Privacy and Your Data
You should always know where your data lives and when it leaves your computer. Here’s the plain version.
What stays on your computer
Section titled “What stays on your computer”These are stored only on your computer:
- Voice Writing history
- Voice Notebook transcripts and recordings
- AI Agent conversations and the files it creates
- Clipboard history
- Your personal setup: writing styles, Smart Phrases, Dictionary, aliases, search engines, and so on
None of this syncs to your other computers automatically. You can delete records from the page where they appear.
Your account, membership, Credits, and Mobile Control links are kept by Owlfy’s account service.
When Owlfy goes online
Section titled “When Owlfy goes online”| What you’re doing | What’s sent |
|---|---|
| Cloud speech recognition | Your audio, to be turned into text |
| Writing styles, translation, notebook summaries | The text to be processed, to an AI model |
| AI Agent (cloud model) | Your request and the text, images, or file contents needed for the task |
| Online skills or remote MCP | The details or files the task needs, to that service |
| Mobile Control | Messages and results, through WhatsApp, Messenger, or WeChat |
| Browser connection | Content of pages the AI visits, as context for the model |
Even when the AI works on a file on your computer, the model still needs to “see” the content to help, so the relevant content is sent to it.
Keeping data local
Section titled “Keeping data local”Local Speech Recognition
Section titled “Local Speech Recognition”Turn on Local Speech Recognition in Settings → Privacy and speech is turned into text on your computer, so recordings aren’t uploaded. The recognition model downloads the first time and switches on automatically once ready. Writing styles and translation still send text to an AI model.
Local models
Section titled “Local models”Connect a local model from Ollama or LM Studio in Settings → AI → Third-party models, and the AI Agent does its thinking on your computer. See Connect a Local Model.
Keep in mind that a local model only affects the AI Agent. Web search, online skills, and Mobile Control need the internet by nature.
What permissions are for
Section titled “What permissions are for”| Permission | Used for |
|---|---|
| Microphone | Voice Writing, recording, dictation |
| Accessibility | Typing into other apps, running shortcuts, reading selected text |
| Screen recording | Understanding your screen, recording computer audio |
| Full Disk Access (macOS) | Working with files in protected locations |
You only need each one when you use the feature that needs it. You can further limit which folders the AI Agent can touch in Settings → AI → AI Agent sandbox mode.
Good habits
Section titled “Good habits”- Clear out recordings, conversations, and clipboard items you no longer need.
- For sensitive material, limit the AI to specific folders or use a local model.
- Check files the AI creates before sharing them.
For the full terms, see the privacy policy in the app.