Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 4, 2026

This policy covers the SpeakVeil apps for Mac and iPhone and the speakveil.ai website. SpeakVeil operates all three. Send privacy questions and requests to support@speakveil.ai.

The short version

Most privacy policies run long because the company collects a lot. SpeakVeil collects almost nothing. There is no account, no analytics, no telemetry and no advertising, and your recordings and text never reach us.

The apps keep your voice, your transcripts and your notes on your device. They leave it only when you share, back up or sync them yourself, as "What stays on your device" lists. We never receive them, so we can't see them or sell them.

The apps never train any model on what you say or type. We don't use your recordings, transcripts, dictations or notes to train or improve any model, ours or anyone else's, and we never receive them. The word pairs the app learns from your corrections are a plain list on your device. They change no model.

The apps connect to the internet for a short list of jobs: downloading model files from Hugging Face, and on Mac, checking a licence key with Polar and looking for app updates on speakveil.ai. iPhone purchases go through Apple. None of these requests contain your recordings, transcripts or dictations. The section "What the apps connect to" lists each one.

What stays on your device

Speech recognition and Smart Cleanup run on your device with on-device machine-learning frameworks that can use the CPU, the GPU and the Neural Engine. The apps send nothing off your device for processing. Your transcripts stay on the device, and so does any audio the apps keep. On Mac, that is your meeting recordings and, while "Keep voice recordings" is on (it starts on), the recording of each saved dictation. On iPhone, the app keeps no dictation audio and keeps meeting audio for 24 hours. The apps themselves send none of it to any server, ours or anyone else's. Your words can still leave the device in ways that you or your operating system control:

• You send them: a share, "Send to an app" or a web search. On Mac, the "AI apps (MCP)" setting also lets AI tools you connect read your meetings. "Sharing a transcript with another app" covers each one.
• Backups: your iPhone history and meetings are part of the iCloud or Finder backup of your device (see "Backups and how long things are kept"). On Mac, a backup you set up, such as Time Machine, copies the app's data with your other files.
• A folder you choose: on Mac, "Save dictations to a folder", off by default, writes each saved dictation as a Markdown note in a folder you pick. If you pick a folder in iCloud Drive or another sync service, the notes sync with it.
• Universal Clipboard: on Mac, text left on your clipboard can reach your other Apple devices through Universal Clipboard, which macOS runs.

The apps ask for microphone access so they can hear you while you dictate. On iPhone, the app keeps its audio session ready between dictations so dictation starts without delay; while the microphone is live, iOS shows the orange microphone indicator at the top of the screen. On Mac, dictation uses the microphone, and Meeting Notes can also record the sound your Mac plays (the other side of a call) after you allow system audio in macOS.

The Mac app also asks for the Accessibility permission and uses it for four things:

• Dictation: it puts the finished text where your cursor is, in whatever app you are in. Where it can, the app writes the text straight into the field through Accessibility. Other apps get the text by a paste through your clipboard: the app offers the text to that one paste, marks it so clipboard history tools that respect the mark skip it, and then puts your previous clipboard back. If the other app never takes the paste, or no window has focus, the text stays on your clipboard and a notice tells you. The "Keep a copy on the clipboard" setting in Settings, General, off by default, leaves each dictation on your clipboard after the paste. Clipboard managers can see whatever stays on your clipboard, and Universal Clipboard may share it with your other Apple devices.
• Voice Actions (on by default): when you hold its shortcut, it reads the text you have selected in any app, up to 10,000 characters, so it can rewrite that text on your device according to the instruction you speak. Some apps don't let the Mac read their selected text. For those, the app presses the other app's own Copy command, reads the copied text and puts your previous clipboard back. This takes a fraction of a second and never happens in a password field. If something else copies during that moment, the app leaves the newer copy in place. Clipboard history tools may record the copy. The app does not store the selection. It leaves your Mac only if you ask Voice Actions to search the web for it (see "Sharing a transcript with another app").
• Send to an app: it finds the other app's text box and pastes, after checking that the box is empty. It reads the box only to check that and keeps none of its content (see "Sharing a transcript with another app").
• Held modifier keys: if you set the dictation shortcut to a modifier key held alone, the app watches which modifier keys are down to notice the shortcut. It sees only which modifiers are down, not what you type. A shortcut that is a key combination doesn't need this.

On Mac, a snippet can contain {clipboard}. When you say that snippet's trigger, the app reads the plain text on your clipboard at that moment, up to 10,000 characters, and puts it in place of {clipboard}. It skips any item a password manager has marked as concealed or temporary. The app pastes the result, and while "Keep dictation history" is on, saves it in your history on your Mac like the rest of the dictation. The iPhone app never reads your clipboard.

You can revoke any of these permissions in your device settings at any time. The app then can't dictate, and it sends nothing either way.

Voice Actions on Mac has an experimental "Summarize & rewrite" switch, off by default. It uses Apple's on-device model, built into macOS, and opens no network connection.

What the apps connect to

The apps contain no general-purpose networking. These are the only connections they make:

• Model downloads (Mac and iPhone). The apps download speech-recognition models, the optional Smart Cleanup model and optional language packs from Hugging Face (huggingface.co and its download servers under hf.co). Downloads happen when you first use a feature that needs a model, or when you add a language. Each file is pinned to a fixed version. A download request carries no audio, transcripts, dictionary, snippets or meeting content. Like any web request, it tells Hugging Face your IP address and which file you asked for and when. Their privacy policy covers that. We see only the download counts Hugging Face shows for our own models, with nothing that identifies you.
• Licence check (Mac, only if you buy Pro). When you enter a licence key, the Mac app checks it with Polar's API (api.polar.sh), then once a day while the app runs. When you remove a key, the app tells Polar the key has left this Mac, and retries at each launch and every hour, for up to 30 days, until Polar answers. These requests carry only the key, our store's ID at Polar, a device label with no personal data (for example "Mac · 3f2a · 2026-10-19"), and the activation ID. They never carry your voice, your text, your usage counts or device identifiers. If your Mac can't reach Polar for more than 7 days, the app falls back to the free plan until it can.
• Update check (Mac). The Mac app looks for updates on speakveil.ai once a day and when you choose Check for Updates. You can turn the daily check off in Settings, General. The request carries the app's name and version and the version of the update library in its User-Agent, and no system profile. Like any web request, it reaches our release host with your IP address. Every update is signed, and nothing installs until you confirm it.
• Purchases (iPhone). iPhone subscriptions go through Apple's App Store. Apple's own system makes those requests; the app adds none of its own.

When you ask Voice Actions on Mac to search the web, your browser makes that request, not the app; "Sharing a transcript with another app" explains it.

The apps have no account system, no analytics SDK, no advertising SDK and no crash-reporting service.

Information we do not collect

• No account, no email address, no phone number. The apps collect no email address. If you buy the Mac app, Polar, our payment provider and merchant of record, records you as a customer of our store, so we can see the email address you gave at checkout and what you bought in Polar's dashboard. We use that only for receipts, licence keys, support and refund requests. To ask us to delete your purchase data, email support@speakveil.ai, or ask Polar directly. We delete it, except the records tax law requires us to keep. Polar's privacy policy covers its side.
• No analytics or usage statistics.
• No telemetry and no advertising identifiers.
• No location data.
• No screen capture and no access to your photos. On Mac, the app reads the text you have selected when you use Voice Actions, and it can read the text box of the app you choose to send a dictation to, to check that it is empty. It stores none of that content. (The iPhone keyboard's word suggestions use the system's standard word list, which can include names from your Contacts; see "The iPhone keyboard".)

Who we are and who handles data for us

SpeakVeil operates the apps and this website. The personal data we hold is small: the emails you send us, any iPhone crash reports Apple forwards to us (see "Crash reports"), and, if you buy on Mac, your customer record at Polar. We hold no recordings, transcripts or dictations. These companies handle data for us or for you:

• Polar sells the Mac app as merchant of record. It runs checkout, sends receipts and issues licence keys, and it keeps its own records under its privacy policy.
• Apple handles iPhone purchases under Apple's privacy policy.
• Hugging Face serves the model downloads and sees your IP address, as any download server does.
• Vercel hosts speakveil.ai. Its servers see your IP address, the time, the page or file you asked for and your browser's name and version, and they keep ordinary request logs under Vercel's privacy notice.
• Cloudflare runs the DNS for speakveil.ai, the lookup that points the name to the web host and the mail server. It also serves the Mac app's downloads and update files, so it sees your IP address, the time and the file you asked for. It does not carry the website's traffic. See its privacy policy.
• SiteGround receives and stores the email sent to addresses at speakveil.ai, so it holds the messages you send us. See its privacy policy.

The iPhone keyboard

SpeakVeil ships a custom keyboard for iPhone. It asks for "Full Access", and dictation from the keyboard needs Full Access on. The reason is practical: an iPhone keyboard extension can't record audio, so the SpeakVeil app itself owns the microphone and the speech model. The keyboard and the app talk through Apple's shared app-group container, which only this app's own processes can read. The keyboard inserts the finished text into the field you are typing in.

Like every keyboard on iOS, the keyboard can read the text of the field you are typing in, because that is how it inserts and edits text. For suggestions it uses the standard word list that iOS gives to keyboards; that list can include names from your Contacts, and the keyboard doesn't read your Contacts itself. The keyboard records no audio, doesn't read your clipboard and opens no network connection. You can turn Full Access off at any time in Settings. Normal typing keeps working, and dictation asks you to turn Full Access back on.

Meeting recording

Both apps can record and transcribe meetings. You must get consent from everyone you record, and you are responsible for following the recording laws where you are. The apps remind you: on iPhone, the line "Always ask for consent before recording others." sits on the Start card in Meetings; on Mac, it appears in the "Set up Meetings" card when a permission is missing. Meeting recordings and transcripts are stored on your device like everything else.

Sharing a transcript with another app

The apps hand nothing to another app or website unless you ask. You can share a transcript yourself. On iPhone, the share sheet in a meeting can send the transcript as plain text to any app you pick, including AI apps; it goes out only when you choose the app and press send there. On Mac, a setting called "AI apps (MCP)", off by default, lets the AI tools you connect on your Mac list, read and search your meeting notes and transcripts. It never gives them your dictations.

On Mac, each dictation on Home has a "Send to an app" button. When you click it, the app puts your dictation into the app you choose, for example an AI chat, a chat app or Mail. For most apps it pastes into the app's text box, and only when that box is focused and empty. Mail is different: the app opens a new email with your text as its body, with no paste and no Accessibility involved, and nothing is sent until you press Send in Mail yourself. If the app can't place the text, it puts the text on your clipboard instead, where clipboard managers can see it and Universal Clipboard may share it with your other Apple devices. Once you share something with another app, that app's own privacy policy applies to what you shared.

Voice Actions on Mac can also search the web, and it does so only when you ask. Say "search the web for" and a few words, or select some text and say "Search the web for this". With text selected, you can also choose "Search the Web with SpeakVeil" from the Services menu, or "Search the web for selection" under Voice Actions in the SpeakVeil menu in the menu bar. The app then opens your browser on a search page with your words, or the selected text, in the web address. Your browser sends that address to the search engine, so the engine receives your query and your IP address under its own privacy policy. The app starts with a large public search engine selected. Settings, Shortcuts, "Search the web with" shows which one and lets you change it, or type your own search address. Search commands you add yourself work the same way, and link commands open the address you saved. In each case the app hands the address to your browser and opens no connection itself.

Optional calendar connection (Mac)

The Mac app can connect to the Calendar app to show your upcoming meetings. This stays off until you turn it on. When connected, it reads the calendars already on your Mac through Apple's EventKit framework: each event's title, start and end time, whether it is all day, the attendee count, whether you declined, whether the event was cancelled, and the event's notes, location and URL fields. It reads them on the Mac, opens no network connection, sends nothing to us or anyone else, and never writes to your calendar. Disconnecting in Settings stops the reading, but macOS keeps the permission; to remove it, turn SpeakVeil off under System Settings, Privacy & Security, Calendars.

Crash reports

The apps contain no crash-reporting code. If the iPhone app crashes, Apple may collect a crash report according to your device's settings ("Share with App Developers"). If you have turned that setting on, Apple may forward the report to us. Such a report contains technical diagnostics, not your dictated content. If the setting is off, we receive nothing.

Backups and how long things are kept

On iPhone, your dictation history and your meetings live in the app's Documents folder, so they are part of the iCloud or Finder backup of your device. Downloaded models are not part of those backups, because the app marks every model folder as excluded, the Smart Cleanup folder included. After a restore, the app downloads a model again when you use a feature that needs it. The app processes dictation audio as you speak and doesn't keep it; only meeting audio is stored, and the app deletes it after 24 hours. Meeting transcripts and speaker labels stay until you delete them. You choose how long dictations stay in history: the app keeps at most the 100 most recent, and the "Keep dictations" setting defaults to Forever and can be set to one month, one week or one day.

On Mac, the app deletes nothing on its own. Your history, recordings and meetings stay on your Mac until you delete them, or until you turn off "Keep dictation history" or the recordings switch in Settings, Privacy & data.

Off your device, two kinds of records exist. We delete support emails after 2 years. Purchase records stay as long as tax law requires: Polar, as merchant of record for Mac purchases, keeps them under its own policy, and Apple handles iPhone purchases under Apple's. Apart from the host logs described above and any crash reports Apple forwards to us, we keep no other records about you.

Your data: how to delete it

Everything the app keeps lives in the app's own storage on your device: dictation history, audio recordings, meeting transcripts, your dictionary and snippets, the word pairs the app learned from your corrections, a monthly count of the words you dictated and the meetings you recorded, and the downloaded models. You can delete any of it at any time.

The iPhone app also keeps a small event log in its own storage. It records state changes, errors and counts, such as how many words a saved meeting held, and never your words. The app deletes the log and starts a new one when it passes about 200 KB. The log stays on your iPhone, and deleting the app removes it.

• Mac: Settings, Privacy & data, "Delete everything" removes your dictation history, recordings and finished meetings in one step and can't be undone. It keeps your Dictionary, Snippets and Style; delete those in their own settings if you want them gone. "Delete everything" leaves two small files in the app's SpeakVeil folder: the monthly word and meeting counts, and the word pairs learned from your corrections. To remove those too, delete the SpeakVeil folder (see "Uninstalling"). Notes you exported as Markdown are ordinary files that you saved where you chose; delete them there. You can also delete single dictations from Home and single meetings from Meetings. On the Smart Cleanup settings page, "Remove data" deletes the Smart Cleanup model. On the Performance page, the speech engines can only be unloaded from memory; their files stay until you delete them (see "Uninstalling").
• iPhone: Settings, "Clear history" deletes all saved dictations. You can delete meetings one by one in the Meetings tab. You can remove the Smart Cleanup model data in Settings, and language packs on the Languages screen. Other downloaded models go when you delete the app.
• Uninstalling: on iPhone, deleting the app removes all of its data. The Mac app is not sandboxed, so deleting it does not remove its data. Before you delete the app, use Settings, Privacy & data, "Delete everything". To remove what is left, delete these three folders: the app's own data in ~/Library/Application Support/SpeakVeil/ (your dictations, recordings, meetings, the Smart Cleanup model, the monthly usage counts and the learned correction pairs), the speech models in ~/Library/Application Support/FluidAudio/Models/, and the Farsi pack in ~/Library/Application Support/OpenWisper/Models/. Your Dictionary, Snippets and Style live in one more file, ~/Library/Preferences/com.speakveil.SpeakVeil.plist; delete it too if you want those gone. A Mac licence key is kept in your Keychain; "Remove key from this Mac" in Settings deletes it.

This website

speakveil.ai sets no cookies and loads no third-party scripts, analytics or advertising code. Its fonts, scripts, images and films all come from speakveil.ai. It saves your light or dark choice in your browser's local storage; that value stays in your browser and never reaches us. Our web host keeps ordinary request logs, described above.

We don't track you, so we treat every visitor the same whether or not their browser sends a Do Not Track signal.

Children

SpeakVeil is not directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from children. If you think a child has sent us something, write to support@speakveil.ai and we will delete it.

Security

The apps keep your recordings and text on your device and never send them to us. "What stays on your device" covers backups and folders you choose. On iPhone, iOS encrypts the app's files when your iPhone has a passcode. On Mac, FileVault encrypts them if you have turned it on. The Mac licence key sits in your Keychain. The apps reach Hugging Face over HTTPS, the Mac app also reaches Polar and speakveil.ai over HTTPS, and Mac updates are signed. We hold no recordings or transcripts, so there is nothing of that kind on our side to breach. If a breach affected personal data we hold, we will tell you as the law requires.

Your rights and complaints

You can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, ask us to delete it, and object to how we use it. Write to support@speakveil.ai, and we will answer within 30 days. We delete what you ask, except the records tax law requires us to keep. Requests reach your emails to us and, if you bought on Mac, your customer record in Polar. Your recordings, transcripts and notes live on your device, and "Your data: how to delete it" shows how to remove them.

Where you live may give you more rights, for example in the EU, the UK or California. You have the right to complain to your data protection authority. We don't sell your personal information and we don't share it for advertising.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page with a new date. The apps collect almost nothing, so a change that matters to you will be rare.

Contact

Privacy questions and requests, and help with the apps: support@speakveil.ai.

Email you send to support@speakveil.ai reaches our mailbox. We use it only to answer you, and we delete it after 2 years.