.0.1). It doesn’t send anything to our servers.

3.7 When you contact us

If you email us, we keep the conversation so we can reply and follow up.

4. How we use your information

• to sign you in and keep your account secure;
• to deliver the content library and app updates on your release channel;
• to fix bugs and improve performance, using diagnostics when you share them;
• to understand how the website is used and improve it;
• to answer your messages and, if you opted in, send product news;
• to prevent abuse and meet legal obligations.

If you are in the European Economic Area or the UK, our legal bases are: performing our agreement with you (account, library and updates), our legitimate interests (security, fixing problems, website analytics), and your consent (diagnostics and product news, which you can withdraw at any time).

5. Google user data

We use the information we receive from Google only to create and identify your Montage account, to show your name and picture in the app, and to contact you about your account or, if you opted in, product news. We do not sell Google user data, use it for advertising, or use it to develop, improve or train AI or machine learning models. We share it only with the service providers listed below as needed to run Montage, when required by law, or as part of a business transfer described in section 6.

Montage Studio’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

6. Who processes your data

We don’t sell or rent personal data. We use these service providers, each bound to process it only for us:

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect the rights and safety of users or others, or to a successor if Montage is sold or merged, in which case this policy continues to apply to your data.

7. International transfers

Montage is run from Vietnam and our providers operate in the European Union, the United States and elsewhere. Your data may be processed outside your country. Where the law requires it, we rely on safeguards such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses offered by these providers.

8. How long we keep it

• Account: until you delete it.
• Sessions: expire after 30 days without use, or when you sign out.
• Diagnostics and website analytics: kept only as long as they help us fix and improve Montage, within each provider’s retention period.
• Emails with us: as long as needed to handle your request.

9. Your choices and rights

• Delete your account: Settings → Account → Delete Account. This removes your account and every session from our servers right away and asks PostHog to delete the data linked to you.
• Diagnostics and product news: on or off at any time in Settings.
• Revoke Google access: at myaccount.google.com/permissions.

Depending on where you live (for example under Vietnam’s personal data protection law, the GDPR, the UK GDPR or California law), you may have the right to access, correct, delete, export or restrict the use of your personal data, to object to processing, and to withdraw consent. Email hello@montagestudio.app and we will answer within 30 days. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

10. Security

Connections to our servers use HTTPS. Session tokens are stored as hashes on our side and in the Keychain on yours. Library content and app updates are cryptographically signed and checked before the app uses them. No system is perfectly secure, so we can’t guarantee absolute security, but we will tell you without undue delay if a breach affects your data.

11. Children

Montage is not meant for anyone under 16, and we don’t knowingly collect their data. If you think a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Changes

We will post any change on this page and update the date above. If a change is significant, we will tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.

13. Contact

Montage Studio · Trần Thanh Hải (Tom Tran), Vietnam · hello@montagestudio.app