Privacy Policy
Dictum is built on a single principle: your voice stays on your device. Always.
Effective date: April 30, 2026
1 Introduction
Dictum ("we", "our", or "the app") is a native macOS application for offline voice-to-text dictation, developed by Vitaly Gruver. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect (spoiler: none), how processing works, and your rights as a user.
Privacy is not a feature we added — it is the architecture of Dictum. The app runs entirely on your Mac using on-device machine learning. There is no server to send data to, because we never built one.
2 Data We Collect
We collect nothing. Dictum does not collect, store, transmit, or process any personal data. Specifically:
- No audio recordings or voice samples
- No transcribed text or dictation history
- No usage statistics or analytics
- No crash reports or diagnostics sent to us
- No identifiers — no device ID, no user ID, no fingerprint
- No location data
- No browsing behavior or app usage patterns
There is no account. There is no login. Dictum requires no registration to use. We have no database of users. We cannot identify you in any way.
3 Local On-Device Processing
All voice recognition happens exclusively on your Mac. Dictum uses WhisperKit — an open-source framework that runs OpenAI's Whisper model locally via Apple's Neural Engine and Core ML. No network connection is required or used during transcription.
When you press Fn and speak:
- Your microphone audio is captured temporarily in memory on your device
- WhisperKit processes the audio locally using your Mac's Neural Engine or GPU
- The resulting text is pasted into your active application
- The audio buffer is discarded immediately after processing — it is never written to disk by Dictum
The WhisperKit model files are downloaded once to your Mac during setup and stored locally. After that, Dictum works fully offline with no outbound connections.
4 Third-Party Services
The Dictum app itself has no third-party integrations. However, purchasing Dictum involves a payment processor:
LemonSqueezy (payment processor)
Dictum is sold through LemonSqueezy,
which acts as the Merchant of Record. When you purchase a license, LemonSqueezy collects
your payment information (name, email, card details) in order to process the transaction
and issue a receipt. This data is handled under LemonSqueezy's own privacy policy, which
you can review at
lemonsqueezy.com/privacy.
We do not receive or store your payment card details. We may receive your email address
solely for the purpose of delivering your license key.
The Dictum landing page (dictum.neurohelp.pro) may use standard web infrastructure (hosting, CDN) that logs basic request metadata such as IP addresses. This is typical of any web server and is unrelated to the Dictum app.
5 Cookies
The Dictum app itself uses no cookies and has no web view or browser component.
The Dictum website (dictum.neurohelp.pro) may use essential session cookies for basic functionality — for example, to remember your language preference. No tracking cookies, advertising cookies, or third-party analytics cookies are used on this website.
6 Microphone Access
Dictum requests microphone access through macOS's standard permission system. You will be prompted to grant this permission on first use. Dictum only activates the microphone while you are actively dictating (while holding or toggling the Fn key). No background audio capture occurs.
You can revoke microphone access at any time in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone.
7 Children's Privacy
Because Dictum collects no personal data from anyone, there is no distinction in how we treat users of any age. The app is not directed at children specifically, but it is equally safe for children to use — no information is collected or transmitted from anyone.
8 Data Security
The best security posture is to never collect data in the first place. Since Dictum collects nothing, there is no database to breach, no server to compromise, and no user data that could be exposed.
Your Mac's built-in security (Gatekeeper, sandboxing, System Integrity Protection) applies to Dictum as it does to any macOS application.
9 Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the effective date at the top of this page and note the change in the Dictum app's release notes. We will not notify you via email, because we do not hold your email address (unless you purchased a license — in which case LemonSqueezy may communicate on our behalf about significant changes).
We encourage you to review this page periodically. Continued use of Dictum after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
10 Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or about Dictum, please contact us:
This policy is written in plain language on purpose. If anything is unclear, reach out — we're happy to explain.