Legal
Privacy Policy
The short version. Your audio is sent to a speech-to-text service only to be converted to text, then discarded. It is never stored by us and never used to train models. The transcript is sent to a formatting service only to clean up punctuation, filler words, and style; it is not kept on our servers unless you turn on the AI-training contribution described in section 5 (off by default). Context Awareness can send bounded nearby text hints from the active field after you have seen its disclosure; it does not use screenshots, screen recording, or OCR. Your settings and dictation history live on your own machine. Accounts include content-free usage metering (daily word, audio-second, and request totals) to enforce plan limits. Usage diagnostics are content-free, opt-in, and off by default. The small set of specialist services we manage to make this work is described below.
1. Who we are
TalkQuill ("TalkQuill," "we," "us") makes a system-wide dictation app for Windows. This policy explains what data we process when you use the app and our website, why, and the controls you have. If you have questions, contact us at privacy@talkquill.app.
2. What we collect
Voice audio (transient)
When you trigger dictation, the audio you record is captured locally and sent to a speech-to-text provider to be converted to text. We do not retain this audio. It is processed for transcription and then discarded. It is never stored on our servers and never used to train any model.
If a dictation cannot reach the service (for example, you are offline or the connection drops mid-sentence), the audio is kept only on your device, in a local recovery folder, until it can be transcribed; it is deleted the moment transcription succeeds, and you can discard it manually at any time from History. It never goes anywhere except the same speech-to-text flow described above. Turning on Privacy Mode keeps this recovery buffer in memory only, never on disk.
Transcribed and formatted text (transient)
The raw transcript is sent to a formatting provider to remove filler, fix punctuation, and apply per-app styling. The cleaned text is returned to your machine and pasted into your active app. Unless you enable the AI-training opt-in described in section 5, we do not retain the content of your dictations on our servers.
Context Awareness hints (transient)
When Context Awareness is on and you have seen the in-app disclosure, TalkQuill may read bounded nearby text from the active field using Windows accessibility APIs. These hints can include nearby text before or after the cursor, selected text, the window title, and the focused field name. TalkQuill uses them only while you dictate to improve names, code identifiers, spelling, casing, and formatting. Password fields, blocked apps, and Privacy Mode skip expanded context. Context Awareness does not capture screenshots, record your screen, or run OCR.
Account & billing data
If you create a paid account, we process your email address and billing details (handled by our payment processor). We store your subscription status to provide the service.
Usage metering (accounts)
When you use TalkQuill with an account, we record daily usage totals (words transcribed, seconds of audio processed, and request counts) and per-request technical records (timing, status, and processing cost). We use these to enforce plan limits, such as the free tier's daily word cap, and to keep the service reliable. These records never include your audio or the text of your dictations.
Local data (stays on your device)
Your dictation history, custom dictionary, snippets, macros, and Voice Profile analytics are stored locally on your machine. We do not have access to them. Turning on Privacy Mode keeps dictation history off-disk entirely.
Diagnostics & telemetry (opt-in, off by default)
Content-free usage diagnostics (crash reports, latency metrics, feature counts, app version, and word-count aggregates) are off by default. They are only collected if you explicitly opt in, and never include the content of your dictations, voice audio, vocabulary, snippets, or the app you were typing into.
3. Service providers
TalkQuill is a managed service: we run the pipeline, we hold the keys, and your data moves only where it must to come back to you as text. To deliver that, we use a small number of vetted, specialist processors under contract:
- Speech-to-text processing. Receives your voice audio for the sole purpose of converting it to text. It may also receive your custom vocabulary and derived Context Awareness terms to bias recognition. Audio is discarded after transcription and never used to train models.
- AI text formatting. Receives the transcript for the sole purpose of cleaning and styling it. When Context Awareness is active, it may receive bounded nearby text hints so the returned text matches the active field. Content is not retained and never used for training.
- Payments. Our payment processor handles your billing details; we never see or store your full card number.
- Hosting & delivery. Runs our servers and website. All traffic is encrypted in transit.
Every processor is bound by confidentiality, no-retention, and no-training obligations for your dictation content, and none of them may use your data for anything beyond returning your text to you. Enterprise customers can request the current processor list under NDA as part of a Data Processing Agreement.
4. How we use data
- To transcribe your speech and return clean, formatted text.
- To provide, maintain, and secure your account and subscription.
- To improve reliability and performance, only via opt-in, content-free usage diagnostics.
- To enforce plan limits and prevent abuse, using content-free usage totals.
We do not sell your personal data. We do not use your dictation content for advertising. We do not train models on your content unless you affirmatively opt in (see section 5).
5. AI-training opt-in
TalkQuill ships with the AI-improvement opt-in disabled. We do not train on your content unless you affirmatively enable this setting, which you can turn back off at any time.
If you enable it, each successful dictation contributes its raw transcript and final formatted text (never audio) to a corpus used to train TalkQuill's own formatting engine. Contributions are tagged with a random contribution ID generated on your device and, on accounts, associated with your account ID. Contribution pauses automatically while Privacy Mode is on and stops as soon as you turn the setting off. You can have everything you previously contributed deleted at any time by emailing privacy@talkquill.app.
6. Your controls & rights
- Export. Export your local dictation history and dictionary from the app at any time.
- Delete. Clear your local history with one action; deleting account data on our servers is available on request.
- Privacy Mode. Keep history off-disk entirely, on any plan including the free tier.
- Context Awareness. Turn nearby-text context off in Settings at any time. Privacy Mode pauses expanded context automatically.
- Training contributions. Turn the AI-training contribution off at any time; on request we delete everything you previously contributed.
- Access & correction. Subject to applicable law (including GDPR and CCPA), you may request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal data we hold. Email privacy@talkquill.app.
7. Security
Data in transit is encrypted with TLS, and access to production systems is limited to what operating the service requires. Local data is protected by your operating system's user account controls. Enterprise customers can discuss compliance requirements with us, including data-processing agreements, before onboarding.
8. Data retention
Voice audio is not retained beyond transcription. Dictation content is not retained on our servers unless you have enabled the AI-training opt-in; contributed text pairs are kept until you ask us to delete them. Content-free request diagnostics are retained for up to 90 days, processed billing-event identifiers for up to 180 days, and anonymous operational aggregates for up to 400 days. Usage metering, account, and billing records are kept for as long as your account is active and as required for legal and accounting obligations.
9. Children
TalkQuill is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age in your jurisdiction), and we do not knowingly collect their data.
10. Changes
We may update this policy. Material changes will be announced in-app and reflected in the "last updated" date above.
11. Contact
Privacy questions, data requests, or security reports: privacy@talkquill.app.