Terms of Use
Sayoo Terms of Service
Effective date: 13 October 2026 Last updated: 13 October 2026
Welcome to Sayoo. These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Zhang Zhixing ("we", "us" or "our"). We operate the Sayoo iPhone app, the Sayoo web app (app.sayoo.me), the Sayoo website (sayoo.ai and sayoo.me) and their related online services (together, the "Service"). Once the Sayoo desktop app is released, these Terms apply to it too; the parts below about the desktop app apply when you use it. Unless we say otherwise, these Terms apply to every version of Sayoo. Please read these Terms carefully. By using Sayoo, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.
Our Privacy Policy explains what information we process, why, where and for how long. Please read it together with these Terms.
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1. What Sayoo does
Sayoo is a translation service available as an iPhone app and a web app. Depending on which version you use and which features are available to you, you can use it to:
- translate typed text and text recognized in photos;
- translate spoken conversations, either face to face or through earphones;
- see live translated captions while you listen to someone speak;
- translate audio that other apps are playing: on iPhone through the iOS screen broadcast feature, in the desktop app by capturing system audio, and in the web app from a tab or screen you share;
- transcribe audio or video files in the web and desktop apps; and
- keep a history of your translations on your device and, if you choose, create AI summaries of saved records.
Sayoo doesn't currently offer meetings.
Cloud mode. In cloud mode, the content you submit goes to our servers. Alibaba Cloud Model Studio then processes it on our behalf to produce transcripts, translations, spoken output and summaries. This processing may take place outside the country or region where you live. Our Privacy Policy explains where. In the iPhone app, before any content is sent to the cloud for the first time, Sayoo explains this and asks for your consent. You can withdraw your consent in Settings.
On-device mode. On-device mode is available only in the iPhone app; the web and desktop apps always use cloud mode. In on-device mode, speech recognition and translation run on your iPhone using models (about 1.7 GB) that you choose to download. Once downloaded, they work without an internet connection, and the content you translate is not uploaded. Sayoo never switches from on-device mode to cloud mode by itself. If a language pair or feature isn't supported on your device, you have to select cloud mode yourself. AI summaries always use our servers, even when on-device mode is selected. Sayoo sends the text of a record made in on-device mode for an AI summary only after you allow it.
Photos. When you translate a photo, the iPhone app recognizes the text on your iPhone using Apple's Vision framework. The web and desktop apps recognize it in your browser or on your computer using the open-source tesseract.js, and download the photo text recognition models needed for a source language the first time you use that source language. In cloud mode, only the recognized text is sent for translation. The original image is not uploaded.
Availability. Which features and languages you can use may depend on which version you use (the iPhone, web or desktop app), your device, your operating system and its version, your browser, your region, your account status and the current state of the Service. For example, on-device mode is currently available only in the iPhone app, and capturing tab or screen audio in the web app requires a browser that supports it. Cloud features need an internet connection. Over time we may add, change or remove features (see section 12).
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2. Who can use Sayoo
You must be at least 13 years old to use Sayoo, or older if the law where you live sets a higher minimum age. If you are under the age of majority where you live, a parent or legal guardian must read and accept these Terms for you. You may not use the Service in any place where the law prohibits it.
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3. Accounts
Signing in. In the iPhone app and the web app, you can sign in with Apple, or register and sign in with an email address and password. Google sign-in isn't available at the moment. Apple's own terms also apply when you use Sign in with Apple. Each sign-in method creates its own separate account. For example, if the email address you use with Sign in with Apple is the same one you registered with, you will have two accounts, and they are not merged.
Email registration. We don't verify your email address when you register, and there is currently no way to reset a forgotten password. Please use your own email address and keep your password safe; if you forget it, you may not be able to sign in to that account again.
Use without an account. We don't currently offer use without an account. Cloud features require you to sign in.
Keeping your account secure. You are responsible for keeping your sign-in details secure and for all activity under your account. Don't share your account or its sign-in tokens with anyone. If you think someone else has used your account, sign out of Sayoo, secure the Apple account or email account you sign in with, and contact us (section 21). If you use the web or desktop app on a shared or public computer, sign out when you finish. Signing out doesn't delete local history, so if you don't want to leave it on that computer, clear it first in Settings → Data & privacy. In the web app, you can additionally clear the site data for app.sayoo.me after signing out, or use a private window. In the web and desktop apps, to sign out on all your devices, choose "Sign out everywhere" in Settings → Account.
Your history stays on your device. In the iPhone app, Sayoo by default automatically saves your translations to a history stored locally on your iPhone. You can turn off history saving in Settings at any time. This stops new automatic saves but doesn't delete records you already have, which you can manage separately. In the web and desktop apps, history is saved automatically in your browser or on your computer and can't currently be turned off. You can delete individual records, or export or clear this account's records in Settings → Data & privacy. Clearing the site data for app.sayoo.me in your browser deletes your web app history, and your browser may also clear it on its own. In the web and desktop apps, history is shown per account, but all accounts in one browser or on one computer share one local database (see Section 2 of our Privacy Policy). Signing in doesn't back up your history to the cloud or sync it between devices, so please keep your own copies of anything important.
Deleting your account. You can delete your account at any time in the iPhone app under Settings → Account → Delete account. Before deleting it, the app asks you to confirm your identity again, with Apple or with your password, and to confirm that you want to delete it. If your account uses an email address and password, you can also delete it in the web or desktop app under Settings → Account by confirming with your current password. If you sign in with Apple, you currently need to delete your account in the iPhone app or by contacting us (section 21). Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. When you delete your account:
- you are signed out on all devices, and we delete your account data from our servers, including your account profile and usage records, as described in our Privacy Policy; and
- if you delete it in the iPhone app, the history saved for that account on that iPhone is also erased. If you delete it in the web or desktop app, that account's history in that browser or on that computer is not erased. Wherever you delete it, you can't view or clear that account's web and desktop app history in Sayoo afterwards, so export or clear it in each browser and desktop app you've used before deleting. Deleting your account doesn't erase history saved on your other devices.
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4. Fees and free usage
Sayoo is currently free. Cloud features have a daily free usage limit, which resets the next day once used up. We don't currently offer any paid purchases. If we introduce paid features in the future, we will update these Terms before they launch.
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5. Your content
"Your content" means the text, speech and other audio (including the sound in audio or video files you choose to transcribe), text recognized in photos or images, and any other material you submit to Sayoo. "Output" means the transcripts, translations, captions, spoken audio and summaries that Sayoo produces for you.
- You keep your rights. Using Sayoo doesn't change any rights you have in your content.
- What you allow us to do. You give us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license to store, transmit and process your content, including sending it to our processing providers. We may use this license only as needed to provide, secure and support the Service for you, as described in our Privacy Policy.
- Your responsibility. You are responsible for your content. You must also have any rights and permissions it requires, including consent from people whose speech you capture and permission to use audio from other apps or your computer, and from files you choose to transcribe.
- Output. As between you and us, you may use output for any lawful purpose, as long as you follow these Terms and respect the rights of others. We don't claim ownership of your output. Because output is generated automatically, other users may receive similar output.
- What is saved, and where. Your history stays on your device, and you control it (see section 3). We do not offer cloud backup of your history. So that we can return a completed text, photo or summary result to you if your connection drops, our servers keep an encrypted copy of the result for a short time and then erase it. We also keep usage records, such as the feature used, the time and the amount used, but not the content you translated. Our Privacy Policy explains how long we keep them.
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6. Recording and consent
Sayoo can capture and translate what people around you say, as well as audio playing in other apps or on your computer. You must use these features lawfully and with respect for others.
- Tell people and get their consent. Before you translate, caption or save what other people say, let them know. Also get any consent required by the laws that apply to you and to them. Never use Sayoo to secretly record, eavesdrop on or monitor anyone.
- Audio from other apps. On iPhone, after you start a broadcast from the iOS system panel, Sayoo translates audio that other apps on your iPhone are playing. Sayoo uses only that app audio. It ignores the screen image and doesn't use your microphone for this feature. In the desktop app, when you choose "System audio", Sayoo translates audio your computer is playing. In the web app, it translates audio from a tab or screen you share through your browser. The desktop and web apps use only the sound, and the screen image the system provides with it is discarded on your device. Your microphone is used as well only if you choose "Microphone + system audio". If you use this feature to translate people speaking in other meeting or call software, also tell the other participants and get any consent the law requires. Some apps don't allow their audio to be captured. Use this feature only with content you're allowed to listen to and process. Translating content does not give you any rights in it. On iPhone, iOS limits how apps run in the background, so a broadcast may stop. On a Mac, closing the desktop app's window doesn't stop a running live translation, so end it or quit Sayoo when you're done. In the web app, tab or screen audio is no longer captured once you stop sharing.
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7. Translation accuracy: please read
Sayoo uses machine translation, automatic speech recognition, text recognition, synthesized speech and AI-generated summaries. These tools are useful, but they make mistakes:
- Output can be wrong, incomplete, out of context or inappropriate. Speech can be misheard. Names, numbers, amounts, units, dates, times and negations can be changed in translation, which can change the meaning.
- Summaries are written by AI and may leave out or misstate important points. Always check them against the original.
- Quality depends on things like background noise, accents, speaking speed, image quality, network conditions and the mode you choose. On-device mode and cloud mode may give different results, and so may different versions of Sayoo (for example, photo text recognition on iPhone and on a computer).
Sayoo does not replace a professional interpreter or translator. Don't rely on Sayoo alone for medical, legal, financial or safety-critical matters, in emergencies, or in any situation where a mistake could cause harm. In those situations, use a qualified professional. You are responsible for checking output before you rely on it or share it.
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8. On-device models and open-source software
The parts of this section about on-device mode and downloading its speech recognition and translation models apply only to the iPhone app. The web and desktop apps don't offer on-device mode; the photo text recognition models they download are covered in sections 1 and 10.
- Downloading models. On-device mode needs speech recognition and translation models, about 1.7 GB in total, and you choose whether to download them. The app tells you the size before downloading and asks first if you're on a cellular connection. Sayoo downloads fixed versions of the models from Hugging Face, checks that each file is intact before using it, and stores the models only on your device. Once downloaded, on-device mode works without an internet connection.
- Open-source software. Sayoo includes open-source software and third-party models, such as the Whisper speech recognition model, the Hy-MT translation model, whisper.cpp, llama.cpp and Silero VAD used for on-device mode, and tesseract.js used in the web and desktop apps. Their licenses apply separately. Nothing in these Terms limits any rights you have under those licenses. The authors provide these components "as is", without any warranty, and they are not responsible for Sayoo.
- Limitations. On-device mode supports only some languages and features. For example, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish are available only in cloud mode, and on-device mode doesn't support split-ear output or automatic language direction. Running large models uses storage, memory and battery, and performance varies from device to device.
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9. Acceptable use
When you use Sayoo, you agree not to:
- break any law or infringe anyone's privacy, intellectual property or other rights;
- record, monitor or translate other people's speech without any consent the law requires, or use Sayoo to watch or track anyone;
- create, translate or share content that is illegal, harassing, threatening or hateful, or that sexually exploits minors;
- get more free usage than you are entitled to, for example by opening several accounts, tampering with your device or taking advantage of metering errors;
- copy, modify, reverse engineer or decompile the iPhone, web or desktop app (including its scripts and installer), except where the law or an applicable open-source license allows it;
- access the Service through automated tools or unofficial apps, use our interfaces outside Sayoo's official iPhone, web and desktop apps, or resell, sublicense or offer the Service to others as part of your own service;
- interfere with, overload or disrupt the Service, or get around rate limits, usage limits or security measures;
- share sign-in tokens or broadcast sessions with others, or pretend to be someone else; or
- help anyone else do any of these things.
To keep the Service reliable and fair, we may limit how long a session lasts, how many sessions run at the same time and how often requests can be made.
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10. Third-party services
Sayoo relies on services provided by other companies.
- Providers that process content for us. Alibaba Cloud Model Studio provides cloud speech recognition, translation, speech and summaries. It processes your content on our behalf, and we remain responsible for that processing as described in our Privacy Policy and as required by law.
- Services you use directly. Apple (App Store and Sign in with Apple), Hugging Face (model downloads in the iPhone app) and jsDelivr (photo text recognition models for the web and desktop apps) provide their services under their own terms and privacy policies, which may also apply to you. We don't control these services and, to the extent the law allows, we are not responsible for them.
Sayoo also uses iOS features that run on your iPhone, such as Vision for text recognition and ReplayKit for broadcasts. In the web and desktop apps, Sayoo uses features provided by your browser or operating system, such as microphone access, screen sharing, system audio capture and speech output. The desktop app runs on Electron (Chromium), and both the web and desktop apps use tesseract.js to recognize text in images.
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11. Intellectual property
The Sayoo iPhone, web and desktop apps, the Service and the Sayoo name, logo and design belong to Zhang Zhixing or their licensors. Open-source components are excluded and remain under their own licenses. As long as you follow these Terms, we give you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable license to install and use the iPhone app on Apple devices that you own or control, as allowed by the App Store Terms; to access and use the web app through a supported browser; and, if you use the desktop app, to install and use it on computers that you own or control. We keep all rights that we don't expressly grant.
If you send us feedback or suggestions, we may use them without owing you anything.
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12. Changes to the Service
We keep working on Sayoo, so we may add, change, suspend or remove features, languages or providers, and we may change the daily free usage limit. If we decide to shut down the Service as a whole, we will give you reasonable notice in advance in the iPhone app, in the web app or on our website.
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13. Suspension and termination
You can stop using Sayoo at any time, and you can delete your account (see section 3).
We may suspend or end your access to the Service, or to some of its features, in any of these cases:
- you break these Terms seriously or repeatedly;
- you misuse the free usage;
- you act fraudulently;
- you put other people or the Service at risk or cause them harm; or
- the law requires us to do so.
Where it is reasonable and lawful, we will tell you why and give you a chance to respond.
Some sections should naturally continue to apply after termination, and they will. These include sections 5, 7 and 11, and sections 14 to 20.
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14. Disclaimers
To the extent the law allows, we provide the Service "as is" and "as available". We do not promise that the Service will always be available, error-free or offered in every location. We also do not promise that output will be accurate, complete or suitable for any particular purpose. Nothing in these Terms affects any consumer rights that the law applying to you does not allow us to exclude or limit.
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15. Limitation of liability
To the extent the law allows:
- we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential losses, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data or goodwill; and
- we are not liable for decisions you make or actions you take based on output from the Service.
To the extent the law allows, our total liability to you for all claims relating to the Service is limited to US$100.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, liability for fraud, or any other liability that the law does not allow us to exclude or limit.
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16. Your responsibility to us
If your content, your breach of these Terms or your breach of the law leads someone else to bring a claim against us, you are responsible, to the extent the law allows, for the reasonable losses and costs (including reasonable legal fees) that result. This section doesn't apply to the extent we caused the claim, or where the law of the country where you live doesn't allow it for consumers.
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17. Additional terms for the Apple App Store
If you downloaded the Sayoo iPhone app from Apple's App Store (this section applies only to the iPhone app obtained from the App Store, not to the web or desktop app), you and we also agree that:
- these Terms are between you and us only, not between you and Apple Inc. ("Apple"), and we, not Apple, are solely responsible for the app and its content;
- your license to use the app is limited to Apple-branded products that you own or control, as allowed by the Usage Rules in the App Store Terms;
- we, not Apple, are solely responsible for providing any maintenance and support for the app, as described in these Terms or as required by law, and Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app;
- if the app fails to meet an applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple may refund the price you paid for the app (if any); to the maximum extent the law allows, Apple has no other warranty obligation for the app;
- we, not Apple, are responsible for handling any claims about the app or your use of it, including product liability claims, claims that the app fails to meet legal or regulatory requirements, and claims under consumer protection, privacy or similar laws;
- if a third party claims that the app or your use of it infringes their intellectual property rights, we, not Apple, are responsible for investigating, defending, settling and resolving that claim;
- please send any questions, complaints or claims about the app to us, using the details in section 21;
- you confirm that you are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo or that the U.S. Government has designated as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties;
- when you use the app, you must follow any applicable third-party terms, such as your mobile carrier's terms; and
- Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and once you accept these Terms, Apple has the right to enforce them against you.
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18. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. We will first try to resolve any dispute arising from these Terms or the Service informally with you; if that fails, the courts of the Hong Kong SAR have jurisdiction. If you are a consumer, you also keep the protection of any mandatory rules in the law of the country where you live.
Before you start any formal proceedings, please contact us first (section 21) so that we can try to resolve the matter informally.
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19. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will publish the new version with a new "Last updated" date. If a change is significant, we will tell you in the iPhone app, in the web app or on our website before it takes effect. If we introduce paid features in the future, we will update these Terms before they launch. If you keep using Sayoo after a change takes effect, you accept the updated Terms. If you don't agree, please stop using Sayoo. You can delete your account (see section 3).
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20. General
- Entire agreement. These Terms, our Privacy Policy and any terms the iPhone, web or desktop app shows you for a specific feature are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service.
- Severability. If any part of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest of these Terms still applies.
- No waiver. If we don't enforce a provision right away, we can still enforce it later.
- Assignment. You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our consent. We may transfer ours as part of a merger, an acquisition or a sale of assets, or by operation of law, as long as your rights under these Terms are not reduced.
- Language. These Terms are available in English and Simplified Chinese; if the two versions differ, the English version prevails.
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21. Contact us
Sayoo is operated by Zhang Zhixing, Jinzhong, Shanxi, China.
For questions, complaints or claims about Sayoo or these Terms: support@sayoo.ai.