VoicePrivate
Buy Now
Last updated 21 October 2026.
The short answer
Speech to text is only as private as the place your audio is processed. Cloud tools send audio to a server and their policy decides what happens next. On-device tools recognize speech on your own computer. VoicePrivate is on-device dictation for Mac and Windows: the audio you dictate is not uploaded for transcription.
Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán on Pexels
Three places your voice can go
1. The recognition step. Sound has to be turned into words. A cloud service does it on the provider's servers, so your audio travels over the internet. An on-device tool does it on your computer.
2. Storage. Some providers keep audio or transcripts for a period, to show history, to improve the service, or for review. Check whether a tool keeps recordings, for how long, and whether you can delete them.
3. The app you dictate into. Once text lands in an email, a document or an EHR, that app's storage and sync rules apply, whatever dictation tool produced it.
Questions to ask any speech to text tool
- Is my audio processed on my device or on your servers?
- Do you keep audio or transcripts, and for how long?
- Is my data used to train or improve your models, and can I opt out?
- Can people at your company or contractors listen to recordings?
- Does the tool work with the network off? If it does, recognition is happening locally.
The last question is the easiest to test yourself: turn off Wi-Fi and try to dictate. A tool that works offline is recognizing speech locally; a tool that fails needs a closer look.
Common tools at a glance
| Tool | Where recognition happens | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Mac dictation | On the Mac for many languages on recent Macs; Apple servers in some cases | System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation, About Dictation and Privacy |
| Windows voice typing (Win+H) | Microsoft's cloud (Azure Speech services); it needs an internet connection | Use Windows 11 voice access instead if you need Microsoft's on-device option |
| Word's Dictate button | Microsoft online speech services | Microsoft 365 privacy settings for connected experiences |
| Cloud dictation and meeting apps | The vendor's servers | The vendor's retention and training policy |
| VoicePrivate | On your Mac or Windows PC | Optional encrypted backup location; clipboard managers that ignore standard clipboard markers |
For a Mac-only, app-by-app breakdown, see Mac voice to text privacy. For accuracy and cost alongside privacy, see speech to text offline vs online. For named dictation apps, see the comparisons on dictation applications.
What on-device still does not cover
On-device recognition removes the biggest exposure, sending audio to a server, but it is not the whole picture. The text still goes wherever you paste it. A laptop that anyone can open is a risk whatever software runs on it. And clipboard tools can keep copies of pasted text. VoicePrivate pastes through the clipboard and restores what was there before. It marks dictated text so Windows clipboard history (Win+V) and cloud clipboard sync skip it, and on a Mac marks it as concealed, transient and for this device only, so Universal Clipboard and clipboard managers that follow those markers skip it. A third-party clipboard manager that ignores the markers could still record it, so check what is installed if that matters to you.
How VoicePrivate handles your voice
Press the hotkey, speak, press it again. VoicePrivate recognizes the speech on your computer and pastes the text at your cursor. Audio is not uploaded for transcription and there is no account to sign in to for dictation. The network is used for licence checks, speech engine downloads and updates, none of which carry your audio or text. Optional encrypted backups go to a folder you choose. More on the trade-offs is in on-device vs cloud transcription.
Worked example: checking a dictation tool in 3 steps
- Turn off Wi-Fi and unplug any network cable, so the computer has 0 network connections.
- Open a blank document and dictate a 20-word test sentence with the tool you want to check.
- Wait 10 seconds. If the text appears, recognition ran on your computer. If it fails, that alone does not prove the tool uses a server: an on-device tool can also fail offline when its speech engine has not been downloaded yet or its licence is not activated, so check the tool's documentation before you conclude anything.
- Turn the network back on. Then read the tool's privacy policy for what it keeps when it is online.
Speech to text privacy: frequently asked questions
Is speech to text private?
It depends on where the speech is processed. Cloud speech to text sends your audio to the provider's servers, where its privacy policy decides what is kept and who can access it. On-device speech to text recognizes speech on your own computer, so the audio does not have to leave it.
Does Mac dictation send my voice to Apple?
Apple says that on recent Macs many languages are processed on the device, while some requests can be sent to Apple servers depending on the language and settings. Check Apple's Dictation and Privacy notice in System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation.
Does Windows voice typing send my voice to Microsoft?
Yes. Voice typing (Win+H) sends your audio to Microsoft's Azure Speech services, which is why it needs an internet connection. Voice access, available on Windows 11 version 22H2 or later, is a separate feature that recognizes speech on the device once its language files have downloaded.
What does VoicePrivate send over the network?
VoicePrivate recognizes speech on your computer and does not upload audio or transcripts for transcription. It uses the network for licensing, downloads of speech engines and updates. If you turn on the optional encrypted backup, the backup can be stored in a folder you choose, including iCloud Drive.
Can other apps see what I dictate?
Any dictation tool that inserts text puts it into the app you are typing into, which then stores it under its own rules. VoicePrivate pastes through the clipboard, but it marks dictated text so Windows clipboard history and cloud clipboard sync skip it, and on a Mac marks it as concealed, transient and for this device only, so Universal Clipboard and clipboard managers that follow those standard markers skip it. A clipboard manager that ignores the markers could still capture it.
Bottom line
If what you dictate is confidential, choose a tool that recognizes speech on your device and check what the tool, the target app and your clipboard keep. VoicePrivate General is $9.99 a month or $84 a year, with a 30-day money-back guarantee on individual plans.