Privacy Policy for WalkAITalkie

Last updated: March 24, 2026

1. Data Controller

Bernhard Götzendorfer
Rittingergasse 15/11
1210 Wien, Österreich (Austria)
Email: office@gotzendorfer.at

2. Overview

WalkAITalkie is designed with privacy as a core principle. By default, all speech recognition and text processing happens entirely on your device using Apple Silicon. No audio, transcriptions, or personal data are transmitted to any server. Optionally, Pro users can enable Cloud API Mode, which sends audio or text to third-party API providers (OpenAI, Anthropic) for processing. This is always opt-in and requires explicit user confirmation.

3. Data We Do NOT Collect (On-Device Mode)

No audio recordings are uploaded or stored remotely
No transcriptions are transmitted to any server
No personal information (name, phone) is required or collected in on-device mode. Email is only collected if you create an account (see Section 5b).
No usage analytics, tracking, or telemetry data is collected
No cookies or similar tracking technologies are used
No advertising identifiers are accessed

4. Data Processing On Your Device

WalkAITalkie processes the following data exclusively on your Mac:

Audio input: Captured from your microphone during push-to-talk sessions, processed in real-time by WhisperKit or Parakeet (your chosen STT engine), and immediately discarded after transcription
Transcription text: Stored locally in your transcription history (on your Mac only), accessible and deletable at any time through the app
App settings: Stored locally via macOS UserDefaults

5. Network Activity

WalkAITalkie has minimal network activity, limited to:

AI Model Downloads: Speech recognition models (WhisperKit or Parakeet) and language models (MLX) are downloaded from Hugging Face CDN when you first select them in Settings. These are one-time downloads.
Update Checks (non-App Store version only): The Sparkle framework periodically checks for app updates via our update server (hosted on Vercel). No personal data is sent. This can be disabled in Settings.
App Store version: Uses Apple's built-in update mechanism. No additional network activity.

5b. Device Authentication & Credit System

To support Managed Credits and In-App Purchases, WalkAITalkie uses device-based authentication:

Device identifier: A randomly generated UUID is created on first launch and stored locally. It is used to register your device with our API server. No hardware identifiers are used.
Authentication tokens: A JWT access token and refresh token are stored in the macOS Keychain. These are used to authenticate requests to api.walkaitalkie.com for credit balance sync and managed cloud features.
Credit balance: Your credit balance is stored server-side and synced to the app. Purchase history is maintained for billing purposes.
Activity timestamp: The server records the timestamp of your last API request (last_active_at) for device management purposes.
Email address (optional): If you create an account, your email address is collected for account verification, device login, and linking purchases across devices. Email is stored server-side and encrypted at rest. It is used solely for authentication and account management — it is never shared with third parties. You can request deletion of your email and account data at any time (see Section 12). Account creation is optional; device-based authentication works without providing an email.

All connections to api.walkaitalkie.com use SPKI-based certificate pinning for security. Authentication data (including email, if provided) can be deleted by contacting us for server-side deletion or by uninstalling the app (which clears local tokens).

6. Cloud API Mode (Optional — Pro Only)

When you explicitly enable Cloud API Mode in Settings, the following data may be transmitted:

Audio recordings: Sent to OpenAI's Whisper API for transcription (when using cloud transcription backend)
Transcription text: Sent to OpenAI or Anthropic's API for LLM processing (when using cloud LLM backend)
API keys: Stored locally in your Mac's Keychain, never transmitted to WalkAITalkie

Data transmission occurs only when:

You have explicitly switched to Cloud API Mode in Settings
You have confirmed the privacy dialog shown on first switch
You initiate a transcription or text processing action

When using Managed Credits, requests are routed through our API server (api.walkaitalkie.com) which proxies to the selected provider. We log request metadata (timestamps, credit usage) but do not store audio or text content.

Provider privacy policies:

OpenAI: https://openai.com/privacy
Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/privacy

7. Legal Basis (GDPR Art. 6)

On-device processing: Does not constitute data processing under GDPR as no personal data leaves your device
Model downloads: Art. 6(1)(b) — necessary for the performance of the software (downloading the models you selected)
Update checks: Art. 6(1)(f) — legitimate interest in providing security updates and bug fixes
Account & email collection: Art. 6(1)(b) — necessary for the performance of the contract (account verification, device login, linking purchases across devices)
Cloud API Mode: Art. 6(1)(a) — explicit consent via in-app confirmation dialog before any data is transmitted to cloud providers

8. Third-Party Services

WalkAITalkie does not integrate any third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking services. The only third-party network connections are:

Hugging Face (huggingface.co): CDN for downloading AI models. Subject to Hugging Face Privacy Policy
Vercel (vercel.com): Hosts the update feed for the Sparkle update framework (non-App Store version). Subject to Vercel Privacy Policy
OpenAI (openai.com): Cloud transcription and LLM processing (only when Cloud API Mode is enabled by user). Subject to OpenAI Privacy Policy
Anthropic (anthropic.com): Cloud LLM processing (only when Cloud API Mode is enabled by user). Subject to Anthropic Privacy Policy

9. Data Retention

All transcription data is stored locally on your Mac and can be deleted at any time through the app's History tab
On-device mode: No data is retained on any server because no data is transmitted to any server
Cloud API Mode (BYOK): Audio/text is sent directly to the provider. We do not see or store any of your content. Retention is governed by the provider's policy.
Managed Credits: Our API server (api.walkaitalkie.com) proxies requests to the selected provider. We log request metadata (timestamp, credit cost, model used, user ID) for billing purposes. Audio and text content pass through in-memory only and are not stored, logged, or retained. Billing metadata is retained for 12 months for accounting and dispute resolution, then deleted.
Account data (email): If you created an account, your email address and associated authentication data are retained until you request account deletion. You can request deletion at any time by contacting us (see Section 15), and your data will be removed within 30 days.

10. International Data Transfers

In on-device mode, no personal data leaves your device, so no international transfer occurs. When you enable Cloud API Mode, data may be transferred to:

OpenAI, Inc. (San Francisco, USA) — participant in the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework (DPF). Adequacy decision by the European Commission (July 10, 2023).
Anthropic, PBC (San Francisco, USA) — participant in the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework (DPF). Transfers are additionally covered by Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) where applicable.

Our API proxy server (api.walkaitalkie.com) is hosted in the EU (Hetzner, Falkenstein, Germany). Managed Credit requests transit through this EU server before reaching the provider.

11. Data Processing — Managed Credits (Art. 28 GDPR)

When you use Managed Credits, our API server at api.walkaitalkie.com acts as a data processor on your behalf. In this capacity:

Audio and text content is forwarded to the selected provider (OpenAI or Anthropic) in-memory only and is not stored, cached, or logged by our server
We process request metadata (timestamp, credit cost, model identifier, anonymous user ID) solely for credit billing and abuse prevention
Sub-processors: OpenAI, Inc. and Anthropic, PBC (see Section 10 for transfer safeguards)
You can request deletion of your billing metadata at any time by contacting us (see Section 15)

12. Your Rights (GDPR Art. 15–21)

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to:

Access (Art. 15): Request information about your personal data. In on-device mode without an account, no personal data is stored on our servers. If you have an account, you can request a copy of your email, billing metadata, and credit transaction history.
Rectification (Art. 16): Correct inaccurate data
Erasure (Art. 17): Delete your data — you can clear all local transcription history in the app. For Managed Credits billing metadata, email us at office@gotzendorfer.at and we will delete your records within 30 days, subject to legal retention obligations.
Restriction (Art. 18): Restrict processing of your data
Portability (Art. 20): Export your data — available via the History tab's export function (CSV/JSON)
Objection (Art. 21): Object to processing of your data

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at office@gotzendorfer.at.

13. Children's Privacy

WalkAITalkie does not knowingly collect data from children under 16. Account creation (which collects an email address) is not directed at children. If we become aware that a child under 16 has created an account, we will promptly delete the associated data.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated “Last updated” date.

15. Contact

For any questions about this privacy policy, please contact:
Email: office@gotzendorfer.at

16. Supervisory Authority

If you believe your data protection rights have been violated, you have the right to lodge a complaint with:

Österreichische Datenschutzbehörde
Barichgasse 40–42
1030 Wien, Österreich
Website: https://www.dsb.gv.at