Lakvanta Technologies
Privacy Policy — Aloud
Aloud is developed by Lakvanta Technologies. Aloud listens through your microphone and writes out what it hears. That is about as sensitive as an app gets, so this policy is specific about where the audio goes — and the short version is that it never comes to us.
1. Overview
There is no account and no sign-up. Your transcripts, your settings and your saved sessions live on your device, and Lakvanta Technologies cannot see any of them — we operate no server that receives them.
The app makes exactly two kinds of network request: speech recognition through Apple in Range and Studio (section 2), and a small settings fetch from Firebase Remote Config (section 7). Neither carries your transcripts.
2. Microphone & Speech Recognition
Aloud captures microphone audio only while a session is running, and turns it into text using Apple's Speech framework. Where that recognition happens depends on the listening mode you choose, and the app says so on the screen where you choose it:
- Nearby forces on-device recognition. The audio never leaves your iPhone, and the mode works with no network connection at all.
- Range and Studio allow Apple's server-based recogniser, which is what makes them able to hear across a room. In these modes audio is sent to Apple for transcription, under Apple's own privacy policy — not to us.
Aloud does not record audio to a file, does not keep audio after it has been transcribed, and never uploads audio to Lakvanta Technologies. If you would rather nothing left the device at any point, use Nearby, which is free and unlimited.
3. Your Vocabulary
Words you add under Your Vocabulary are passed to the recogniser as hints so unusual spellings survive. In Range and Studio that means they are sent to Apple alongside the audio. Nearby's offline model ignores them, and they are not sent anywhere in that mode.
4. What Stays On Your Device
- Every saved session — its transcript, title, summary and date — held in the app's own storage
- Your settings: listening mode, language, text size, session limit and the rest
- Your custom vocabulary
- Your trial and subscription state
- An install identifier, generated on this device and shown at the bottom of Settings so you can quote it in a support email
None of this is uploaded. Deleting the app removes all of it permanently — there is no copy anywhere else, so export anything you want to keep before you do.
5. Summaries Are Made On Your Device
Session titles and the "Catch me up" summaries are produced on your iPhone using Apple's on-device Natural Language framework. No transcript is sent to any AI service, ours or anyone else's, to generate them.
6. No Advertising or Tracking
Aloud contains no advertising networks, no analytics SDK and no tracking SDKs. Nothing you say, type or save is used to profile you, and nothing is sold. The only requests the app makes are the three described above: Apple speech recognition, the App Store, and the Firebase Remote Config settings fetch.
7. Firebase Remote Config
Aloud asks Google's Firebase Remote Config how generous the free tier should be — how long the free preview runs, how long the trial lasts, and whether everything is currently unlocked for everyone. This lets us widen the free tier without shipping an app update.
The request sends no transcript, no audio and nothing you have typed. To return the right values, Firebase receives a Firebase Installation ID — a random identifier generated on your device, not tied to your name or your Apple Account — along with ordinary technical details such as the app version, iOS version, language and country.
Firebase Analytics is not included in the app. If the request fails, is blocked, or times out, Aloud unlocks every listening mode and stops metering anything rather than restricting you — so declining or blocking it never costs you a feature.
8. Purchases
Subscriptions are handled entirely by Apple through StoreKit. We never see or store your payment details. Aloud only ever learns whether an entitlement is active, which Apple reports to the app on your device.
9. Notifications
If you allow notifications, Aloud schedules one local reminder two days before your free trial ends. It is scheduled on your device by your device; there is no push server involved.
10. Diagnostics
If you have enabled sharing analytics with developers in your iOS settings, Apple may send us anonymous crash reports. These contain no personal data and none of your transcripts.
11. Third-Party Services
- Apple Speech — transcription. On-device in Nearby; may use Apple's servers in Range and Studio.
- Apple StoreKit — subscriptions and restoring purchases.
- Google Firebase Remote Config — the free-tier settings fetch described in section 7. No analytics product is included.
- Apple frameworks — AVFoundation, Natural Language, App Intents and standard system frameworks. No other SDKs are bundled.
12. Recording Other People
Aloud transcribes whoever is speaking near your phone, and the law on capturing other people's conversations differs by country and by state. You are responsible for using Aloud lawfully and, where required or simply decent, for telling people that what they say is being written down.
13. Children's Privacy
Aloud is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from them. Because there is no account, we hold no identifying information about any user.
14. Your Choices
You can delete any saved session, or all of them, from inside the app. You can revoke microphone and speech permissions in iOS Settings at any time, and you can switch to Nearby so that nothing leaves the device. Deleting the app erases everything stored locally.
15. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in the app or legal requirements. Updates will be published on this page.
16. Contact
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or Aloud, contact us:
Summary: No transcript, and no audio, ever reaches Lakvanta Technologies. In Nearby, audio never leaves your iPhone. In Range and Studio, audio goes to Apple to be transcribed and nowhere else. A small settings fetch goes to Firebase and carries none of your content. Your transcripts, settings and vocabulary stay on your device. No account, no ads, no analytics.