Privacy Policy

Effective August 25, 2026 · Last updated August 25, 2026

Ducktate is built to keep your voice and your notes private. Transcription runs entirely on your device, the Mac app requires no account, and we never receive your recordings, transcripts, or notes. The app does collect anonymous usage analytics by default (never your dictation text), which you can turn off in Settings. This policy explains exactly what we collect, and the cases where data leaves your device, most of which happen only because you chose to turn on a feature or sign in.

1. Who we are

Ducktate (the "App") is a macOS application, with a companion iOS app ("the iOS app"), operated by Gravitas AI LLC ("Gravitas AI," "we," "us," or "our"). This Privacy Policy covers the App, the iOS app, and the website at ducktate.com (the "Site"). Most of this policy describes the Mac app; Section 9 covers what is different about the iOS app. By using the App, the iOS app, or the Site, you agree to this policy.

2. The short version

• Your audio never leaves your Mac. Speech is transcribed on-device. We never receive, store, or upload your recordings.
• No account required on the Mac. You can use the Mac app without giving us your name, email, or any login. The iOS app has an optional account, covered in Section 9.
• Anonymous analytics, never your content. The Mac app and the website collect anonymous product-usage analytics by default to help us improve the app. This never includes your dictation text, transcripts, or notes, and there is no advertising or cross-site ad tracking. You can turn analytics off in the Mac app's Settings. The iOS app contains no analytics at all.
• Your notes are yours. They are stored as plain files in a folder you choose, on your Mac.
• You control what leaves. Data only goes off your device when you turn on an optional feature, such as AI cleanup with a cloud provider, or syncing to your own server.

3. What stays on your Mac

The following are processed and stored locally on your device and are not sent to us or to any third party:

• Audio. Microphone and, for meetings you record, system audio are captured only in memory, transcribed on-device using an on-device speech model, and then discarded. The App does not save your audio as a file or upload it anywhere.
• Transcripts and notes. The text of your dictations and meeting notes is saved as plain Markdown files in a folder you select on your Mac.
• App logs and usage counts. Diagnostic logs and local performance counts are written to files on your Mac to help the App run reliably. They stay on your device.

4. When data leaves your Mac

Data leaves your device in these situations. The first is on by default and can be turned off; the rest happen only when you turn on a feature or sign in:

• Usage analytics (on by default, PostHog). The app sends product-usage events, such as when a dictation starts or a setting changes, plus basic crash and error diagnostics, to PostHog, our analytics provider, so we can see how the app performs and improve it. These events never contain your dictation text, transcripts, or notes. They are not tied to your identity unless you sign in, in which case they may be associated with your account. The data is not used for advertising. You can turn analytics off entirely in Settings.
• Reporting a problem or sending feedback. If you use the in-app "Report a problem" or feedback features, the message you write, and, if you choose to attach one, a diagnostic bundle, are sent to us through Supabase (our backend provider) and may generate a notification to our team via Slack. You choose whether and what to send.
• Signing in (optional). If you create an account to manage a Pro subscription, we store your email and authentication identifiers with Supabase. The Mac app works without an account.
• Optional AI cleanup (cloud option). If you turn on AI cleanup and select a cloud provider, the text of the relevant transcript, along with limited context such as your existing note titles and tags, is sent to that provider to generate a title, tags, a summary, and action items. See Section 5. If you select the local option or leave AI cleanup off, this text is not sent to any third-party AI service.
• Downloading transcription models. A base speech model ships inside the App and works offline. If you choose a larger, higher-accuracy model, the App downloads the model files from Hugging Face. This is a one-time download of software; none of your audio, transcripts, or notes are sent in the process.
• Optional sync to your own server. If you turn on the vault sync feature and enter your own server address and key, the App sends your note content to that server. That server is operated by you, not by Gravitas AI. We do not receive this data.
• Purchases. When you buy a subscription or the lifetime option, purchase information is handled by Apple and our payments provider. See Section 6.

5. AI cleanup providers

AI cleanup is optional. You choose whether to use it and which engine to use:

• ChatGPT (OpenAI). If you sign in with your own ChatGPT account and select it, the transcript text and limited note context are sent to OpenAI under your account to produce the cleaned-up note. This data is handled by OpenAI under OpenAI's privacy policy. We do not operate a server in between and we do not retain this text.
• Claude (Anthropic). If you select Claude, the app uses the Claude command-line tool that you have installed and signed into on your own Mac. The transcript text is processed by Anthropic under your own account and their privacy policy. Ducktate never sees or stores your Anthropic credentials.
• OpenRouter (Pro). If you are on Pro and connect your own OpenRouter API key, the transcript text and limited note context are sent to OpenRouter under your key and their privacy policy. Your key is stored in your Mac's Keychain.
• Local model (on-device). If you run a local model, cleanup happens entirely on your Mac and no text is sent off your device.
• Off. If AI cleanup is off, your transcripts stay as-is and no text is sent to any AI provider.

A note on AI training. Because you connect your own provider account or key, whether that provider may use your text to train its models is governed by your agreement and settings with that provider, not by us. We do not send your content to any AI provider on your behalf, and we do not use your dictation text, transcripts, or notes to train any model of our own. You are responsible for the account and credentials you connect, and for reviewing the provider's terms and privacy policy. We may add or change supported providers over time and will update this policy accordingly.

6. Purchases and subscriptions

How a purchase is handled depends on where you buy:

• On the Mac (from our website). The Mac app is sold directly from ducktate.com. Payment is processed by Stripe, our payment processor. We never see or store your full card number; Stripe handles that under Stripe's Privacy Policy. We store your subscription and entitlement status (tied to your account email) with Supabase so we can confirm what you are entitled to use.
• On iOS (from the App Store). Purchases made in the iOS app are processed by Apple and charged to your Apple Account; we never see your payment details (Apple's Privacy Policy). We use RevenueCat to manage these subscriptions, which receives product, transaction, and entitlement information (RevenueCat's Privacy Policy).

Your entitlement status is cached on your device so paid features keep working offline.

7. Permissions the app requests

macOS will ask your permission before the App can use these. Each is used only for the stated purpose, and none of them send data to us:

• Microphone. To capture your speech for on-device transcription.
• System audio capture. To include other participants when you record a meeting. This does not require screen-recording permission.
• Automation (Apple Events). To read your browser's open tab addresses so the App can detect a Google Meet call, and to paste transcribed text into the app you are using. The App checks whether a tab is a meeting; it does not collect or transmit your browsing history.
• Accessibility. To provide the global push-to-talk shortcut and to paste text where your cursor is.

8. The website

The Site is a static marketing site. It uses PostHog for privacy-friendly product analytics, which records anonymous pageviews, clicks, and aggregate heatmaps to help us understand how the site is used and improve it. This is first-party analytics; we set no advertising or cross-site ad-tracking cookies, and we do not sell or share this data for advertising. The Site also stores your light or dark theme preference in your browser using local storage. If you join a waitlist or contact us by email, we receive the information you provide.

9. The iOS companion app

Ducktate for iOS is a phone-side capture app: it records voice notes and syncs them into the same vault as the Mac app. Its data handling differs from the Mac app in these ways:

• Account (optional). The iOS app lets you sign in with Sign in with Apple, Google, or an email magic link, using Supabase as our authentication provider. If you sign in, we store your account email and authentication identifiers. The app works without an account, and your notes stay on your phone either way.
• Transcription. Like the Mac app, speech-to-text runs entirely on-device, using WhisperKit. Your audio is never uploaded to us for transcription.
• Sync. Notes and audio you record sync through your own iCloud account (your Apple account's storage), not through servers we operate. We do not receive this content.
• Pairing with a Mac, and encryption. Pairing your iPhone with a Mac transfers a vault encryption key between your devices. To make that transfer possible, our pairing relay briefly holds a short-lived encrypted blob that we cannot read: it is sealed with AES-GCM, expires after five minutes, and is deleted when the pairing completes; a server-side cleanup automatically purges any session that was not deleted. Once paired, notes are encrypted on your iPhone before they ever leave it, and the encryption key stays on your own devices, not on our servers.
• No analytics. The iOS app contains no analytics or tracking SDKs.
• Account deletion. You can delete your account from within the app, under Settings. This deletes your account and any server-side data tied to it, such as your account email and authentication identifiers. It does not touch the notes already stored on your devices.

10. Retention and deletion

Because your Mac-side content lives on your Mac, you control it. To remove your data, delete your notes folder, delete the App's support files (in your user Library, under Application Support and Logs), and uninstall the App. Data you sent to a third party (for example, an AI provider or your own server) is governed by that party's policies; contact them to exercise deletion there. For purchase records held by Apple or RevenueCat, those parties retain data per their own policies. For the iOS app, see the account deletion details in Section 9.

11. Your privacy rights

We hold very little personal data about you: analytics events (which are anonymous), and, if you sign in, your account email and subscription status. We describe every third party we use in our Subprocessors list. We do not sell or share your personal information, and we do not use it for cross-context behavioral advertising. Because most of your content lives on your own device, many requests are satisfied by managing data on your device, turning off analytics, or deleting your account.

United States (including California)

Depending on your state (for example under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the CPRA, and similar laws in Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and elsewhere), you may have the right to know what personal information we hold, to access it, to correct it, to delete it, to opt out of any sale or sharing, and to not be treated differently for exercising these rights. As stated above, we do not sell or share personal information. To exercise a right, contact us using Section 14. California residents may also designate an authorized agent, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

Europe, the UK, and Switzerland

If you are in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you have rights under the GDPR and equivalent laws to access, rectify, erase, restrict, or object to the processing of your personal data, and to data portability. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

We verify requests using the email address on your account and will respond within the time required by applicable law. Send any request or question to Section 14.

12. Children

The App is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the App evolves or as required by law. When we do, we will change the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, provide a more prominent notice. As the product grows we may add optional features; we will update this policy before such features process your data.