Offline models and FILES: nothing leaves the computer
With the LOCAL side (GigaAM v3, T-one, Parakeet v3, Whisper, Vosk) your audio is recognised on your computer and is not sent anywhere. The same goes for every file and link on the FILES screen: Whisper transcribes them locally.
The internet is used only to fetch things: the models and the optional speed-up engines, once, from their public sources such as Hugging Face; and the video behind a link you give to FILES, which is downloaded to your computer before it is transcribed.
Online engines: the audio goes to the provider
- Google. The audio goes to Google's speech recognition through Google Chrome on your computer.
- Soniox. The audio goes from the app straight to Soniox. The VoiceKeyboard licence server only hands out a short-lived access key for each recording; your audio does not pass through it.
The providers receive the audio only to turn it into text. VoiceKeyboard itself does not keep recordings. If a text is confidential, switch to LOCAL before you dictate it; the switch is on the RECOGNITION panel.
What is stored on your computer
Settings, the word counters and the downloaded models live in the VoiceKeyboard folder inside %AppData%. The transcripts you make on FILES are saved where you choose. The text of your dictation goes into your own windows and onto the LIVE screen; VoiceKeyboard has no account and no cloud copy of it.
What the log contains
VoiceKeyboard writes a technical log to a Logs folder next to the program. It is there to diagnose problems: which engine ran, timings, microphone changes, errors. The recognised text and keys are not written to it. It does record the name and title of the window the text was typed into, which can reveal, for example, the subject of an email. The log has a size limit; when it is full, it is renamed to a ".previous" file and a new one starts. You can delete both files while the app is closed.
Pro and the licence
With Pro, the app talks to the VoiceKeyboard licence server to activate and renew the licence. It sends the licence code and a fingerprint of the computer made of scrambled (hashed) hardware and Windows identifiers, without your name or e-mail. With Soniox it also reports how many minutes each recording used, so that your credits can be counted. Details are in the Privacy policy.