When you speak your most intimate thoughts into a voice diary app, where does that audio go? We analyzed the terms of service and privacy policies of popular voice journaling apps. What we found should concern anyone who values privacy.
The Investigation Findings
We found that most apps send your voice recordings to cloud servers for transcription, share data with numerous third parties, and often have vague rights to use your content for AI training.
Key Concerns Identified
- Cloud Processing: Almost all apps upload your audio to servers.
- AI Training: Terms often allow using your data to train models.
- Third-Party Sharing: Data shared with advertisers and analytics firms.
- Indefinite Retention: Data often kept even after account deletion.
The Hello Diary Difference
We built Hello Diary to be the antidote to these practices. Our data handling is transparent and user-centric.
- On-Device Only: Your voice never leaves your phone for transcription.
- Zero Knowledge: We can't decrypt your backups even if we wanted to.
- No AI Training: We can't read your entries, so we can't train on them.
Questions to Ask Any App
Before using a voice diary, ask:
- Can I use it offline? (If no, it's likely cloud-dependent)
- Who holds the encryption keys? (If they can reset your password, they hold the keys)
- Is my data used for "service improvement"? (Often code for AI training)