The Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight

We’ve heard some questions and concerns following our recent Terms of Service and Privacy Policy updates. We are thankful our community cares enough to engage with us and we believe transparency and open dialogue are foundational to Arduino.

Let us be absolutely clear: we have been open-source long before it was fashionable. We’re not going to change now. The Qualcomm acquisition doesn’t modify how user data is handled or how we apply our open-source principles. 

We periodically update our legal documents to reflect new features, evolving regulations, and best practices.

What remains the same

• Open Source and reverse-engineering. Any hardware, software or services (e.g. Arduino IDE, hardware schematics, tooling and libraries) released with Open Source licenses remain available as before. Restrictions on reverse-engineering apply specifically to our Software-as-a-Service cloud applications. Anything that was open, stays open.
• Ownership of your creations. The Terms of Service clarifies that the content you choose to publish on the Arduino platform remains yours, and can be used to enable features you’ve requested, such as cloud services and collaboration tools.
• Minors’ data and privacy. Our privacy disclosures have been strengthened, including enhanced protections for minors’ data. We’ve updated our data retention policies and age limits to provide age-appropriate services. We limit data retention for inactive users by automatically deactivating their accounts after 24 months of inactivity, in which case usernames would still be preserved in the Arduino Forum to address an explicit request from the Forum community to maintain attribution for user-generated content; where user requests account deletion, the username would be promptly removed and related posts would become anonymous.

Why we updated our terms: clarity and compliance

These latest changes are about clarity, compliance, and supporting the innovative environment you expect.

Here’s what the updates actually cover:

• Enhanced transparency around data practices: We’ve made our privacy disclosures more precise and more detailed, including what data we retain, to protect your privacy.
• New product capabilities and AI: As we introduce optional AI-powered features, such as those in the Arduino UNO Q and Arduino App Lab, we needed to update our terms to reflect these new capabilities and encourage their safe, responsible, and ethical use.
• More precise commercial terms: For users of our Premium Services, we’ve clarified billing mechanics, recurring payments, and refund rights to make purchasing and returns easier.
• Legal compliance: We’ve updated language to address US-specific privacy laws, export controls, and other regulatory requirements, while ensuring compliance with global standards.

Our 20-year commitment to open-source is unwavering

We are very proud of the Arduino community, and we would like to reaffirm our fundamental, non-negotiable commitment to the principles that founded Arduino.

Please read the full Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, to appreciate how they support the innovative, collaborative environment you’ve come to expect.

If you have specific questions or concerns, please consult our detailed Q&A in our FAQ section or reach out to us at privacy@arduino.cc.

We are Arduino. We are open. We’re not going anywhere.