Privacy Policy

Effective date: March 31, 2026

The short version

Oaken Notes is a privacy-first app. Your meetings stay on your Mac. We don't run servers that process your data, we don't require accounts, and we don't track you. This policy explains what little data exists and where it lives.

What data Oaken Notes processes

Audio recordings

When you record a meeting, Oaken captures audio from your Mac's system audio and microphone. This audio is processed entirely on your device using either Apple Intelligence (the Neural Engine on Apple Silicon) or WhisperKit, an open-source speech recognition engine that also runs locally via CoreML. Audio data is never transmitted to any server.

Transcripts and notes

Speech-to-text transcription happens on-device using Apple's SpeechAnalyzer/SpeechTranscriber APIs or WhisperKit (an on-device Whisper model running via CoreML). AI-powered note enhancement uses Apple's Foundation Models framework. The resulting transcripts, summaries, action items, and enhanced notes are stored locally in a SQLite database on your Mac.

Calendar data

If you grant permission, Oaken reads your Apple Calendar events to auto-name meetings and associate notes with calendar entries. This data is accessed through Apple's EventKit framework and never leaves your device.

Agent preferences

Oaken's Agent Mode learns how you prefer your notes structured. These preferences are stored locally on your Mac and are never shared externally.

What we don't collect

We want to be explicit about what Oaken Notes does not do:

  • We do not collect, store, or transmit your audio recordings
  • We do not collect, store, or transmit your transcripts or notes
  • We do not require an account, email address, or any personal information
  • We do not use analytics, tracking pixels, or telemetry
  • We do not use third-party advertising or data brokers
  • We do not place meeting bots in your calls
  • We do not have servers that process your meeting data

iCloud sync (optional)

If you choose to enable iCloud sync, your notes are synced across your devices using Apple's CloudKit infrastructure with end-to-end encryption. This means:

  • Data is encrypted on your device before it reaches iCloud
  • Only your devices with the same Apple ID can decrypt the data
  • Neither Apple nor Oaken Notes can read your synced content

iCloud sync is entirely opt-in. Oaken Notes works fully offline without it.

On-device AI processing

All AI features in Oaken Notes run on your Mac. No audio, transcript, or note data is sent to external servers for processing.

  • Transcription (primary) uses Apple's SpeechAnalyzer/SpeechTranscriber APIs, powered by the Neural Engine on Apple Silicon
  • Transcription (fallback) uses WhisperKit, an open-source implementation of OpenAI's Whisper model running locally via CoreML. WhisperKit is used automatically when Apple Intelligence speech recognition is unavailable, or when you select it manually in Settings
  • Note enhancement uses Apple's Foundation Models API
  • Agent Mode uses on-device language models for preference learning

One-time model download: When WhisperKit is used for the first time, the app downloads a small speech recognition model (~75 MB) from Hugging Face. This is a one-time download of model weights only — no user data is sent. After this initial download, WhisperKit operates fully offline.

Apple Intelligence is designed to process data locally, and Oaken Notes does not override or bypass this design.

System permissions

Oaken Notes requests the following macOS permissions:

  • Microphone access — to capture meeting audio for transcription
  • Screen recording / system audio — to capture audio from meeting apps (Zoom, Meet, Teams, etc.)
  • Calendar access — optional, to associate notes with calendar events

You can revoke any of these permissions at any time in System Settings > Privacy & Security. Oaken Notes will continue to function with reduced capabilities.

Data storage and deletion

All data is stored in a local SQLite database in your Mac's application support directory. You own this data completely.

  • You can delete individual meetings, notes, or transcripts at any time from within the app
  • Uninstalling Oaken Notes removes all associated data from your Mac
  • If iCloud sync is enabled, you can manage synced data through Apple's iCloud settings

Third-party services

Oaken Notes does not send your audio, transcripts, notes, or any personal data to third-party services. The external connections the app may make are:

  • Apple iCloud — only if you explicitly enable sync, governed by Apple's privacy policy
  • Hugging Face (model download) — a one-time download of WhisperKit's speech model (~75 MB) when the WhisperKit engine is first used. Only model weights are downloaded; no user data, device identifiers, or telemetry are sent. See Hugging Face's privacy policy

WhisperKit itself is open-source software (MIT license) maintained by Argmax, Inc. After model download, all speech processing is entirely on-device.

Children's privacy

Oaken Notes does not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone, including children under 13. Since the app processes all data locally and does not require accounts, there is no mechanism through which personal information could be collected.

Changes to this policy

If we update this privacy policy, we will post the revised version on this page with an updated effective date. Since Oaken Notes does not collect email addresses, we recommend checking this page periodically.

Contact

Questions about this privacy policy? Reach out at [email protected].