> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.openwhispr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Where your voice and text go

> What leaves your device when you dictate, what reaches OpenWhispr's servers, and what never goes anywhere — per processing mode.

It depends on which **processing mode** you're on, and nothing else. On local
mode, your audio never leaves your machine. On OpenWhispr Cloud, it's sent to us,
transcribed, and the audio is discarded — we keep the text, not the recording.

The important part is that the mode is set **per activity**, not once for the
whole app.

## The mode is set three times, not once

Dictation, note recording and audio upload each have their own engine setting.
They're independent, so it's normal to be on local for dictation and on cloud for
uploads without realising it.

Open **Settings**, choose **Speech-to-Text** under **AI Models**, and you'll see
three tabs:

| Tab                | Covers                      |
| ------------------ | --------------------------- |
| **Dictation**      | Press-to-talk dictation     |
| **Note Recording** | Meeting and note recordings |
| **Audio Upload**   | Files and URLs you upload   |

Check all three if you care where a particular kind of audio goes. Changing one
does nothing to the other two.

## What each mode does with your audio

| Mode                   | Where the audio goes                           | What OpenWhispr keeps              |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| **Local**              | Nowhere — transcribed on your device           | Nothing                            |
| **Self-Hosted**        | Your own server on your network                | Nothing                            |
| **OpenWhispr Cloud**   | Our servers, then the model provider           | The transcript text, not the audio |
| **Bring your own key** | Straight to the provider whose key you entered | Nothing                            |
| **Enterprise**         | Your organisation's own cloud account          | Nothing                            |

On local and self-hosted mode, OpenWhispr Cloud isn't in the path at all. On
bring-your-own-key and enterprise, the request goes from your machine to the
provider you configured — we don't proxy it and we don't see it. Our
[DPA](https://openwhispr.com/dpa) puts this in legal terms: in those modes the
providers act on your instructions, not as our sub-processors.

## What travels with a cloud request

When a mode is on OpenWhispr Cloud, the request carries four things:

* the **audio** itself
* the **model** you're transcribing with
* your **transcription language**, if you've set one rather than using auto-detect
* your **custom dictionary** terms, if you use one — they're sent as a prompt so
  the model spells names and jargon correctly

That last one surprises people, so it's worth stating plainly: if you've added
client names or internal project names to your dictionary, those words go with
every cloud transcription request. If that's not acceptable for your setup, keep
the dictionary empty and use local or self-hosted mode.

## What we store when you use the cloud

The transcript and its technical metadata — the text, its word count, which
provider and model ran it, the language, how long the audio was, how long
processing took, and the timestamp.

**Not the audio.** OpenWhispr has no audio storage: recordings are processed in
the request and discarded, which is also what our
[DPA](https://openwhispr.com/dpa) commits to. The provider that runs the model
handles the audio transiently under its own agreement with us.

<Note>
  Audio *is* kept on your own machine if you leave audio retention on — that's a
  local setting, not a cloud one, and it's covered in [what OpenWhispr stores and
  for how long](/help/privacy/what-we-store-and-for-how-long).
</Note>

## Notes and cloud backup

Your notes and transcription history live on your device by default. **Cloud
backup is off** unless you turn it on.

To change it, open **Settings**, then **Privacy & Data** under **System**, and
use the **Cloud backup** toggle.

<Note>
  One exception, and the app says so too: notes in team spaces and notes you've
  shared always sync, whatever the cloud backup setting says. Sharing a note is
  what puts it in the cloud.
</Note>

## Usage analytics

There's a **Usage analytics** toggle in the same place, and it's **off by
default**. Leave it off and nothing about your usage is sent.

<Snippet file="still-need-help.mdx" />

## Related

* [Cloud vs local processing](/guides/cloud-vs-local)
* [What OpenWhispr stores, and for how long](/help/privacy/what-we-store-and-for-how-long)
* [Is my data used to train AI models?](/help/privacy/is-my-data-used-to-train-ai)
* [Privacy Policy](https://openwhispr.com/privacy)