Last updated: October 13, 2026

TalkType is built on a simple foundation: software should serve humans, not harvest them. No accounts, no ads, no profiles, and nothing sold. TalkType never stores or logs a voice recording or a transcript in a form anyone but its owner can read.

TalkType comes in two forms that handle data differently: the Mac app, and the web app at talktype.app. Both are described below.

1. TalkType for Mac

• On-device by default: The Mac app uses Apple's on-device speech recognition. Audio is turned into text on the Mac and never leaves it.
• No analytics or ads: The Mac app contains no analytics trackers, telemetry beacons, crash loggers, or advertising SDKs.
• Local history: History is saved in private app storage on the Mac. TalkType never uploads it, and it can be wiped at any time with a single click.
• Optional own-key services: With a personal Deepgram key, audio streams directly to Deepgram (Nova-3) over an encrypted connection, and TalkType sets mip_opt_out=true on every connection so that audio is never used to train models. With a personal Gemini key, text chosen for polishing goes directly to Google's Gemini API.
• Keychain storage: Personal API keys live only in the local macOS Keychain, protected by the Mac's hardware encryption and login.
• Permissions: The microphone is used only during a dictation that was started on purpose. Speech Recognition is used only for Apple's transcription. Accessibility (direct download only) is used solely to paste text into the active app; the Mac App Store edition is sandboxed and clipboard-only.

2. TalkType on the web (talktype.app)

• Live transcription: By default, audio streams from the browser straight to Deepgram over an encrypted connection, using a short-lived token from TalkType's server. That stream never passes through TalkType's server.
• Recordings and styles: When Live Mode is off, when the live stream doesn't come back complete, the finished recording passes through TalkType's server to Deepgram for transcription. Styles and takeaway summaries send the transcript's text to Google's Gemini API.
• Transcription requests: TalkType does not keep a server copy of transcription requests. Passport backups are stored separately, encrypted as described below.
• Offline Mode: Speech recognition runs entirely in the browser. The model downloads once from Hugging Face. Audio is not sent to a speech service. If Passport is active, encrypted backups still sync when you are online.
• Local history: History is saved in the browser's own storage on the device. Clearing it in TalkType, or clearing the site's data, removes it.
• Optional own Deepgram key: A key added in Options stays in the browser's local storage and is used by the browser to reach Deepgram directly.
• Device Sync (Passport): Linked devices share recent text through a relay hosted on Cloudflare. Everything is encrypted on the device first (AES-256-GCM) with a key made from the sync phrase and pass code, which never leave the devices. The relay passes the encrypted data along and keeps the latest encrypted copy for up to 7 days of inactivity, so a newly linked device can catch up. Neither TalkType nor Cloudflare can read the encrypted note content from the stored payload alone.
• Passport backups and recordings: A personal Passport automatically backs up saved notes and recordings, encrypted in the browser using the Passport code, to vault.talktype.app on the maker’s server. Keep your Passport code private. Full history is merged across devices; recordings download when you play or export them. Deleting a note propagates to linked devices and removes its referenced backup audio. Clearing browser data alone does not delete the remote backup. Keep exports for an independent archive.
• Visit counting: talktype.app counts visits with fleetcount, a small counter run by TalkType's maker. Each visit sends the site name, the browser's timezone and the referring website, plus a rough time-on-site bucket. No cookies, no IP addresses stored, no per-person record: only running totals.
• Payments: TalkType Passport purchases are paid through Square, and TalkType never sees card details. If the pass code is emailed, it goes out through Resend. TalkType keeps a hashed copy of the code and the payment reference, not the email address.

3. Services involved

Depending on the features used: Deepgram (transcription), Google Gemini (styles and summaries), Cloudflare (Device Sync relay), Hugging Face (Offline Mode model download), Square (payments), Resend (pass code email), and Netlify (hosting). Each handles data under its own policy.