UtterlinePrivacy
Updated 2026-10-27
Utterline is built so that your voice and your words stay on your Mac. There is no account, no analytics, and nothing is measured or reported. This page lists every case where something does leave, and each one is something you turn on.
What stays on your Mac
- Your recordings and transcripts. Old recordings are deleted automatically after three months by default; in Settings you can make that three days or two weeks, keep only the latest few, or keep everything.
- Your custom words, find-and-replace list, prompts and per-app rules.
- Checking your license. The app checks a key's signature on the Mac and never contacts a server to do it, so Utterline works with no internet at all.
When something leaves, and where it goes
| What | When | Goes to |
|---|---|---|
| A speech model | When you ask to download one | Hugging Face, where the model files are hosted. Only the file request goes, and Hugging Face sees your internet address; none of your audio or text. |
| A recording | Only if you pick a cloud transcription service and add your own key | The service you picked (for example OpenAI or Groq), under your own account with them. |
| A transcript | Only if you pick a cloud service for formatting and add your own key | The service you picked (for example OpenAI, Anthropic, Groq, Cerebras, OpenRouter, Z.AI, DeepSeek or AWS Bedrock), under your own account with them. |
| A check for a new version | When you choose Check for Updates, or on a schedule if you turn on "Check for updates automatically" in About (off unless you turn it on) | Our update server, updates.usefulcomputing.com. It asks for the latest version number and, if you install it, downloads the update. It sends no key, account or dictation data, and we keep no log of who asked. Cloudflare, which hosts the server, sees your internet address in order to answer. |
| A web address | When you paste a link on the Files page | That site, fetched by yt-dlp, a tool you install yourself. |
Out of the box, transcription runs on a model on your Mac and formatting uses Apple's on-device model where Apple Intelligence is available (otherwise the plain transcript is pasted), so nothing in the table happens until you choose it. Settings, About, "Where your voice goes" shows the current answer for your own setup.
When you do use a cloud service, what it does with your data is set by its own terms and privacy policy, not ours. We never see those requests; they go from your Mac to the service directly.
How we keep this true
Every web address written into Utterline's own source code is on a list with a reason, and a release cannot ship while one is missing from it. There is no analytics service on that list, because Utterline's own code has none.
When you pay in USDC
You pay from your own wallet or exchange, so we get no card details and you make no account.
- What we get: your email, the order number, the price, and the deposit address made for your order.
- Why: to see your payment, make your license key (it carries your email), show it to you on the order page, and email it to you.
- Who handles it: Cloudflare's servers in the United States keep the order, and Postmark sends the email with your key. The payment itself sits on a public blockchain, where anyone can see its amount, its time and the address it came from.
- How long: as long as you may need your key sent again, and as long as the law requires us to keep order records. If you ask us to delete it, we can no longer send your key again; the key on your Mac keeps working.
When you pay by card
If we offer card payment, Polar sells Utterline as the seller of record. Its checkout collects your name, email, payment details and country for tax, and Polar handles those under its own privacy policy. We do not receive your card details.
- What we get: your name and email, and the order number.
- Why: to make your license key, which carries your name and email, show it to you after checkout, and send it again if you lose it.
- Who handles it: Polar keeps the order, as its own business and under its own policy. The key is made on Cloudflare's servers, which also keep it so the page you land on after checkout can show it to you. Both are in the United States. You give your details to Polar directly, which EU rules do not count as a transfer out of the EU; for its own transfers Polar uses the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, and Cloudflare is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.
- How long: while you may need your key sent again, and as long as the law requires us to keep order records. If you ask us to delete it, we can no longer send your key again; the key on your Mac keeps working.
We use your email only for your license and replies to messages you send us. You can ask for a copy of what we hold, to correct it or to delete it, and we answer within 30 days. No newsletter unless you sign up for one. If you live in the EU or UK, the basis for this is the contract you made when you bought, and you can complain to your data protection authority.
Your choices
- Delete any take from the History page.
- Remove the app and its folder in Library to remove everything it stored.
- Ask us to delete what we hold about your purchase, or to send you a copy: support@usefulcomputing.com.
Who we are
Utterline is made by Useful Computing, a brand of Tidy Machines LLC, a Wyoming company, 30 N Gould St Ste N, Sheridan, WY 82801, United States. Questions about this page: support@usefulcomputing.com.