Privacy
Does voice typing send your voice to the cloud?
Usually, yes. Most dictation apps stream your microphone audio to a server, because that is where their speech model lives — without the round trip there is no transcript. On-device dictation inverts that: the model sits on your computer, so the audio has nowhere to travel. VaakApp works the second way.
That distinction is worth more than any privacy policy, because it isn't a promise about behaviour — it's a fact about architecture. A policy can be amended, acquired, or breached. A copy of your audio that was never made cannot be.
Two architectures
Where the model lives decides everything else
Cloud transcription
- Your microphone is captured
- The audio is uploaded to the vendor's servers
- Their model transcribes it
- The text is sent back to your app
Consequences that follow automatically: it needs a working connection, the vendor holds a copy of your speech at least momentarily, retention and training policy is theirs to set, and the service can be metered, priced per seat, or discontinued.
On-device transcription
- Your microphone is captured
- The model on your own CPU transcribes it
- The text is typed where your cursor is
Consequences that follow automatically: it works with the network unplugged, there is no server-side copy to retain or train on, nothing is metered because nothing costs the vendor per word, and it keeps working if the company disappears.
Read the fine print
"Offline" is used to mean two different things
Worth knowing before you compare any two dictation tools, including this one.
Offline capture
The app can record with no connection, then uploads the audio and transcribes it once you're back online. Useful on a plane. But your speech still reaches someone else's servers — the upload is deferred, not avoided.
Offline transcription
The recognition itself runs on your machine, so there is no upload to defer. This is what VaakApp does: the model is inside the app, and it works identically whether or not you have a connection — permanently, not just until a sync window opens.
The distinction also decides what a privacy mode can actually promise. If processing happens on a server, the strongest available guarantee is about retention — how long your words are kept, and by whom. Only on-device processing changes the answer to where they went, which is the question this page is about.
Full disclosure
Everything VaakApp can send, and when
"We never touch the internet" would be a lie, so here is the honest version: three things can reach the network, you start all three, and none of them carries your voice. Dictation itself makes no network calls at all.
Activating your licence
WhenOnce, when you enter your key, then roughly every 60 days to re-validate.
SendsThe licence key, a device identifier, and your computer's name as a label so you can tell your own devices apart. The identifier is a random one-time UUID stored on your disk — not a hardware fingerprint. Nothing reads your MAC address, disk serial, or motherboard ID.
Checking for an update
WhenWhen you press the check button. The check-at-launch option exists and is off by default.
SendsNothing about you. It fetches a small version file and compares it to the version you're running, then tells you. It does not download or install anything — updates are notify-only.
Downloading a different speech model
WhenOnly if you choose one from the model list. Never automatically, never in the background.
SendsNothing about you. The file is fetched from a pinned, allow-listed host and its checksum is verified before it's used.
And what never leaves, under any circumstances:
- The audio from your microphone
- The transcript of anything you dictate
- Your dictation history
- Your personal Dictionary and Snippets
- Your VaakPad notes
- Your usage stats, if you turn them on
There is no telemetry, no analytics, no crash reporter, and no account system to attach any of it to. The app has no code that uploads audio, which is a stronger guarantee than a setting that turns it off.
The short version
- Your voice never leaves your device.
- Speech-to-text runs 100% on-device — no cloud transcription, ever.
- No account, no telemetry, no analytics, no tracking.
- Works fully offline, forever. The only network calls are ones you start (an optional model download or a license/update check).
The same standard applies to this website: vaakapp.com sets no tracking cookies, loads no advertising pixels, and self-hosts its fonts so that reading about VaakApp doesn't report you to a third party either. The full detail is in the privacy policy, and if you find something that contradicts any of this, tell us at support@vaakapp.com and we'll fix the product or the wording.
Nothing leaves. There is nothing to take.
FAQ
Privacy questions, answered
Does voice typing send my voice to the cloud?
With most dictation services, yes — your microphone audio is streamed to their servers to be transcribed, because that is where the model lives. With VaakApp, no: the model lives on your machine, so the audio has nowhere to go. That's an architectural difference, not a policy one.
Is cloud dictation unsafe?
Not necessarily — a reputable cloud service encrypts your audio in transit and may hold serious security certifications. The point is narrower: with a cloud service your privacy rests on their policy and configuration. With on-device transcription it rests on the fact that no copy exists to leak, subpoena or repurpose.
Could my dictation be used to train an AI model?
Not with VaakApp — there is no upload, so there is nothing to train on. With cloud dictation tools, whether your speech is used for model improvement depends on that vendor's default settings and opt-outs, which is worth reading before you dictate anything sensitive.
Does VaakApp make any network calls at all?
Out of the box, none. Three things can reach the network, and all three are started by you and never involve your voice: activating your licence, checking whether a newer version exists, and optionally downloading a different speech model (fetched from a pinned host and verified by checksum).
Do you use analytics or tracking cookies?
No — not in the app, and not on this website. There is no telemetry, no analytics that identify you, and no tracking cookies. A product that sells privacy shouldn't surveil the people reading about it.