Privacy and data
This page is the practical companion to the privacy policy. It describes what the software actually does with your data.
We don’t store your data. We can’t. Your recordings, transcripts and notes exist only on your device; Recordist has no server that could hold them. The only thing we keep is the email on your receipt.
Where your data lives
Everything is inside one folder on your computer. Open it with Settings → Privacy → Show data folder. Inside:
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Meetings, transcripts, notes, action items, markers, templates, speaker names and the search index | One database file |
| Audio | One folder per meeting, with your microphone and the other participants as separate files |
| Transcription models you downloaded, and the built-in notes engine with its model | A models folder and an ai folder |
| Preferences | A settings file, with no secrets in it |
API keys for a cloud AI provider, if you add one, are stored in your operating system’s keychain, not in this folder.
The exact paths on each platform are in the Developers section.
What leaves your machine
By default, nothing about your meetings. The complete list of what the app can send, and when, is short:
| Traffic | When | What is sent | How to stop it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model downloads | When you pick a transcription model, and when the built-in notes engine and its model are set up | A download request; nothing about you | They only happen when you choose a model or set up AI notes |
| Update check | At launch and every six hours while the app runs | The app version and your platform | Settings → General → Check for updates automatically |
| Notes with your own key | Only if you chose a cloud AI provider | The transcript text of that meeting and your template, to that provider | Use the local model instead |
| License verify or recover | Only when you click those buttons | Your license id, or the checkout email you type in | Keys verify offline; this is never required |
There is no telemetry, no crash reporting and no analytics, in the app or on this website.
Every request in the table is also written to the Privacy Ledger inside the app (Settings → Privacy), with the destination, the size and the reason, so you can check the claim rather than take it on trust. With the default setup the ledger shows only the model downloads and the update checks; nothing about your meetings. The public version of this table is on the Trust Center.
Your AI agents
If you connect Claude Desktop, Cursor or another assistant, it reads your meetings through a connection that exists only on your own machine. Where that assistant then sends what it read is up to the assistant and its provider; the ledger records only what Recordist sends.
Encryption
- Audio and the database are ordinary files protected by your user account and, if it is on, by full-disk encryption (FileVault on macOS). We recommend turning FileVault on.
- Settings → Privacy → Encrypt database adds encryption of the database with a passphrase you choose. Search still works.
How long things are kept
Audio is deleted 30 days after a meeting by default (see Recording). Transcripts and notes are kept until you delete them.
Exporting
- One meeting: Export → Markdown, plain text, SRT, VTT or JSON.
- Everything: Settings → Privacy → Export all writes a folder with one Markdown file and one JSON file per meeting plus the audio, in a structure any tool can read.
- Continuously: Settings → Privacy → Auto-export Markdown to folder, for Obsidian, Logseq and similar apps.
Deleting
- One meeting: Delete removes it from the database and deletes its audio.
- Everything: Settings → Privacy → Delete all data removes the database, every audio folder, the downloaded models and your settings, then quits. Uninstalling the app afterwards leaves nothing behind.
- Without opening the app: delete the data folder and the app itself, then remove the “Recordist” entries from your operating system’s keychain (Keychain Access on macOS). How to delete everything has the steps.
What we hold, and how to delete that
If you bought a plan, we hold your email, the plan and the payment records; tax law requires keeping transaction records for a period. If you used a form on this site, we hold what you typed. Email [email protected] and we delete what we legally can within 30 days. Nothing from inside the app was ever with us to delete.
Team policies
On Team plans an administrator can set a maximum audio retention period and an allow-list of AI providers. Those policies are carried inside the license key, so enforcing them needs no server connection either.