Privacy policy
What Universal SDR and universalsdr.com hold about you and send, why, for how long, who handles it, your rights, cookies, and how to have it deleted.
Last updated: 2026-11-10.
Who is responsible
The maker of Universal SDR is responsible for your personal data (the controller under the EU General Data Protection Regulation). Write to hello@universalsdr.com about anything in this policy.
In short
We hold your email address and the name you give us, and the country and radios if you fill them in. For each PC: a fingerprint (a hash, not your hardware serials), the app and Windows versions, and when it last checked in. The first time the app starts on a PC it registers a Pro trial with that fingerprint and the internet address of the connection, and at each start it asks this site which version is current. We also hold the recordings and bug reports you choose to send.
What we hold, why, and for how long
| What | Why | Legal basis | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| When you sign up, before you open the confirmation link: the email address, name, country and radios you typed | To complete the sign-up when you open the link we email you | Steps you asked for before an agreement | Two days, or until you open the link, whichever comes first |
| To stop the site being misused: how many sign-ups, trial registrations and purchase requests came from an internet address, and how many sign-up emails went to an email address, each counted under a hash of it | To limit sign-ups, trials, purchase requests and the emails they send | Our legitimate interest in keeping the site and other people's mailboxes safe | One hour for the address, one day for the email address |
| Once you open the link: your email address, the name you give, your account and alpha key, when you joined, when you were last seen and with which app version, and when an email to you was last refused | To run your membership, send your key and write to you about the program | Performing our agreement with you | Until you leave or the alpha program ends |
| Country and radios, if you fill them in | To know which signals testers can reach | Your consent, which you can withdraw at any time | As above, or until you ask |
| For each PC: a fingerprint (a hash made from the PC's name, the type of operating system and your Windows user name, no hardware serials), the app and Windows versions, first and last check-in, number of check-ins | To issue and renew your licence, and to know which builds are in use | Performing our agreement with you; knowing which builds are in use is our legitimate interest | As above |
| The first time the app starts on a PC (the trial sign-up): that PC's fingerprint, the time, and the internet address of the connection | To allow one Pro trial per PC | Our legitimate interest | As long as the trial rule needs it, or until you ask |
| Recordings you choose to submit, with their metadata (frequency, sample rate, length, when it was recorded, the decoder, the radio it was made with, the app version and the PC's fingerprint), the text the decoder produced, what you said about it and your note | To test and confirm decoders | Our legitimate interest in making decoders work | Until the alpha program ends, or sooner if you ask |
| Bug reports you choose to send, with the build, the Windows version and the PC's fingerprint, and the diagnostics file if you attach it | To find and fix the fault | Our agreement with you and our legitimate interest | Until the alpha program ends, or sooner if you ask |
| Web server and security logs: your internet address, the page asked for, the time, and what your browser says about itself | To keep the site running and safe, and to stop attacks | Our legitimate interest | A short time, then deleted as the logs rotate |
| Email you send us | To answer you | Our legitimate interest | As long as the matter needs |
You must give an email address and a name to join. Everything else is your choice. Backups of the site are kept for 14 days, so something deleted can stay in a backup that long.
Recordings and other people
A recording holds everything the radio received in its span, and other people's transmissions can be in it, with their personal details. We ask you not to send recordings of private traffic (the alpha page says what that means). We use recordings only to test decoders, we never publish them, and we do not try to identify anyone in them. If you think a recording we hold contains your personal details, write to us and we will delete it if we can find it.
What the app sends over the internet
- To universalsdr.com: when you enter your key and about once a day after that, your key, the PC's fingerprint, and the app and Windows versions, to renew your licence. At each start the app asks which version is current. The first time it starts on a PC it registers the Pro trial.
- To celestrak.org, about once a day while you use a satellite feature, to fetch satellite orbits.
- To a map tile service, only if you choose an online map.
- To fetch a speech-recognition model once, only if you turn speech to text on.
- To a public receiver you connect to, to the public lists of receivers when you refresh them, and to any server you enter yourself. Public receivers often show their owner who is connected.
- To universalsdr.com, the recordings and bug reports you choose to send.
Each of these sees your internet address and has its own privacy rules. When the app looks for radios it also asks the devices on your own network, which does not leave it.
A bug report's diagnostics file holds the last two days of the app's log, your settings, the session file, and a report of your PC, radios, receivers and decoder. The keys and passwords you typed are blanked, but the settings still hold the location you set for your receiver, your callsign and the alpha download link, which carries your key, and file paths can show your Windows user name. You can untick the file, or save it and look inside before you send it. Do not post it publicly.
Keys you enter for encrypted systems stay on your PC, encrypted for your Windows account, and are never sent.
Cookies
This site sets no cookies for ordinary visitors and uses no advertising or analytics. When you sign in, WordPress sets the cookies that keep you signed in (wordpress_logged_in_ and wordpress_sec_ followed by a code, and wordpress_test_cookie, which checks that cookies work). These are needed for the service you asked for, so they need no consent. They end when you sign out or, if you ticked "Remember me", after two weeks. The shop, once it opens, keeps your cart with WooCommerce's cart and session cookies, which the purchase needs; it does not use WooCommerce's order attribution tracking.
Who else handles your data
Our web server, database and mailbox are hosted by Akamai (Linode) in a data centre in Frankfurt, Germany, and your data is stored there. There is no advertising and no third-party analytics, and we do not sell your data.
Your rights
You can ask to see your data, have it corrected or deleted, have its use limited, receive it in a usable form, and object to uses that rest on our legitimate interest. Where we rely on your consent you can withdraw it at any time. Write to hello@universalsdr.com. We answer within one month. If you think we are getting this wrong, you can complain to the Dutch data protection authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl), or to the authority in your own country.
The app replays submitted recordings and sets a review status. We make no decision about you by automated means that has legal or similar effects.
Leaving, and having it deleted
Write to hello@universalsdr.com to leave the program and have your data deleted. We do it and tell you when it is done, within one month.
Erasing a member removes their recordings, their bug reports and their files, their PCs, the trial records of those PCs, everything the program stores with the account, and the account itself when it is only an alpha member account. Paid orders are kept, because the law requires us to keep bookkeeping records. Backups of the site are kept for 14 days, so erased data can remain in a backup that long before it is gone.
Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters to you, we tell members by email.