Last updated: 2026-11-04
Live Captions is made by Magmanet. This policy explains what happens to your speech and text. The short version: the app itself doesn't record, keep or send audio, and your captions never reach us. But it uses your phone's speech recognition, and on many phones that can send audio to Google or Apple.
When you tap Start, the app hands the microphone to the speech recognition built into your phone, and shows the text that comes back. The app has no recogniser of its own and never receives or stores the audio.
What happens to the audio depends on your phone. The app shows which of these is active, on the Listen screen:
The app prefers on-device recognition. If on-device recognition can't handle the language, it moves to the phone's normal recogniser and tells you on screen. If you turn on On-device only (Settings), it never does that: captions won't start unless on-device recognition is available.
The microphone is used only after you tap Start, and is released when you tap Stop, when the app leaves the screen, or after 15 minutes with no speech.
Only anonymous usage statistics (see below), which you can turn off. Speech, captions, typed text, phrases and saved conversations are never sent to Magmanet, and they are not written to logs. There is no sign-up, no account, no advertising and no tracking. We never sell or share your data.
The app turns off Android's automatic cloud backup, so this data isn't uploaded to Google with your phone's backups. On iPhone and iPad, your device's own iCloud or computer backup may include app data; that is controlled in your device settings.
The app's Copy backup feature (Settings) copies your settings, phrases and saved conversations as text to your clipboard, so you can keep them somewhere you choose. Where you paste it is up to you; the app never uploads it.
"Speak aloud" uses your phone's text-to-speech voices. On most phones this runs on the device, but it is your phone's service, and some voices may use the network under the provider's terms.
The app itself makes only the requests below. Recognition in "Online" mode is carried out by your phone's service, as described above.
On Android, once a day the app checks for a newer version by asking the Magmanet server (EU, Contabo) — the request contains only the app name, its version number and how it was installed (site/Google Play); the server counts checks per app and version in aggregate, stores no identifiers and no IP address; if the server is unavailable the app downloads the public version file from GitHub Pages instead (GitHub may see your IP address). If a newer version exists, the app shows a notice and you choose whether to open the download link. You can turn this off in Settings ("Check for updates automatically"). On iPhone and iPad there is no update check: the App Store handles updates.
Live Captions sends anonymous usage statistics over HTTPS (a short ping once a day; usage events a few times a day at most, batched) to Magmanet's own server, hosted in the EU (Contabo), not to Google or any other third party. It sends the app name and version, your operating-system version (Android or iOS), your language, how the app was installed (on Android: from Google Play, the website or elsewhere; on iPhone and iPad: the App Store or TestFlight), a random install ID, anonymous usage events (fixed names only: which features are used, which recognition mode ran, which kind of problem occurred, and how long screens are open) and counts of errors by type (a short code for the kind of error, never a message or any content). On Android it also sends your phone's manufacturer and model (never the name you gave the phone); on iPhone and iPad it does not send the device model. Speech, captions and typed text are never sent. The random ID is made by the app when it is installed; it is not a device identifier.
On the server the ID is hashed and no IP address is stored. Raw data is deleted after 400 days. It is used only to count active users and improve the app, never for advertising or profiling, and it is never sold or shared.
This is on by default. You can turn it off in Settings ("Share anonymous usage statistics"). Turning it off stops sending immediately and deletes the random ID and any unsent usage events from your phone.
The app shows what it hears, including other people. Please let the people you talk with know you're using captions, particularly before saving a conversation, and follow the law where you are.
Captions may contain errors. Do not rely on them for medical, legal or emergency matters. The app is not a medical device and doesn't replace a qualified interpreter.
The app requests no location, camera, contacts, notifications or storage permissions.
Live Captions is a general-audience tool, not directed at children. It collects no personal information from anyone.
If this policy changes, we'll update the date above and publish the new version at the same address.
Questions? Open an issue at https://github.com/Shauls/magmanet-apps/issues