Recap privacy policy
Effective October 6, 2026
Recap is a macOS app that transcribes audio on your device. This policy describes what it processes, what can leave your Mac, and what we — Honestly, the developer — collect. The short version: Recap keeps everything on your Mac unless you explicitly send a recording to a cloud transcription provider, and we collect nothing.
What Recap processes
- Microphone audio, while a recording is in progress.
- Other apps' audio in Meeting mode, through macOS's Screen & System Audio Recording permission, so the transcript includes the other participants on a call.
- Snapshots of one window you choose to watch, if you choose one. No screen contents are captured otherwise.
Transcription and speaker separation run on your Mac using Apple's on-device speech recognition. Recordings, transcripts, screenshots and notes are stored as ordinary files in folders you control on your Mac — or in a cloud-synced folder, if you point a project at one.
What leaves your Mac
Nothing, by default. Two exceptions, both under your control:
- Cloud re-transcription. If you choose to re-transcribe a recording with a third-party provider (AssemblyAI, OpenAI or Gladia), the audio of that recording is sent to the provider you chose, using an API key you supplied, under that provider's own terms and privacy policy. Recap ships with no keys and no provider enabled. Honestly does not operate any server and never receives this data.
- Apple's speech assets. The first time a language is used, macOS may download Apple's on-device speech models from Apple. This is a download, not an upload of your audio.
What we collect
Nothing. Recap has no accounts, no sign-in, no analytics, no crash reporting and no advertising. The app does not contact Honestly. A diagnostics export (Settings ▸ About) is created only when you choose to, contains logs but never transcripts or audio, and is saved only where you put it.
Your control
- Deleting a recording in Recap moves it to the Trash, with Undo.
- Removing a provider's API key in Settings makes further cloud requests impossible.
- Microphone and Screen & System Audio Recording permissions can be revoked at any time in System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security.
Children
Recap is not directed at children and collects no personal information from anyone.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version is published at this address with a new effective date.