Is Mac dictation private? What stays on your Mac and what goes to Apple

The short answer

It depends on your language and your settings. For some languages, macOS turns your speech into text on the Mac itself. Otherwise your audio goes to Apple’s servers to be transcribed. Apple says what you dictate there is not stored unless you have opted in to Improve Siri and Dictation, though it does keep related request data, such as your device’s specifications, for up to two years.

How to check what your Mac does

Open System Settings and choose Keyboard. With Dictation turned on, the text below it says whether your voice input and transcripts are processed on your Mac and not sent to Apple. Apple notes that this covers general dictation, such as messages and notes, but not dictating in a search box. If the text does not say your dictation is processed on your Mac, assume it goes to Apple’s servers.

The answer can change when you switch dictation language, because dictation on the Mac itself is available for some languages and not others.

What Apple keeps

When dictation goes to Apple’s servers, Apple says what you dictate is processed there but not stored, unless you opt in to Improve Siri and Dictation. Apple does store related request data, such as the kind of request, your device’s specifications and performance statistics, tied to a random identifier rather than your Apple Account, and may keep it for up to two years. If you opt in, Apple may also store the audio of your dictation for up to two years, and keep a small sample that has been reviewed for longer. Apple’s privacy pages, linked below, explain both.

A test you can run on any dictation app

Turn off Wi-Fi, or unplug from the internet, and dictate a sentence. If the app still turns your speech into text, the transcription is happening on your Mac. If it stops working, it most likely sends your voice to a server, though some apps also need a connection once, to download a speech model, before they can work offline.

The test shows where the transcription happens. It does not show what an app sends once you are back online, so read its privacy policy as well.

Where Take Dictation fits

Take Dictation does its work on your Mac from the first word to the last. Your voice is processed on your Mac and never uploaded. Your transcript is typed at your cursor, and your last dictations wait in the app’s menu for a week, on this Mac only. There is no account, and the app never asks for an email address. The only things it sends are an update check, and your licence code if you activate with one. Never what you said. The privacy promise has the detail.