The Short Version
Rithmatic has no accounts, no analytics, and no tracking. Almost everything happens between the app, your device, and the volca on the other end of the MIDI cable — the library, the built-in synth, and every patch transfer work fully offline. We never receive your patches, your files, or any record of what you do in the app. The one exception is the optional tip jar, which uses the app store to process a purchase if you choose to leave one.
Who We Are
Rithmatic is provided by Best Practice. In this policy, “Rithmatic,” “Best Practice,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the people and systems that operate the app and related web pages at rithmatic.madewithbestpractice.com.
Information You Provide
The app works with patch files you choose to import, the patch library you build from them, the names, tags, favorites, and collections you create, patches you design in the Patch Builder, and full-device snapshots you save. This content is used only to provide the features you ask for: importing a bank, converting a voice, sending a patch to the instrument, reading one back, or capturing and restoring a snapshot.
This content stays on your device and on your volca FM2 unless you choose to export or share it somewhere else yourself.
On-Device Processing
Patch parsing, format conversion, de-duplication, sound preview through the built-in synth engine, and every SysEx transfer to and from the volca FM2 happen on your device. There is no cloud processing step, and no part of a transfer is routed through us.
We do not use telemetry, behavioral analytics, crash reporting SDKs, advertising SDKs, or advertising identifiers. We do not know which patches you load, which slots you use, or that you opened the app at all.
Device Permissions
Rithmatic asks for device permissions only when a feature needs them:
- Files and storage — to read the patch files you point it at, such as
.syxand.sysfiles and.ziparchives of them, from your Downloads folder or a folder you choose, and to save your library, snapshots, and exports where you choose. It reads only what you point it at. - MIDI device access — to find and talk to your volca FM2 over a USB-MIDI connection. This is used to send and receive patches and sequence data and nothing else.
The app does not use the microphone, the camera, or your location, and requests no permission for them. It plays audio so you can audition patches, but it never records anything.
You can change these permissions in your device settings at any time.
Network Connections
Rithmatic works offline. The library, the built-in synth, the Patch Builder, and every SysEx transfer to and from your instrument all run with no network at all. It does not check for updates, does not phone home, and embeds no analytics or tracking.
There are only two times the app reaches beyond your device, and only because you asked it to: making an optional tip (handled by the App Store or Google Play via RevenueCat, as described under Purchases), and opening an external link — the support email, our website, a store review page — which opens in your own browser, after which that destination’s privacy policy applies.
Third-Party Services
Rithmatic embeds no analytics, advertising, or tracking SDKs. The on-device sound engine is built from open-source software that runs locally and sends nothing anywhere; its licences are credited in the app. The only third-party service the app talks to is RevenueCat, and only to process an optional tip — see Purchases.
Purchases
Rithmatic is free. It includes an optional “tip jar” in the Support tab — a few one-time in-app purchases you can make if you’d like to support development. Tips are entirely optional and unlock nothing; every feature works without them. The app has no subscriptions and no ads.
When you leave a tip, the purchase is handled by the App Store or Google Play and by RevenueCat, which we use to deliver and restore purchases. Those services receive the transaction and an anonymous, app-generated identifier so the purchase can be completed and restored; they do not receive your name, and your card is handled by the store, never by us. We never see your payment details. See RevenueCat’s privacy policy at revenuecat.com/privacy.
How We Use Information
Because the app sends us nothing, there is very little to use. We use information to:
- Run the app features you request, on your device.
- Respond to you if you contact us for support, using only what you choose to include in that message.
- Comply with applicable law and app-store requirements.
Sharing
We do not sell your personal information, and we have no user data to sell. We may share limited information with providers that help operate the app and this site, such as app stores and hosting providers. We may also disclose information if required by law or to protect the app, its users, or the public.
Retention
Your patch library, tags, collections, history, and snapshots remain on your device until you delete them, clear app data, or uninstall the app. Patches you send to the volca FM2 remain on the instrument until you overwrite or delete them from the device. If you email us for support, we keep that correspondence for as long as needed to answer it.
Your Choices
You can delete any patch, collection, tag, or snapshot at any time, delete local files, uninstall the app, and choose never to export or share anything. Privacy questions can go to [email protected].
Children
Rithmatic is a music-production utility for owners of a specific piece of hardware. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
Changes
We may update this policy as the app changes. The effective date above reflects the latest version posted on this page.