OnTheRecordOnTheRecord — Privacy Policy
OnTheRecord is published by Awesomeosity LLC.
The short version
Awesomeosity LLC collects nothing. There is no account, no sign-up, no email address, no analytics, and no tracking of any kind, and the app never sends anything to a server we operate, because there is no such server.
Out of the box, everything OnTheRecord does happens on your device: recordings are transcribed on the device, summaries are written by Apple's on-device model, speakers are identified on the device, and search runs on the device.
The app only sends your content over the network if you choose to connect it to an AI service in Settings — Ollama, OpenRouter, Anthropic, or OpenAI — using a server or API key of your own. When you do, the request goes straight from your device to the service you chose. It does not pass through Awesomeosity LLC, and we never see it.
What stays on your device
Your recordings. Audio is saved in the app's private storage on your device. It is not uploaded by the app and is not part of iCloud sync. Like the rest of the app's local data, it may be included in your device's own backup. Deleting a recording or the app deletes the audio.
Transcripts, summaries, tags, speaker names, chats, and export templates are stored on your device. If you have iCloud enabled, they also sync to your own private iCloud database, which is tied to your Apple Account. Awesomeosity LLC has no ability to read, export, or recover that data. If iCloud is off or unavailable, they stay on the one device.
The search index — numeric representations of short passages of your transcripts, used to find recordings by meaning — is computed on your device by Apple's on-device language model.
Your settings. Your chosen provider, model, and server address are stored on your device only.
Your API keys. Any API key you enter is stored in your device's Keychain. It is not synced through iCloud Keychain, and it is only ever sent to the service it belongs to, as the credential on your own requests. Each service's key is kept separately, so a key for one service is never sent to another.
Microphone and transcription
Microphone access is used only while you are recording. Declining it means the app cannot record.
Transcription always runs on your device, using Apple's speech recognition. The first time you record, iOS may download a speech model for your language from Apple; none of your audio is sent in the process.
Speaker identification runs on your device. The first time you use it, the app downloads its speaker models from Hugging Face, a public model host. That download contains nothing about you or your recordings; your audio never leaves the device.
Apple Watch
When you record on Apple Watch, the audio is transferred directly from your watch to your paired iPhone using Apple's watch connection, and transcribed there.
Asking AI about your recordings
You choose who answers your questions, and who writes summaries and documents, in Settings.
Apple Intelligence (the default) runs entirely on your device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Ollama, OpenRouter, Anthropic, and OpenAI are optional, and only used if you select one and supply your own server address or API key. When you ask a question, generate a document from a template, or turn on "Summarize with AI provider", the app sends that service the text it needs to answer: the relevant transcript or transcript excerpts, the recording's title, date, tags, and speaker names, your question, and the earlier messages in that chat. Audio is never sent — only text.
- Ollama requests go to the server address you entered, which is typically a server you run yourself.
- OpenRouter, Anthropic, and OpenAI requests go to that company's API, with your API key.
Testing a connection, or loading a model list, in Settings asks the service for its list of models, sending only your API key.
Services you connect
Ollama servers, OpenRouter, Anthropic, and OpenAI are independent of Awesomeosity LLC. Requests to them are made under your account and your API key, and what they do with that data is governed by your agreement with them and their own privacy policies — not by this one. Please read theirs before connecting one. If you point the app at a server you run yourself, the data goes only to that server.
Awesomeosity LLC has no account with these services on your behalf, does not receive copies of your requests, and cannot see, retrieve, or delete anything you have sent to them.
Recording other people
OnTheRecord records whatever your microphone hears. Laws about recording conversations vary by place, and some require everyone's consent. You are responsible for telling people when you are recording them and for following the law where you are.
Sharing and exporting
You can export a recording's transcript or a generated document as Markdown, PDF, or Word, through the standard iOS share sheet. The files are created on your device for that purpose. Where they go after that is your choice; the app sends nothing anywhere on its own.
What leaves your device
Nothing, unless you choose otherwise. The only things that ever leave are:
- your own iCloud sync, described above, which goes directly between your device and your Apple Account;
- the one-time speaker-model download described above, which carries none of your data; and
- requests to the AI services you connect yourself, described above, which go directly between your device and that service.
OnTheRecord contains no analytics, no crash reporting, no advertising, and no tracking identifiers.
Purchases
OnTheRecord Pro is sold through Apple's In-App Purchase system, as a monthly or yearly subscription with a seven-day free trial, or as a one-time lifetime purchase. Apple handles the entire transaction. Awesomeosity LLC never receives or has access to your payment details. Apple provides us with aggregate, anonymised sales reporting — totals and territories, never individuals. Subscriptions are managed in your Apple Account settings.
Children
OnTheRecord is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone — including children.
Your rights
Because OnTheRecord holds no data about you on any system we control, there is nothing for us to disclose, correct, export, or delete on request. Your recordings are yours, on your device and in your own iCloud, and you can remove them at any time by deleting them in the app, or by deleting the app and clearing its iCloud data from your Apple Account settings. For anything you have sent to a service you connected, contact that service directly.
Changes
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted here with a new date. Material changes will also be noted in the app's release notes.
Contact
Questions about this policy: privacy@awesomeosity.com
Awesomeosity LLC