PBPrivacy policy

Privacy

Last updated 16 October 2026

PrintBus is a macOS app, and printbus.app is its website. Both are made by Dan Murtagh (ABN 48 815 594 360), a mix engineer and audio educator in Melbourne, Australia. This policy explains what information PrintBus and printbus.app handle, why, where it’s kept and what you can do about it. We handle personal information under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles, and we aim to meet the GDPR for people in the European Economic Area and the UK.

1. The PrintBus app

Your recordings

PrintBus records the audio your Mac plays into audio files on your Mac. To hear that audio, macOS asks you to allow PrintBus under Screen & System Audio Recording; you can turn that off at any time in System Settings › Privacy & Security.

The audio is written only to the recordings folder you choose. Track names that Spotify and Apple Music announce on your Mac are used to name the files, and stay on your Mac. PrintBus never sends audio, file names or track names anywhere, and there’s no advertising or analytics code in the app. (If you choose a folder that syncs, such as one in iCloud Drive or Dropbox, that service copies what’s in it.) Your recordings are yours to keep or delete; we never have a copy.

Your PrintBus account

PrintBus records once you’re signed in. You enter your email address, and we email you a 6-digit sign-in code to type in; there’s no password. Your first sign-in starts a 14-day free trial: one per email address, and one per Mac. After that, a licence keeps PrintBus recording: you can buy one, use a code you were given (by a teacher, say), or get one from us. A licence belongs to your email address and covers up to 3 of your Macs. If a Mac hasn’t checked in for 60 days, it gives up its place: it’s signed out the next time another of your Macs signs in or checks in.

To do that, we keep:

• Your email address, when your account was created, when your trial started, and your answers in the news box when you signed in: when you first left it ticked, when you unticked it, and what it said.
• Your Macs. For each Mac you sign in on: its name as set in System Settings › General › Sharing (such as Alex’s MacBook Pro, so it may include your name), and an ID that PrintBus makes from the Mac’s hardware UUID with a one-way hash, so it doesn’t reveal the UUID. The ID stays the same if you reinstall PrintBus. We also keep when each Mac signed in, when it last checked in and which version of PrintBus it was running then, when it signed out, and which address used each Mac’s free trial.
• Your licence: whether it came from a purchase, a code (and which one) or from us (with a short note), when, and whether it was later revoked, for example after a full refund or a lost chargeback. For purchases, see Buying PrintBus below.
• Sign-in checks: the last sign-in code we emailed you, stored only as a one-way hash that can’t be turned back into the code, and counts of codes sent, of wrong sign-in codes and of codes that didn’t unlock PrintBus, so codes can’t be guessed. We keep these for any address that asks for a code, even if it never finishes signing in.

We use this only to sign you in, run your trial and licence, send you news and tips if you left the box ticked (see News and tips), show you which Macs are signed in, help you when you contact us, see who’s on an old version of PrintBus and needs an update, stop trials and licences being misused (such as a second free trial on the same Mac), see when each account last used PrintBus (for example, whether someone we gave a free licence or code to has started using it), and count trials, sales and people using PrintBus in total, to see how PrintBus is doing. Under the GDPR, we rely on this being necessary to provide PrintBus to you, and on our legitimate interests in preventing misuse and understanding how PrintBus is doing.

What the app sends, and when

The app talks only to printbus.app. It sends your email address when you ask for a sign-in code, and the sign-in code, your Mac’s ID and name, your news choice and any code you were given when you sign in. After that, every request it makes carries its sign-in token and your Mac’s ID: when it checks in, and when you enter a code, start buying, sign out, or sign out one of your other Macs. It checks in at launch, after your Mac wakes and from time to time while it’s running, and every few seconds for a while after you start buying, so it unlocks as soon as you’ve paid. Versions of PrintBus with in-app updates also ask printbus.app once a day, and whenever you choose Check for Updates, whether there’s a newer version of PrintBus, and download it from there when you choose to update; those requests carry no sign-in token or Mac ID. That’s all it sends: no audio, file names, track names, usage data or crash reports.

Recording never waits on any of this: a licence keeps working for 60 days without a connection, and a trial runs to its end. Like any internet connection, the app’s requests show your IP address, and the versions of the app and of macOS, to Cloudflare, which hosts printbus.app. We keep the version of PrintBus each Mac last checked in with, as above; we don’t keep your IP address or your macOS version with your account.

On your Mac

Your sign-in is kept in your Mac’s login Keychain, as PrintBus sign-in: your email address, a sign-in token, your trial or licence, and the names of your signed-in Macs. To sign out, click the PrintBus icon in the menu bar, then the gear, then Account…, then Sign Out of PrintBus. That removes the sign-in from the Mac and, if the Mac is online, ends it on our side. The same window lists your other Macs and can sign them out. Deleting the app doesn’t sign it out, so sign out first if you’re passing a Mac on.

Emails about your account

We email you the sign-in codes you ask for; during a free trial, a reminder a few days before it ends and a note when it has ended (unless you’ve bought PrintBus by then); and, when you buy PrintBus, a note confirming your licence. They come from PrintBus ([email protected]) through Resend, replies reach Dan, and they aren’t tracked. If you ask for the download link on this website (from a phone or tablet), we email it to the address you give, once; we don’t keep the address or add it to any list, though Resend keeps its own delivery logs. Now and then we may also email you about something that affects your use of PrintBus, such as an update you need or a change to our terms. None of these are newsletters, and they come whatever you choose about news; for news, see News and tips.

News and tips

When you sign in to PrintBus 1.1.3 or later, the box Email me news from PrintBus and Dan Murtagh starts ticked. That means news and tips about PrintBus, StemConsole and Dan Murtagh’s other audio tools and courses. If you leave it ticked, we record that, what the box said and when, and add your address to the PrintBus mailing list, which is kept in Dan Murtagh’s mailing system (the same one used for danmurtagh.com). You’ve just shown the address is yours by typing the code we emailed to it, so there’s no confirmation email. If you untick it, we record that and don’t add you, and the box ticked again at a later sign-in (on another Mac, say) doesn’t add you either. Unticking it doesn’t take you off the list if you’re already on it: the unsubscribe link in any news email does that. If you’ve unsubscribed from Dan’s emails before, a ticked box doesn’t add you back.

Earlier versions of PrintBus ask with an unticked box, Send me PrintBus news and tips, which covers PrintBus news only. Ticking it sends one email asking you to confirm your address, and until you confirm, you won’t get anything else. If you’re already on Dan Murtagh’s mailing list, it just notes that you want PrintBus news too. Before PrintBus launched, this website also had a form to join the PrintBus list; for sign-ups through this website, we keep the browser details sent with the request too, which help protect the list from abuse.

On the list, we keep your email address, where you joined (the app, and which box) and when, and whether you’ve confirmed or unsubscribed. We email you now and then about PrintBus, such as new versions and tips, and, unless you asked for PrintBus news only, about StemConsole and Dan Murtagh’s other audio tools and courses, including new releases and offers. They come from PrintBus ([email protected]) through Resend, and replies reach Dan. Every news email has an unsubscribe link. When you click the confirm or unsubscribe link in one of our emails, the browser details your browser sends with it pass on to danmurtagh.com, which helps protect the list from abuse.

News emails record when they’re opened and which links are clicked, so we can see what’s useful: their links and a tiny image in them go through printbus.app, which passes each click or open on to Dan Murtagh’s mailing system on danmurtagh.com, with the browser details your email app sends. Most email apps let you stop this by not loading images automatically. The confirmation and welcome emails aren’t tracked.

Under the GDPR and the UK and EU rules on marketing email, we email people who’ve tried or bought PrintBus about it and about Dan Murtagh’s similar products, relying on our legitimate interest in doing so, and only if they had a free, simple way to say no when we got their address (the box) and have one in every email (the unsubscribe link). For the unticked box in earlier versions, we rely on your consent. Under Australia’s Spam Act, we rely on the consent that can be inferred from your trying or buying PrintBus, and every news email says who it’s from and has an unsubscribe link.

Buying PrintBus

You buy PrintBus through Stripe Checkout, which opens in your browser when you click Buy PrintBus in the app (or follow a buy link from us). From the app, it passes Stripe your account’s email address. Stripe collects your payment details, email address, name and billing details; we never see your full card number. When you’ve paid, Stripe tells us, and we keep the email address the licence is for, Stripe’s references for the purchase and the payment, the amount, the currency and the date, and whether the payment was fully refunded or lost a chargeback. We can also see Stripe’s record of the payment in its dashboard, such as your name, country and the last four digits of your card. We keep purchase records to provide your licence and because tax law requires it.

Stripe also uses payment information for its own purposes, such as preventing fraud and meeting its legal obligations, under Stripe’s privacy policy. If your receipt comes from Link, Stripe’s checkout service, and your card statement shows LINK.COM, Stripe sold PrintBus to you as the merchant of record: it charged you, handles any sales tax, VAT or GST, and answers payment questions, and its privacy policy covers your payment information.

2. This website

Usage analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to see how printbus.app is used: which pages are visited, how far people scroll and whether signing up works. Google Analytics uses cookies and collects information such as your approximate location (country or city), device, browser and the page that referred you. We don’t send it your email address, and its advertising features are switched off. See how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

In the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland, analytics cookies are off unless you allow them. While they’re off, Google Analytics still receives cookie-free signals, such as that a page was viewed, without a cookie that identifies your browser. Anyone can change their choice at any time with Analytics settings at the bottom of the home page and this page, or by blocking cookies for printbus.app; the site works the same either way.

We also use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which counts visits without cookies or anything else stored in your browser, and doesn’t track you across sites. It records the page you visit, the site that referred you, your country, your browser and device type, and how quickly the page loaded. Because it uses no cookies, it isn’t affected by Analytics settings; a content blocker stops it. See Cloudflare Web Analytics.

Hosting

Cloudflare hosts printbus.app, including the licence server the app checks in with and the updates it downloads, and protects it from abuse. Like any web server, it processes your IP address to deliver pages and answer the app. If something goes wrong, our server’s error messages, which can include your email address, may be kept briefly in Cloudflare’s logs. The site’s fonts are served from printbus.app itself, not from a font service. The Press play demo on the homepage makes and records its sound inside your browser; nothing is uploaded.

3. Who handles it for us

These service providers process information on our behalf, not for their own marketing.

Stripe also acts for itself in places: it uses payment information to prevent fraud and meet its legal obligations, and when it sells PrintBus through Link it’s the merchant of record (see Buying PrintBus, above). Some of these providers operate outside Australia, so information may be processed overseas. We choose established providers with published security and privacy commitments. We don’t sell or rent your personal information, and we don’t share it with advertisers or data brokers. We may disclose information if the law requires it.

4. How long we keep it

• Your PrintBus account (everything under Your PrintBus account, above, including sign-in checks for addresses that never finished signing in): until you ask us to delete it. It holds your licence, and it records that your address and Macs have had their free trial.
• Payment records: Stripe keeps its record of each payment under its own privacy policy, and we rely on it for our tax records, which Australian law requires us to keep for 5 years. Deleting your PrintBus account doesn’t delete Stripe’s record.
• News and tips: until you unsubscribe. After that we keep a note that you unsubscribed, so you aren’t emailed again, unless you ask us to delete it.
• Unconfirmed sign-ups: deleted if you ask, and never emailed again after the confirmation request.
• Analytics: kept by Google Analytics for up to 14 months.
• Your recordings: on your Mac, for as long as you keep them. We never have a copy.

5. Your choices and rights

• Say no to news by unticking the box when you sign in, or, once you’re getting it, unsubscribe with the link at the bottom of any news email. Unsubscribing takes you off Dan Murtagh’s mailing list entirely, PrintBus news included.
• Turn off analytics cookies with Analytics settings at the bottom of the home page and this page, or by blocking cookies for printbus.app. To stop Google Analytics and Cloudflare Web Analytics entirely, use a browser or extension that blocks them.
• Sign a Mac out in PrintBus: click the PrintBus icon in the menu bar, then the gear, then Account…. You can sign out the Mac you’re on, or any of your others.
• Access, correct or delete the personal information we hold about you, including your PrintBus account, or ask any privacy question, by emailing [email protected]. We reply within 30 days. Deleting your PrintBus account deletes your licence too, so your Macs stop recording when they next check in.

If you’re in the EEA or UK you may also ask us to restrict or stop processing, request a copy of your data in a portable format, object to our use of it for marketing (which always stops it), or withdraw consent at any time. You can complain to your local data protection authority.

6. Security

Information is encrypted in transit and at rest. PrintBus accounts and the mailing list are locked away from the website in your browser: only our server, using a secret key, and Dan can read or change them. In our database, sign-in codes and the app’s sign-in tokens are stored only as one-way hashes, so a copy of it couldn’t be used to sign in as you, and a sign-in code works once, for 15 minutes. On your Mac, your sign-in is kept in the login Keychain. No system is perfectly secure, so we can’t guarantee it. If a breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we’ll notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme requires.

7. Children

PrintBus and printbus.app aren’t directed at children under 13, and children under 13 shouldn’t sign up or sign in. If you believe a child under 13 has given us their email address, email us and we’ll delete it.

8. Changes

If we change this policy we’ll update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use your email address, we’ll tell the people it affects before it takes effect.

9. Contact and complaints

Dan Murtagh, Melbourne, Australia. Email [email protected].

If you’re not satisfied with our response to a privacy concern, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (1300 363 992).