The settings, and what they’re set to out of the box
Audio Retention and Transcript Retention both offer 1, 7, 14, 30, 60 or 90 days.
Audio Retention can also be set to Disabled, which keeps no audio at all;
Transcript Retention can be set to Forever, which is where it starts.
Save discarded dictations needs both Data Retention and Audio Retention
switched on — it has nowhere to keep the audio otherwise. The app says as much
under the toggle.
Turning history off entirely
Set Data Retention off. Your words are still typed at your cursor; nothing is written to history. The app confirms this state in the history view: “Data retention is off. Transcriptions and audio are not saved to history.” This is the setting to reach for if you dictate anything you’d rather not have sitting on disk afterwards.Deleting what’s already there
The same section has a Storage Usage panel showing how many audio files are stored and how much space they take, with a Clear All Audio button beneath it. It deletes every stored recording and can’t be undone. Shortening a retention period also applies to what you’ve already got — the next cleanup sweep removes anything past the new limit.Where it sits on disk
If you’d rather look for yourself, or you’re wiping a machine:
Inside it,
audio/ holds the recordings and transcriptions.db is the SQLite
database holding your history.
That database is an ordinary file on your computer — OpenWhispr doesn’t encrypt
it separately. It’s protected by your operating system account and by whatever
full-disk encryption you have on, such as FileVault or BitLocker. Your saved API
keys are the exception: those are encrypted through your OS keychain, described
in how OpenWhispr is secured.
What we hold on our side
If a mode is on OpenWhispr Cloud, we store the transcript text and its technical metadata — provider, model, language, duration, timings. We don’t store the audio. Where your voice and text go covers this in detail. If Cloud backup is on, your notes are backed up to your account as well. All of it goes when your account does. Deleting your account sets out exactly what’s removed, and it’s also the route for a formal erasure request.FAQ
Does changing retention delete my old recordings?
Does changing retention delete my old recordings?
Yes. The limit applies to everything stored, not just new recordings, so
lowering it clears out anything already past the new period.
If I turn Data Retention off, do I lose my existing history?
If I turn Data Retention off, do I lose my existing history?
No. It stops new transcriptions being saved; what’s already there stays until
you delete it or a retention period expires. Clear All Audio removes the
recordings.
Does deleting a note here delete it from the cloud?
Does deleting a note here delete it from the cloud?
If cloud backup is on, deleting locally removes it from your backup too. Notes
in a team space belong to that space — see team
spaces.