Version 1, October 18, 2026. These terms are an agreement between you and External Software LLC, a South Carolina company in Greenville, South Carolina (“we”, “us”). They cover Hark, our other software, our store at externalsoftware.com/store and our website (together, the “Services”).
Please read them. Section 19 says that disputes are resolved by binding individual arbitration instead of in court, and that you give up the right to a jury trial and to take part in a class action, unless you opt out within 30 days as Section 19 explains.
You accept these terms when you click “I agree” in Hark, create an account, buy a subscription or use the Services. If you do not agree, do not use the Services. You must be at least 18 years old. If you use the Services for a company or other organization, you confirm that you may accept these terms for it, and “you” includes it.
Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect and why. If you choose “Recognize my voice”, the separate voice recognition consent you sign also applies.
We may change these terms. For an important change, we will tell you by email or in Hark at least 14 days before it takes effect, and Hark will ask you to accept the new version. If you do not accept it, you may stop using the Services and cancel your subscription. A change never applies to a dispute that arose before it was posted.
Signing in uses an External Software account tied to your email address. Keep access to that email secure: anyone who can read it can sign in as you. You are responsible for what happens under your account. An account is for one person; do not share it. Each subscription may be signed in on a limited number of computers at once.
Hark and our other software are licensed, not sold. They are proprietary: we and our licensors own them, including their code, design and all copies, and keep all rights not expressly given to you. As long as you follow these terms, we give you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to install and use Hark on computers you own or control, for your personal use or your organization’s internal business use.
You may not, and may not let anyone else:
Hark includes open-source components. Each is licensed under its own terms, listed with Hark, and nothing here limits your rights under those licenses.
Recording, transcribing and everything else that works only on your computer is free once you sign in. AI features and sync need a paid subscription. A new account may get a one-time free preview of the paid features; one preview per person.
Your recordings, transcripts, notes, screenshots, email and everything else you create or bring into Hark (“your content”) belong to you. We claim no ownership of it.
Hark keeps your content on your computer. If you use sync or AI features, you give us permission to store, transmit and process your content only as needed to provide those features to you: synced content is end-to-end encrypted, so we store it but cannot read it, and AI features send what they need to our AI provider to produce the result you asked for. We do not use your content to train AI, and we do not let our AI provider do so. We do not sell your content.
You confirm that you have the rights you need to your content and to use it with the Services.
If you send us ideas or feedback, we may use them freely, without paying you or owing you anything.
Hark is a recorder that runs on your computer. It does not join meetings as a visible participant and does not tell the other people that they are being recorded. You are solely responsible for recording lawfully.
Our guide to recording consent laws is general information, not legal advice, and may not be complete or current. Ask a lawyer if you are unsure.
Hark tells the voices in each meeting apart on your computer and does not keep a voiceprint of anyone. The only voiceprint Hark keeps is your own, if you choose “Recognize my voice” and sign its consent. Set it up only with your own voice. Do not use Hark, or try to make Hark, keep or recognize anyone else’s voice.
Transcripts, speaker labels, meeting notes, titles, summaries, answers and other results made by Hark or by AI can be wrong, incomplete or misleading, can miss things that were said, and can say things that were not. Check them before you rely on them. They are not legal, medical, financial or other professional advice. Do not use them as the only basis for a decision that matters, such as a medical, legal, financial, employment or safety decision.
AI features are provided by Anthropic. You must also follow Anthropic’s usage policy when you use them.
The Services are not designed for information that laws such as HIPAA regulate. We do not sign Business Associate Agreements and do not provide the safeguards those laws require. Do not put protected health information, payment card numbers, or information that a law, regulation or contract bars you from sharing with a service provider into sync or AI features. Recording and transcribing only on your computer sends nothing to us, but you remain responsible for protecting what you keep there.
Do not use the Services to:
Hark can download email from accounts you connect and can be connected to Claude Desktop, Claude Code or other apps. Those services are run by other companies under their own terms and privacy policies. You are responsible for having the right to connect them. We are not responsible for them, for what they do with information they get from Hark, or for changes to them that stop them working with Hark.
You are responsible for backing up what is on your computer. Uninstalling Hark, a failed disk or a lost computer can lose your recordings and transcripts.
Synced content is end-to-end encrypted with a key only your computers and your recovery key can unlock. Keep your recovery key safe. If you lose every synced computer and the recovery key, we cannot recover your synced content. If your subscription ends, sync stops. We may delete the synced copy 90 days after your subscription ends; what is on your computers is not affected.
Hark checks for updates and installs them, and some updates are needed to keep using the Services. We may add, change or remove features, and we may stop offering a Service. If we stop offering a paid feature before the end of a period you paid for, we will refund the unused part.
You may stop using the Services at any time, and you can ask us to close your account by emailing privacy@externalsoftware.com.
We may suspend or close your account, or stop providing the Services to you, if you break these terms, do not pay, misuse the Services, put us, other users or the Services at risk, or if the law requires it. Where it is reasonable, we will tell you first and give you a chance to fix the problem. If we close your account for any other reason, we will refund the unused part of any period you paid for.
When your license ends, you must stop using Hark. Your content on your computer stays yours. Sections 4 (the restrictions), 6, 7, 9, 13 and 15 to 23 continue to apply after these terms end.
THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, WE MAKE NO WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND ACCURACY. WE DO NOT PROMISE THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE OR ERROR-FREE, THAT HARK WILL CAPTURE EVERY RECORDING OR EVERY WORD, THAT TRANSCRIPTS, SPEAKER LABELS OR AI RESULTS WILL BE ACCURATE, OR THAT YOUR CONTENT WILL NOT BE LOST. SOME PLACES DO NOT ALLOW THESE EXCLUSIONS, SO SOME MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS:
These limits apply whatever the legal theory, and even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose. They do not limit liability that the law does not allow to be limited, such as for fraud, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence where that applies.
You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless External Software LLC and its owners, employees and agents from any claim, demand, loss, damage, fine, cost or expense (including reasonable lawyers’ fees) made by anyone else, arising from: your recordings and other content; your failure to give notice or get consent before recording; your use of the Services in breach of these terms or of any law; or your violation of anyone’s rights. We will tell you about such a claim, may take part in its defense with our own lawyer at our own cost, and you may not settle it in a way that binds us without our written consent.
Talk to us first. Before starting a claim, either side must send the other a written notice describing it and what is wanted, and both must try in good faith to resolve it for 60 days. Send yours to legal@externalsoftware.com; ours goes to your account email.
Binding individual arbitration. If the dispute is not resolved, any dispute, claim or controversy between you and us relating to the Services or these terms (including whether this section applies) will be resolved by final and binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules (or, if you use the Services for a business, its Commercial Arbitration Rules), before a single arbitrator. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section. The arbitration takes place by video or phone, or in the county where you live, or another place we both agree. For claims of $10,000 or less, you may choose to have it decided on written submissions only. Payment of fees follows the AAA’s rules; for consumer claims, we pay the fees the rules require businesses to pay.
Exceptions. Either side may bring an individual claim in small claims court if it qualifies. Either side may ask a court for an injunction to stop misuse of its intellectual property or unauthorized access to the Services.
No class actions and no jury. YOU AND WE MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST EACH OTHER ONLY INDIVIDUALLY, NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. YOU AND WE EACH GIVE UP THE RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL. The arbitrator may award relief only to you individually, and only to the extent needed for your individual claim.
Mass filings. If 25 or more similar claims are brought against us, or by us, by or with the help of the same or coordinated lawyers or organizations, they will be handled in batches of up to 50 claims, one batch at a time, with one arbitrator per batch, and the AAA’s fees will be charged per batch. The statute of limitations is paused for claims waiting for their batch. Both sides agree to this to resolve claims efficiently.
Opting out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing legal@externalsoftware.com from your account email within 30 days after you first accept these terms, saying that you opt out of arbitration. Opting out does not affect any other part of these terms.
If part of this section is not enforceable. If the class action waiver is found unenforceable for a claim, that claim (and only that claim) must be decided in court, not in arbitration, after the individual arbitrations finish. If any other part of this section is found unenforceable, the rest still applies.
South Carolina law and applicable US federal law govern these terms, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any claim not subject to arbitration must be brought in the state or federal courts located in Greenville County, South Carolina, and you and we agree to those courts’ jurisdiction. If you are a consumer living outside the United States, you keep any protection the mandatory laws of your country give you.
You may not use or export the Services in violation of US export control and sanctions laws, or if you are on a US government list of restricted parties or in a country under a comprehensive US embargo.
Hark is “commercial computer software” and its documentation is “commercial computer software documentation”. Government users get only the rights these terms give everyone else.
These terms, the Privacy Policy, any voice recognition consent you sign and the refund policy are the whole agreement between you and us about the Services and replace any earlier ones. If a part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. Not enforcing a part of these terms is not a waiver. You may not transfer these terms without our written consent; we may transfer them as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets. We are not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control. We may send you notices by email to your account email or in Hark. Nothing in these terms creates a partnership, employment or agency between us.
External Software LLC, Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Email support@externalsoftware.com, or for legal notices legal@externalsoftware.com.