Dictate privacy

Arc Forge. Dictate is an Arc Forge desktop app that types dictated text into the focused app on your computer.

Local-first. Dictate does not include Arc Forge telemetry, advertising, or automatic crash upload. Most app state stays on your device.

What Arc Forge may see. We may receive indirect download, install, release, website, app-store, GitHub, npm, support, and bug-report information depending on where you get Dictate and what you choose to send us.

General policy. This page supplements the main Arc Forge Privacy Policy.

User-initiated capture. Dictate uses microphone input only when you actively dictate, such as through push-to-talk or an explicit command.

Raw audio. Dictate processes microphone audio for transcription and does not intentionally retain raw microphone audio.

Local transcription. The local transcription option runs on your device after speech models are downloaded. Audio processed this way is not sent to Arc Forge.

Dictate Pro hosted processing. Dictate Pro meeting processing is handled through Arc Forge-managed hosted infrastructure. Audio for a hosted meeting request is sent to Arc Forge and the transcription provider Arc Forge uses to process that request.

Advanced provider configuration. Dictate also has command-line and configuration paths that can use a provider account or API key you supply. Those advanced paths are separate from the main Dictate Pro experience.

Local diarization. Optional local diarization features may process meeting recordings on your device after required third-party software and models are installed or downloaded. Audio processed this way is not sent to Arc Forge unless you separately choose a hosted workflow or support upload.

Settings. Dictate stores local configuration such as selected model, startup preference, hotkeys, and app settings.

Recent history. Dictate keeps a small local recent transcript history so you can recover or copy recent dictation. This history is stored on your device.

Logs. Dictate writes local logs for troubleshooting. Logs may contain app status, errors, model names, environment details, or text you should review before sharing.

Models and cache. Local speech models, model preparation state, diarization models, alignment models, and related downloaded data may be stored on your device.

Dictate Pro. The main Dictate Pro app flow does not ask you to choose among hosted API backends or enter provider API keys. Arc Forge manages the hosted processing connection for that subscription service.

Advanced API keys. If you use a CLI or configuration path to supply your own provider API key, Dictate stores that key through the operating system secret store where available, not intentionally in the YAML config file.

Hugging Face tokens. Optional local diarization models may require a Hugging Face token and acceptance of model access conditions. Keep tokens private and remove them before sharing logs, screenshots, support bundles, or config files.

Validation. Advanced provider configuration may contact the selected provider to validate a configured API key or confirm provider status.

Provider billing. If you use an advanced provider configuration with your own provider account, that provider may charge your account directly. Arc Forge does not control those provider accounts or their retention rules.

Custom providers. If you configure a custom provider base URL or secret helper, that configuration is under your control and may have its own privacy and security behaviour.

Distribution platforms. If you download Dictate through GitHub, npm, jsDelivr, Microsoft Store, or another platform, that platform may provide Arc Forge with aggregate download, install, update, crash, certification, or listing analytics.

Update checks. Dictate may check GitHub release or tag endpoints to help identify current releases. Those requests are handled by GitHub and are subject to GitHub's own terms and privacy practices.

Optional model access. If you enable optional local models from Hugging Face or another model host, Dictate may contact that host to download or validate access to the selected model files.

Website analytics. If you visit Arc Forge pages about Dictate, normal website analytics and server logs may apply as described in the main Arc Forge Privacy Policy.

No in-app ads. Dictate is not designed to show advertising or sell behavioural advertising data.

Issue reports. If you open a GitHub issue, send support email, submit a form, or share screenshots, logs, or examples, Arc Forge receives the information you include.

Review before sharing. Remove API keys, Hugging Face tokens, personal hotwords, private names, workspace names, confidential text, and sensitive dictation before posting or sending logs.

Security reports. Report security issues through the Dictate repository's private vulnerability reporting path when available, or contact Arc Forge without public exploit details.

Support links. Dictate support currently runs through GitHub issues and hello@arcforge.au.

Uninstall options. Dictate uninstallers can remove app files. Use the documented remove-user-data option when you also want to remove local config, logs, recent history, and downloaded model data.

Manual removal. Local state is stored in platform app-data folders such as `%APPDATA%\dictate`, `%LOCALAPPDATA%\dictate`, `~/.config/dictate`, and `~/.local/share/dictate`.

Hosted deletion. Dictate Pro hosted transcription requests are handled by Arc Forge and its processing providers. For advanced CLI/config provider use, use that provider's controls for provider-side deletion or account requests.

Third-party notices. Dictate third-party software and model notices are published at arcforge.au/third-party-notices.

Arc Forge requests. Email hello@arcforge.au for privacy requests about support messages, forms, or other information Arc Forge holds. Last updated 25 June 2026.