Privacy and Data
Understand local storage and what transcription, enhancement, and Auto Learn send to providers.
Transcription and enhancement can use local or cloud processing, depending on your settings. Dictionary Auto Learn defaults to local rules, with optional AI review.
Processing
| Feature | Data used |
|---|---|
| Local transcription | Audio processed on your Mac after model or language assets are ready. |
| Cloud transcription | Audio sent to your selected transcription provider. |
| AI enhancement | Transcription text, Vocabulary, and any enabled context sent to the selected enhancement provider. |
| VoiceInk Refine | Dictation text cleaned locally with a fixed task; no custom context or prompt. |
| Dictionary Auto Learn | Edited text fields read through Accessibility. Local Auto-Learn uses on-device rules; AI review sends only the original and corrected words or short phrases to the selected provider. |
| Local CLI | Prompt passed to a local command; that command may contact a cloud service. |
For an on-device workflow, select local transcription and use no enhancement or a compatible local enhancement option. Keep Auto Learn set to Local Auto-Learn. A locally launched CLI is not necessarily an offline model.
Context
At live recording start, VoiceInk prepares an in-memory context snapshot, including clipboard and selected text and, when permission allows, text extracted from the active window. Mode switches decide which sources are included in enhancement requests; turning a source off prevents sending that source, rather than disabling every local snapshot read.
Screen text is extracted locally with OCR. The screenshot itself is not sent as the enhancement context payload. Plain dictation without enhancement does not send this context to an enhancement provider. See Context Awareness.
Local History
Transcripts, enhanced results, saved audio, and available AI request metadata are stored locally. Request metadata can include context sent to the provider. Assistant turns are also saved in History; closing an Assistant session does not delete its records.
Use History Settings for transcript or audio retention. Deletion removes records from the app and saved audio, but is not a guarantee of forensic erasure from SQLite, backups, or the filesystem.
Dashboard keeps separate text-free session metrics. Provider API keys are stored in macOS Keychain. Settings backups exclude those keys; see Backup and Restore.
Auto Learn Data
Auto Learn stores short before/after correction snippets and dismissed suggestions on your Mac. With AI review enabled, Automatic sends detected correction pairs in the background; Manual sends them when you click Review or Retry. This suggestion history is not included in Dictionary exports or Settings backups. Your saved Vocabulary and Word Replacements can be exported separately. See Dictionary Auto Learn.
Cloud Services and Support
Selected cloud services apply their own data and retention policies. Local transcription does not prevent cloud enhancement requests when enhancement uses a cloud provider. Auto Learn also sends correction pairs when AI review uses a cloud provider.
Review exported diagnostics and any support message before sharing. This website's Ask AI answers documentation questions separately from the Mac app's Assistant. Its conversation stays in the current page session; emailing it is a separate action you choose.