The short version
- Your footage never leaves your computer. Source footage, project files and exports live on your machine. We never receive them.
- No account needed for the free plan. Without one, the app sends only an anonymous count of a few moments, like "the app opened", and you can switch it off.
- With an account, we keep what it needs, plus what you save in Montaj Hub and Montaj Studio: your niche, ideas, scripts and posting plan, and what your team shares.
- We record a short, published list of moments, and you can switch that off. Never what a project is or what is in it.
- We do not sell your data, buy data about you, or train AI models on anything you make.
Who we are
Montaj is made by ByCrux LLC ("we", "us"). This policy covers the Montaj app, your Montaj account, and this website.
What we collect
If you use Montaj without an account
The app works fully without an account. Unless you turn it off, it sends an anonymous count of ten moments:
- app.launched: the app opened.
- project.created: you started a project.
- render.started: you began an export.
- render.completed: an export finished.
- render.failed: an export did not finish.
- mcp.launched: you connected your AI assistant to the app.
- app.startup_failed: the app could not start.
- update.downloaded: an app update finished downloading.
- update.installed: an app update was installed.
- update.failed: an app update did not finish.
Each one carries only which moment it was, when it happened, your app version, and a random code so a duplicate can be ignored. The last four also carry a short diagnostic and nothing else: one of four fixed reasons the app could not start, the app versions an update moved from and to, which update step failed, and whether your computer runs macOS or Windows. They are grouped under a random install code the app makes up. It is not based on your computer's hardware, it is not an account, and signing in later never links the two. No filenames, no project names, nothing you made. We never store your IP address with these counts; the app uses it for a few minutes to stop the service being flooded, and our hosting provider's request logs keep it for 30 days (see Server logs). We delete these counts after twelve months.
Feedback you send without an account is stored as you wrote it, with no account attached. Because it is not linked to you, we cannot find it later to delete it on request, so please leave personal details out.
Crash reports
When Montaj crashes, it can send us a crash report so we can fix the problem. It sends one on its own only while "Share usage data" is on. When you click Send report on an error screen, it sends that one report even if "Share usage data" is off. A crash report carries:
- the same random install code as the anonymous counts, or a new one-off code when you send a report with "Share usage data" off
- a random code so a duplicate can be ignored
- when the crash happened
- your app version
- whether your computer runs macOS or Windows
- its system version
- its processor type
- which part of Montaj crashed: the app, its interface, its engine or an export
- whether it was sent on its own or by you
- a short code made from the error, so the same crash can be grouped
- the error message
- the stack trace: the places in Montaj's own code where the error happened
- the last 200 lines of Montaj's own log
Before a report leaves your computer, the app replaces your home folder and username with ~, replaces the names of your files, folders and projects with placeholders, and removes email addresses and anything that looks like a key or password. If anything personal is still there, the report is thrown away and never sent. No footage, no file, folder or project names, and no account: a crash report is never linked to you, even when you are signed in. We never store your IP address with it; the app uses it for a few minutes to stop the service being flooded, and our hosting provider's request logs keep it for 30 days (see Server logs). We delete crash reports after 90 days.
When you create an account
You only need an account for Montaj Hub and Montaj Studio.
- Email address, to sign you in and reach you about your account. We confirm it by emailing you a short code.
- Your sign-in. Either a password or your Google account. Passwords are handled by Firebase, our sign-in provider; we never see or store them.
- Anything you add to your profile, such as a name or a profile picture.
- Style profiles you save, such as a profile name and short bio, fonts, colours, caption style, and the platforms and handles you post to.
When you subscribe
Payment is handled by Stripe. We receive your plan, subscription status, trial and renewal dates and number of seats, never your card number. The Montaj Hub trial needs a card, and each account can start it once.
When you start a checkout, we record that you did and which page you came from.
When you cancel or downgrade, we record that you did, when, and the reason you pick and anything you write. We also record when the app shows you an upgrade screen. Both so we can understand why people leave or stay.
Your devices
Each computer you sign in on sends a random code that stands for that device, and we note when it was last active. That is how the device limit on your plan works. We do not collect the device name, model or anything on it.
How you use the app
When you are signed in, the app records a fixed set of moments instead of the anonymous count above. Some show whether people get from installing Montaj to finishing a video; others show whether Montaj Hub is useful from week to week. They are named exactly as the app records them:
- project.created: you started a project.
- render.started: you began an export.
- render.completed: an export finished.
- render.failed: an export did not finish.
- mcp.launched: you connected your AI assistant to the app.
- trial.started: your free trial began.
- trial.converted: your trial became a paid subscription.
- tier.changed: you moved to a different plan.
- allowance.exhausted: reserved for a built-in AI allowance that no plan includes today, so it is never sent.
- trends.viewed: you or your AI opened your trend briefs.
- niche.saved: you saved your niche for trend research.
- idea.saved: an idea went into your pipeline.
- pipeline.viewed: you or your AI opened your pipeline.
- idea.posted: an idea was marked as posted.
- template.used: you started a project from a Montaj Hub template.
- org.created: your Montaj Studio team was set up.
- member.invited: someone was invited to your team.
- member.joined: someone joined your team.
- member.removed: someone left or was removed from your team.
- profile.switched: you switched profiles in the app.
- kit.uploaded: a file was added to a profile's kit.
- review.sent: a review link was sent to a client.
- review.decided: a client approved a review or asked for changes.
- paywall.viewed: the app showed you an upgrade screen.
- paywall.dismissed: you closed an upgrade screen without upgrading.
Each one carries only which moment it was, when it happened, your app version, your account, and a random code so a duplicate can be ignored. Not which idea or template, and not what it says. No filenames, no project names, nothing you made. We delete them after twelve months. A few totals worked out from them stay with your account, such as when you first exported a video.
Turning that off
Open Settings, then Privacy, and turn off "Share usage data". It is on unless you turn it off. Turned off, none of the moments above is recorded at all, signed in or not: not gathered and discarded later, simply never written down. Anything still waiting to be sent is deleted, and so is the anonymous install code. Turning it back on makes a new one. Turning it off also stops crash reports, except one you send yourself with Send report. Team moments other than profile.switched are recorded by our server when they happen, so this switch does not cover them.
Montaj Hub
- Your niche. What you make and for whom, how you sound, your language, your time zone and when you want your brief. We store it so research can run every day.
- Trend research. When you first save your niche, once a day after that, and whenever you ask for a refresh, we send your niche, your voice, your language, today's date and the titles of ideas you have already seen, saved, liked or passed on to Anthropic, which runs the AI model and searches the public web for you. Nothing else about you or your account is sent.
- Your briefs. The ideas it finds, with links to the public pages they came from, and what you do with each one, such as saving or hiding it. We also keep each research request and the reply, to fix problems and control cost.
- Your pipeline. Ideas, hooks, scripts, captions, templates, how far along each one is and the dates you plan to post, whether you or your AI wrote them. If you start a project from an idea, we keep a code for that project so the idea can open it; the project itself stays on your computer. We store all this so it is on every computer you sign in on and available to your AI.
- Your notes, links and tasks. The notes, links and tasks you keep in Montaj Hub, and the recording of any voice note. We store them so they are on every computer you sign in on.
- When you last used Montaj. While you are signed in, the app tells us when it was last opened or brought to the front, at most once an hour. We use it to pause research while you are away, and to see how many people are still using Montaj Hub.
- Templates. Hub templates download to your computer from our servers. We record that a template was used, not which one or what you made with it.
Montaj Studio
- Your team. Its name, its members with their names, email addresses and roles, which profiles each member can reach, and invitations with the address they went to.
- Invitations. We email the person you invite a link that works for 14 days. We store only a scrambled form of the link, never the link itself.
- Your profiles. Each profile’s name, style, niche and posting plan, kept like your own Montaj Hub data. Members who can reach a profile see and edit what it holds.
- Profile kits and shared files. The files in a profile kit (images, video, audio, fonts and PDFs), in folders you name, with the names you give them, plus each profile’s other shared files, such as its style write-up and overlay images. They are stored in private storage that only your team can reach, through links that expire in minutes, and each computer on the team keeps a copy. Up to 250 MB per file and 10 GB per team.
- Projects stay on each computer. Sharing a profile shares its kit and files, never your projects, footage or exports.
- If you already pay for Montaj Hub and join a team, your own Montaj Hub renewal is set to end at the close of its current period, and Montaj Studio covers you from then on. Leaving or being removed before then turns your renewal back on.
- If you join a team, its owner decides what is shared and can remove you. What you add to a shared profile stays with the team when you leave. Your own account, your projects and anything you did not share stay yours.
- Review links. When you create one, the export you choose is uploaded so your reviewers can watch it. Anyone with the link can view it. Comments, the name a reviewer gives, timecodes and approvals are stored with it, along with the email addresses you name as reviewers, which we use to invite them and to let them approve. Your projects and source footage stay on your computer; only that export is uploaded.
- How long review exports are kept. An uploaded export is deleted 90 days after it is sent. The link, the comments and the decisions stay.
AI features
- Your own AI assistant. If you connect ChatGPT, Claude or another assistant you already use, it runs under your own agreement with that provider. Connecting it needs no account. We are not in the middle and do not see what it does.
- Your own API keys. Keys you add for other AI services are stored encrypted on your computer and are never sent to us.
Server logs
Like most online services, our servers keep standard request logs, which include your IP address, the address requested and the time. We keep them for 30 days for security and to prevent abuse, then they are deleted. We do not use them to identify you or to connect your activity to your account or to an install code.
When you join the waitlist
- Email address, to tell you when Montaj is ready. We send one email to confirm you are on the list.
- Anything else you choose to tell us: your name, what you make, how you heard about Montaj, and the social accounts you post to. All optional. We use them to decide who to invite first.
- Whether you are on a Mac, Windows or a phone, worked out from your browser, not asked.
Your IP address is used for a few minutes to stop the form being flooded. It is not stored with your entry; our request logs keep it for 30 days, as described under Server logs.
When you talk to us
Feedback you send from the app while signed in, and any email you send us, along with your account so we can reply.
On this website
This website uses Google Analytics, which sets cookies, to count visits and see which pages are useful. It is not linked to your Montaj account. Your browser settings or an ad blocker can turn it off. The app itself and your account pages do not use cookies for tracking.
When you download Montaj from this website, it sends us a note, once per visit for each version:
- Which version you downloaded: macOS or Windows.
- A Product Hunt link, if that is how you arrived.
- Campaign tags in the link you followed, if it had them: its source, medium and campaign.
- The website that sent you, by name only, such as youtube.com, if none of the above.
It carries no cookie, no code that identifies you, and nothing linked to an account or to the app. We never store your IP address with it, and we keep only the week it happened, not the day or time. We delete it after twelve months. Until you close the tab, your browser remembers how you arrived, so the note can say so.
After your download starts, this website may ask you, once per visit, "Where did you hear about Montaj?" If you answer, it sends us only:
- The choice you tapped: Product Hunt, X (Twitter), YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, a friend, Google search or somewhere else.
- An account name, if you type one: the account you heard about Montaj from on the social network you chose.
Skipping sends nothing. The answer carries no cookie and nothing that links it to the note above, to an account or to you. We never store your IP address with it, and we keep only the week it happened. We delete it after twelve months.
How we use it
- To run your account and subscription, and keep it working on your devices.
- To run Montaj Hub: research your niche, deliver your briefs, and keep your pipeline and templates in sync.
- To run Montaj Studio: invite your team, and share your profiles, their kits and files with the people you choose.
- To find and fix problems, prevent abuse, and enforce fair-use limits.
- To understand how Montaj is used, from the moments listed above.
- To run the waitlist: confirm your spot, choose who to invite first, and email your invite.
- We email you about your account and billing, and if you cancel we may email you once afterwards. Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link.
Keeping and deleting
We keep your account, and what you save in Montaj Hub, for as long as your account is open. Usage moments and anonymous counts are deleted after twelve months, and crash reports after 90 days. Anonymous counts cannot be traced to you; turning usage data off deletes the install code, so no new count joins the old ones. Ideas you delete from your pipeline disappear at once and are erased from our systems when your account is deleted. A device record is removed when that device is signed out for the device limit. Waitlist details are kept until the waitlist closes, then deleted.
Shared profile files are kept while the team exists. Notes, tasks and voice notes are kept until you delete them, or until your account is deleted. Deleting a note deletes its recording at once. Deleting a profile deletes its niche, trend briefs, pipeline ideas, notes, tasks and voice notes at once. If Montaj Studio ends, members lose access at once, the owner keeps their profiles, and the shared files are kept unchanged in case the team subscribes again. When a team owner’s account is deleted, the team, its profiles and every shared file are deleted within 30 days. Removing a file from a profile deletes it from our storage within 30 days.
To delete your account, email hello@bycrux.com from the address you signed up with. We will delete your account, profile, style profiles, devices, niche, briefs, pipeline, notes, tasks, voice notes, team, profile kits and shared files, usage moments and any waitlist entry. To leave the waitlist without an account, email the same address from the address you signed up with. Billing records we must keep for tax and accounting are kept for up to 7 years, then deleted.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to see the information we hold about you, correct it, delete it, or get a copy. Write to hello@bycrux.com (or hello@bycrux.com to delete) and we will act on it. We will not treat you differently for asking.
Security
Traffic between the app and our servers is encrypted. No system is perfectly secure, but if something happens that affects you, we will tell you promptly.
Children
Montaj is not for anyone under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information. If you think a child has signed up, write to us and we will remove it.
Changes
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top, and tell you directly if the change is significant.
Contact
Questions go to hello@bycrux.com. Deletion requests go to hello@bycrux.com.