No founder photos, no "About us" with bios, no personal names in the credits. The team behind Pulse goes by "the Pulse team" because the code is the credit.
Apache 2.0 licensed
Every line of Pulse — the desktop app, the Android app, this website, the build scripts — is Apache 2.0. You can fork, audit, and ship a competing product. The license is the contract.
No telemetry, no tracking
No analytics SDK, no error reporter, no "phone home" endpoint. The only network call Pulse makes is the optional update-checker manifest poll, and you can disable it in settings.
Hosted on your device
Notes live in a local SQLite database on your device. Chats are processed by a local model. PRO only validates your license key against our server — your content never leaves the device.
FAQ
The questions we get most often.
Can I switch plans or cancel any time?
Yes. Upgrade, downgrade, or cancel from your account at any time. Monthly cancels at the end of the current billing period. Annual refunds are pro-rated within the first 14 days. The license key just stops working when the subscription ends — your data is never touched.
What happens to my notes and chats if I unsubscribe from PRO?
Pulse is local-first. Your notes stay in the local SQLite database and your chats stay in the local log files. Removing the PRO license key only hides the gated features (multi-model hot-swap, code intelligence, voice input, web search). You do not lose any data, and the free features keep working exactly as before.
Do you offer refunds?
Yes — 14-day money-back on any PRO purchase, no questions asked. Email the support address from your receipt and the refund goes through the same channel you paid with (Polar.sh handles the billing). After 14 days, annual plans can still be canceled but are not refunded for the unused months.
Is my data private?
Yes. Notes, chats, voice transcriptions, and code-intel caches never leave your device. The PRO license check sends only an opaque key to the Pulse license server, and that key is not tied to any content. Pulse does not run an analytics SDK, an error reporter, or a "phone home" endpoint. The Apache 2.0 source is on GitHub so you can audit the network calls yourself.
Can I use Pulse offline?
Yes. The desktop app, the local model (Ollama), the notes database, and the chat history all work without a network connection. PRO has a 14-day offline grace period: the app pings the license server once per day on cold start, and the license keeps validating locally for 14 days after the last successful ping. After that, gated features pause until the next online check.
Will Pulse stay open source?
Apache 2.0 is a copyleft-free permissive license. Once released under Apache 2.0, every version of Pulse stays under Apache 2.0. You can fork the code today, build a competing product, and charge for it. The official Pulse builds will stay open source too — that is the contract, and it does not depend on any one person or company keeping the promise.
How do I install Pulse?
Go to /download/ and pick your platform. Pulse for Windows is a 12 MB Tauri v2 side-panel installer (NSIS or MSI). Pulse for Android is a 1.29 MB APK. Both are signed binaries with SHA-256 checksums published on the download page. No account, no email, no activation server roundtrip for the Free tier.
Do you offer student or education discounts?
Not at launch. A 50% discount with a verified .edu email address is on the roadmap for PRO Monthly and PRO Annual, gated behind the same Polar.sh checkout. If you are a student who cannot wait, email the support address and we will work something out for the current term.
Try the Free tier first. Upgrade only if you actually need the extra features.