Privacy policy
The short version. Habla turns your speech into text on your Mac. Your audio never leaves it. When Habla tidies your text with AI, the text (not the audio) is sent to Anthropic’s Claude to be cleaned up, and nothing you dictate is kept on Habla’s servers. Your history, notes and meetings stay on your devices and in your own iCloud. If you sign in, I keep your name, email and how much AI you use each day, so Habla can give everyone a fair free allowance.
Who I am
Habla is made by Yeison Ospina, based in Bolton, UK. I am the data controller for the personal information described here. This policy covers the Habla app; the website itself is covered by the site privacy policy. If anything is unclear, get in touch, email yeisonwithay@gmail.com, or use Help and feedback inside Habla.
What stays on your devices
- Your voice. Recordings are turned into text on your Mac by a speech model that runs on the Mac itself. Audio is kept on that Mac for up to 14 days so you can retry a transcription, then deleted. It’s never uploaded.
- Your dictation history, dictionary, snippets, notes, meetings and settings. These are stored on your Mac. If iCloud sync is on, they’re also stored in your own private iCloud account so they appear on your other devices. Apple holds that data for you; I can’t see it.
- Meeting recordings made with the Notetaker stay on the Mac that recorded them.
What’s sent to AI, and when
Some features use Anthropic’s Claude: tidying longer dictations, Transforms, Instruct Mode, meeting notes and Ask anything. For these, Habla sends the text needed for the task (for example the words you dictated, the text you selected, or a meeting transcript) and, if you’ve turned on context awareness, a little of the text around your cursor so names are spelled right. Audio is never sent.
- If you use Habla’s shared AI, the text passes through Habla’s relay (run on Cloudflare) to Anthropic. The relay doesn’t store what you dictate.
- If you add your own Anthropic key, Habla sends the text straight to Anthropic under your own account.
Anthropic processes this text under its own commercial terms and privacy policy, and doesn’t use it to train its models by default.
If you create an account
An account is optional. It’s needed only for Habla’s free shared AI. When you sign in with Apple, Google or an email code, I keep:
- your name and email address (with Apple you can choose to hide your email; I then see an Apple relay address),
- an identifier from Apple or Google that links your sign-ins to your account,
- whether you asked to receive my email newsletter,
- daily usage counts for the shared AI (number of requests, amount of text processed and estimated cost, never the text itself), with the IP address the requests came from, to apply fair daily limits and prevent abuse.
You can delete your account at any time in Habla’s Settings, under Account. This removes your name, email and sign-in details from Habla’s server.
Other things Habla sends
- A daily “in use” count. Once a day Habla tells its relay that the Mac used Habla, with a random identifier for that Mac, the app version and whether it’s signed in. No name, email or words. You can turn this off in Settings, under Privacy and data.
- Updates. Habla checks a public file on GitHub for new versions, like any web request.
- Feedback. If you send a bug report or idea, I receive what you write, plus a screenshot and diagnostics only if you include them. Diagnostics are Habla and macOS versions, your microphone’s name and recent log lines (timings and errors, never your words). Feedback is kept in a private GitHub repository and emailed to me.
Sign-in codes are sent with Resend. If you tick “Keep me posted”, I’ll add you to my newsletter (sent with beehiiv), and you can unsubscribe from any email.
Who helps me run Habla
I do not sell your information. These services process it on my behalf: Anthropic (AI), Cloudflare (Habla’s relay and its database), Resend (sign-in emails), Apple and Google (sign-in), beehiiv (newsletter, only if you opt in) and GitHub (updates and feedback). Some of these are based in, or process data in, the United States. Where that happens, they rely on recognised safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
How long I keep it
Account details are kept until you delete your account. Daily usage records are kept for up to 12 months to understand costs, then deleted. Feedback is kept for as long as it’s useful for improving Habla, and no longer than two years.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask to see the personal information I hold about you, ask me to correct or delete it, object to or restrict how I use it, ask for a copy to take elsewhere, and withdraw consent at any time. Contact me and I will reply within one month. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).
Children
Habla isn’t intended for children under 13, and I don’t knowingly create accounts for them.
Changes
If I change how Habla uses your information, I will update this page and the date at the top, and tell you in the app about important changes.