VoiceScribe Privacy Policy

Effective date: 2026-06-04 Last updated: 2026-06-04

This privacy policy explains how VoiceScribe (“VoiceScribe”, “the app”, “we”, “I” — VoiceScribe is published by Marcos Barbero, a solo independent developer) handles your information. VoiceScribe is an iOS application distributed via the Apple App Store.

The short version: VoiceScribe records and transcribes audio entirely on your device and has no servers. By default nothing leaves your phone. The one exception is optional iCloud Sync — off by default — which, when you turn it on, syncs your content to your own private iCloud (never to us). The long version follows.

1. Information collected

VoiceScribe does not collect, store, transmit, or share any personally identifiable information.

Specifically, VoiceScribe does not collect:

• Your name, email address, phone number, postal address, or Apple ID.
• Your location, GPS coordinates, or IP address.
• Your contacts, calendar entries, or messages.
• Your device identifier (IDFA / IDFV), advertising ID, or any cross-app identifier.
• Analytics on which buttons you tap, which features you use, or how long you spend in the app.
• Crash reports (VoiceScribe embeds no third-party crash-reporting SDK; Apple’s first-party crash reporting can be enabled or disabled by you in Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements).

Your recordings, their transcripts, any AI insights, and any tasks are your content. They are created and stored on your device and are not transmitted to the developer under any circumstances.

2. Access to your data

VoiceScribe asks for two iOS permissions, both only when you start recording:

• Microphone. To capture the audio you record. Audio is written to the app’s private storage on your device.
• Speech Recognition. To transcribe your recordings. Transcription runs on-device (SFSpeechRecognizer configured with requiresOnDeviceRecognition); the audio is not sent to Apple’s servers for transcription, and the app works in airplane mode.

Both permissions are revocable at any time via iOS Settings → VoiceScribe. The summaries, highlights, and action items (“Insights”) are generated on-device by Apple Intelligence (Foundation Models); entity tags (people, places, organizations) use Apple’s on-device natural-language framework. Neither requires a permission prompt and neither sends your content off the device.

Recording consent

Before a recording starts, VoiceScribe asks you to confirm that everyone present has been informed and consents to being recorded. Recording does not begin until you confirm, and the time you confirm is stored on-device alongside that recording as your own record (see §3). VoiceScribe neither verifies nor transmits this confirmation — it is a local affirmation to support your own compliance, and obtaining lawful consent where it is required remains your responsibility. It is not legal advice.

3. On-device storage

VoiceScribe stores the following on your device:

• Recordings, transcripts, and insights, in the app’s local database and sandbox (SwiftData + the app container). They remain until you delete the memo or uninstall the app. Deleting a recording removes its audio as well.
• Tasks, extracted on-device from your insights’ action items (plus any you add yourself), in the same local database and linked to their recording.
• A recording-consent confirmation timestamp for each recording (see §2), stored alongside it.
• Your settings (such as the iCloud Sync on/off preference, the after-a-recording behaviour, and your export-format choice), in UserDefaults within the app’s private container.

VoiceScribe writes nothing outside its own sandbox, and — with iCloud Sync off (the default) — nothing it stores ever leaves your device.

4. Optional iCloud Sync

iCloud Sync is off by default. When you turn it on (Settings → iCloud Sync), your recordings, transcripts, insights, and tasks are synced across your own devices through your private iCloud account, using Apple’s iCloud / CloudKit private database.

• This data goes only to your own iCloud private database. It is not sent to any VoiceScribe server (there are none), is not accessible to the developer, and is not shared with anyone.
• There is no account to create — iCloud Sync uses the iCloud account already signed in on your device. VoiceScribe has no login, no sign-up, and no user accounts of any kind.
• You can turn it off at any time to return to local-only storage. Deleting a recording while sync is on removes it (and its audio) from your other devices too.

Apple’s handling of data in your iCloud account is governed by Apple’s Privacy Policy.

5. In-app subscriptions

VoiceScribe offers an optional Scribe Pass subscription (monthly or annual) through the Apple App Store. Subscriptions are handled entirely by Apple’s StoreKit infrastructure:

• The payment transaction is between you and Apple. VoiceScribe never sees your payment method, billing address, or Apple ID email.
• Your subscription status is resolved on-device by Apple’s StoreKit; VoiceScribe asks StoreKit “is the current user subscribed?” and StoreKit answers locally. VoiceScribe never queries a separate backend to verify your subscription.
• Restore Purchases calls Apple’s StoreKit; the request goes Apple ↔ Apple.

Subscription management (cancellation, refunds) is performed via your Apple ID, not via VoiceScribe.

6. Third-party SDKs

VoiceScribe embeds zero third-party SDKs. The app uses only Apple’s own frameworks — among them SwiftUI, AVFoundation, Speech, Foundation Models, Natural Language, SwiftData, CloudKit, and StoreKit — and the VoiceScribe source code itself.

There is no analytics SDK, no crash-reporting SDK, no advertising SDK, no attribution SDK, and no chat / support SDK.

7. Networking

VoiceScribe makes no network requests for its core function — recording, transcription, and insight generation all run on-device, and the app works in airplane mode. The only network activity associated with the app is:

• App Store / StoreKit requests, initiated by Apple’s StoreKit framework when you interact with the paywall or tap Restore Purchases.
• iCloud / CloudKit synchronisation, only if you have turned on iCloud Sync, between your device and your own private iCloud database.
• iOS’s automatic background activity (app-update checks, Apple’s anti-fraud receipt validation, etc.), which is invisible to VoiceScribe and managed entirely by the OS.

None of these send your content to the developer.

8. Children

VoiceScribe does not knowingly collect any information from anyone, including children. The app presents no age gate because there is no collection or processing to gate.

9. Changes to this policy

If VoiceScribe ever ships a feature that changes any claim in this document, this policy will be updated in advance of the feature shipping, and the Last updated date at the top of this page will change. Material changes will be communicated in the app’s App Store release notes.

10. Contact

Questions about this policy can be sent to marcos@marcosbarbero.com.

The canonical public URL of this policy is https://marcosbarbero.github.io/docs/voice-scribe/privacy-policy/ — the same URL registered in App Store Connect as VoiceScribe’s Privacy Policy URL.