Privacy overview
Choose the processing mode before you process a recording
Section titled “Choose the processing mode before you process a recording”Use Local Mode when the supported transcription, summary, chat, and search operations should run through local Whisper and Ollama services. After the required models are installed, that core path does not require an external AI provider.
Select an OpenAI-compatible provider only when you accept that supported text and context requests are sent to the endpoint you configure. Synthezia does not verify the provider’s retention, access-control, security, billing, or deletion practices.
What Synthezia handles locally
Section titled “What Synthezia handles locally”| Data category | Processing and storage | Deletion boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Imported media and recordings | Read and converted locally; normalized WAV copies can be stored in the application data directory. | Deleting a session does not remove the user-owned imported source file or the normalized WAV copy. |
| Transcripts, summaries, session metadata, and indexes | Stored in the local SQLite database. | Session deletion removes the session row and derived indexes. Reset app data clears the database rows and Synthezia-prefixed webview storage. |
| Settings, custom templates, and remote-provider API key | Stored in webview local storage under Synthezia-prefixed keys. | Reset app data removes Synthezia-prefixed keys. |
| User-selected exports | Written to the destination chosen in the save dialog. | Outside Synthezia’s deletion actions; delete them in the destination application or filesystem. |
Important limits
Section titled “Important limits”- Local-first processing is not an application-level encryption-at-rest guarantee.
- The API key for a remote provider is stored in webview local storage, not in macOS Keychain.
- A remote provider may receive transcript text, prompts, questions, prior chat turns, retrieved context, or embedding input, depending on the feature. Local deletion cannot delete copies retained by that provider.
- Generated transcripts, summaries, and answers can contain errors. They are not legal, medical, audit, or compliance advice.