Privacy & Data
Wispen transcribes your speech on your device. You don't need an account, there are no ads, and the app contains no analytics, tracking or crash-reporting tools. Odd Omens doesn't receive your audio, notes or usage data.
What Wispen stores, and where
| Data | Where it's stored |
|---|---|
| Notes, projects, note history and Recently Deleted | On your device. With iCloud Sync on (the default), also in your private iCloud account, so they sync across your devices. |
| Audio from imported files | On the device you imported it on. Not synced. |
| Audio from dictation | Not saved. Wispen transcribes it and keeps only the text. |
| Settings, dictionary, AI modes, per-app modes and Insights stats | On each device. Not synced. |
| Downloaded speech, voice and cleanup models | On each device, until you delete them. |
On iPhone and iPad, notes and some settings sit in a space on your device that the Wispen app and the Wispen Keyboard share, so the keyboard can read your dictionary and save notes.
What leaves your device
| When | Where it goes | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You download a model, or first use a natural voice or speaker labels | Hugging Face | To download the model files. Wispen only downloads files; it sends none of your data. |
| iCloud Sync is on | Your private iCloud account (Apple) | To sync notes, projects and note history. |
| You first use Apple's SpeechAnalyzer in a language | Apple | Your device downloads the language files. |
| Each time Wispen opens, and when it comes back to the front after a few hours | oddomens.com | Wispen checks the date of the current Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, so it can tell you once when they change. The request contains nothing about you. |
| You tap a link or a Help & Feedback button | Your browser or mail app | Opens the page or a draft email. Nothing is sent unless you send the email. |
Speech recognition and audio
Wispen never sends your audio to Odd Omens or anyone else. Whisper and Parakeet always run on your device, and so does Apple's SpeechAnalyzer.
Wispen asks Apple's classic speech engine to work on-device only. If your device doesn't support on-device recognition for your language, that engine may send audio to Apple to be transcribed, as Apple's speech recognition normally does. This applies when Apple Neural Speech Engine is your speech model, and when the Wispen Keyboard records on its own. To keep audio on your device in every case, use Apple Speech (SpeechAnalyzer), Parakeet or Whisper, and a language your device supports on-device.
Apple Intelligence
AI styles and Command Mode on the Mac use Apple's on-device Foundation Models. Your text isn't sent anywhere.
Text on your screen
With Spell Names on Screen on, Wispen reads text near where you're dictating to spell names correctly: the text around the cursor in the Wispen Keyboard, or the window you're dictating into on the Mac. It never reads password fields. That text is used only for the current dictation, stays on your device and isn't stored. You can turn this off in Settings › Text Cleanup.
Permissions
| Permission | Platforms | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Microphone | All | Hearing your dictation. |
| Speech Recognition | All | Apple's speech engines. |
| Accessibility | Mac | Inserting dictated text at the cursor in other apps (directly, or by pasting with ⌘V and then restoring your clipboard), reading the selected text for Command Mode, and reading text near the cursor for Spell Names on Screen. If you choose a hold-to-talk key, Wispen also watches for that key being held. It never reads, logs or stores what you type. |
| Allow Full Access (Wispen Keyboard) | iPhone, iPad | Letting the keyboard work with the Wispen app: asking it to record, receiving the live text, reading your dictionary and settings, and saving notes. The keyboard makes no network requests and doesn't log keystrokes. |
On iPhone and iPad, Wispen can keep recording when the screen locks or you switch apps. After a keyboard dictation, Keep Microphone Ready keeps the microphone open for up to the time you choose (5 minutes by default). Nothing is recorded or transcribed while it waits, and iOS shows the orange microphone indicator.
Export your data
Export notes one at a time as Markdown, plain text, PDF or subtitles. See Import & Export. There's no export of all notes at once.
Delete your data
- Notes: delete a note to move it to Recently Deleted, then choose Delete Permanently or Delete All there. Notes are removed for good after 30 days anyway. With iCloud Sync on, deletions sync to your other devices.
- Projects: delete a project from its menu. Its notes move to Recently Deleted.
- Imported audio: removed from the device when its note is permanently deleted.
- Models: delete them in Settings › Speech Models. See Speech Models.
- Insights: Settings › Insights › Reset Stats….
- Everything on a device: delete the Wispen app. This removes its data, settings and models from that device. Notes in iCloud stay there and sync back if you reinstall.
Questions about privacy: support@oddomens.com. See also the Odd Omens Privacy Policy.