Pipit Voice Privacy Policy

Effective October 10, 2026. Updated October 11, 2026.

Pipit Voice for Mac is made by Pranav Kanchi (“we”, “us”). This policy explains what happens to your information when you use Pipit Voice, the Mac App Store edition of Pipit.

In short: your voice and your transcripts stay on your Mac. We don’t run a server for Pipit, and the app doesn’t send us any data. Optional AI cleanup can run on your Mac with Apple Intelligence. Text leaves your Mac only if you choose a network AI provider instead and agree to send it there.

What stays on your Mac

Pipit records audio only after you start dictation. It shows an on-screen indicator while it is listening. It also transcribes audio or video files that you pick yourself.

Speech recognition runs on your Mac. Pipit never uploads your audio.

Pipit keeps the following in its own storage on your Mac:

• transcripts and history: the text, the original transcription, the date, the length, and whether AI cleanup was used
• dictionary entries and replacements
• settings
• downloaded voice models
• copies of the files you import, so you can play them back

When you dictate, Pipit checks the name of the app you’re using to pick a writing style. That app name stays on your Mac. Pipit doesn’t read the contents of other apps or your screen.

Your finished transcript is copied to the clipboard so you can paste it. Pipit doesn’t read what was on your clipboard before, and it doesn’t keep a clipboard history.

Permissions

Microphone: needed for dictation. Pipit Voice asks before using it. File transcription works without it.

Input Monitoring: needed for hold-to-talk, where you hold one key (Right Option by default) while you speak. Pipit Voice asks for it during setup, after explaining why. It uses it only to notice when modifier keys such as Option are pressed and released. It only listens. It doesn’t record, store or send what you type, and it doesn’t block any keys. If you’d rather not allow it, choose Control-Option-Space instead, which doesn’t need this permission.

You can turn off either permission at any time in System Settings > Privacy & Security.

Voice model downloads

When you choose to download a voice model, Pipit gets the model data from Hugging Face (huggingface.co). The models are NVIDIA Parakeet, converted for Mac by FluidInference. As with any download, Hugging Face receives your IP address and standard request details, such as the time and which files were requested. Hugging Face’s own privacy policy applies to that request. No audio or text is sent. Once a model is downloaded, transcription works offline. You can delete downloaded models from Home.

Optional AI cleanup and summaries

AI cleanup is off by default. When you turn it on, you choose where it runs: on this Mac with Apple Intelligence, or with a network provider you choose.

On this Mac (Apple Intelligence)

On macOS 26 or later, on a Mac where Apple Intelligence is available and turned on, Pipit uses Apple’s on-device model to clean up dictations and to summarize transcribed files when you ask. This is the default choice where it’s available. The transcript and your instructions (the built-in cleanup instructions, your writing style and any custom instructions) are processed on your Mac. Pipit doesn’t send them to us or to any third party, and it doesn’t need a key or an account. Apple Intelligence is a macOS feature that you turn on in System Settings, and Apple’s own terms and privacy policy for Apple Intelligence apply to it.

On-device cleanup has a size limit. If a dictation is too long, Pipit keeps your local transcript and tells you.

With a network provider

You can instead use your own account with OpenRouter, or a custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint, which can be a local server such as Ollama running on your Mac. The rest of this section applies only to these providers.

Before any text is sent, Pipit shows you the provider and its web address and asks for your permission. If you change the provider or the address, Pipit asks again.

When AI cleanup uses one of these providers, Pipit sends it:

• the transcript text
• the instructions you chose: the built-in cleanup instructions, your writing style (for example “Email, Formal”), and any custom instructions you wrote
• your API key, used only to sign in to that provider

For transcribed files, Pipit sends the transcript for a summary only when you ask for one, with the same permission. Requests to OpenRouter also identify the app as “Pipit”.

Pipit does not send your audio, dictionary, history, other transcripts, clipboard contents, screen contents or app names.

The provider handles your text under its own terms and privacy policy. It may store the text, and OpenRouter may pass it to the companies that run the underlying models. Your provider may charge you for use. We never receive this text.

If you choose to check an OpenRouter key, Pipit first asks you to confirm. It then sends the word “hi” and your key to OpenRouter. If your key can't use the first test model, Pipit may send one more “hi” with a second model. These tiny requests may use paid credits. No transcript, clipboard contents or custom instructions are sent.

You can turn off AI cleanup or withdraw your permission in Enhance at any time. Canceling stops a request in progress, but it can’t recall text a provider has already received.

API keys are stored in the Keychain on this Mac and are not synced. You can remove a key in Enhance. Keys can stay in the Keychain after you delete Pipit, so remove them first if you want them gone.

No accounts, tracking or analytics

Pipit has no sign-in or accounts. It has no analytics, advertising, tracking or third-party crash reporting. There is no cloud sync and no Pipit server. We don’t sell or share your information. Updates come only through the Mac App Store.

If you choose to share analytics with app developers in your Mac settings, Apple may give us anonymous, combined crash and usage statistics. Apple’s privacy policy covers that.

Feedback

Help > Send Feedback opens a new email to support@pipitvoice.com in your mail app. Nothing is sent unless you send it. If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you write, and we use it only to reply. Ask us at any time to delete your messages.

Keeping and deleting your data

Pipit keeps your data on your Mac until you delete it. In the app you can delete transcripts one by one or clear your history, delete dictionary entries, remove imported files, delete voice models and remove API keys. Removing a file transcript removes Pipit’s copy of that file; your original file is not changed. Files you export stay wherever you saved them.

To remove everything, quit Pipit Voice, delete the app, and delete the folder ~/Library/Containers/com.pipitvoice.PipitMAS.

Children

Pipit Voice is not directed at children under 13. The app does not collect personal information from anyone, including children.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we’ll update it in the app and on our website and change the effective date above.

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