Data controls
Last updated October 22, 2026
The short version
- Your history lives on your Mac. Our server never keeps your voice or a copy of your history.
- To make Verve better, it shares how you use it and samples of what you say and what it writes, with personal details replaced if you choose Anonymized. You can share nothing in Settings.
- OpenAI, which transcribes, polishes and rewrites for us, doesn't train its models on your words. We never sell your data.
- You decide what Verve reads on your screen, how long your history stays, and whether your recordings are kept once they're transcribed.
- You can download everything we keep about you, or delete it, from the app, at any time.
The controls you have
All of these are in the Mac app. Most are in Settings › Data and privacy.
| Control | What it does | Starts |
|---|---|---|
| Context awareness | Lets Verve read the text around your cursor and the window's title, on your Mac, to match spacing and capitals, and tell the AI the app's name so an email reads like an email. Off: Verve doesn't read what's in the text box or the window's title, and the AI isn't told the app, for dictation or Command Mode. Verve still checks what kind of box has the focus and how many characters it holds, to know a paste landed, and Command Mode still reads the text you select to rewrite it. Your words then arrive like the start of a new sentence. | On |
| Notice your corrections | Ten seconds after Verve types, it reads the text box once. If you fixed a word, it keeps only that word and what Verve had typed, on your Mac, never the text around it. Needs Context awareness. | On |
| Dictionary suggestions | When you've fixed the same word twice, or a name once, the Dictionary page offers to add it, and Home shows one suggestion at a time. Add puts it in your Dictionary; Not now is remembered, so it only comes back if you keep fixing it. Only while Notice your corrections is on. | With Notice your corrections |
| Command Mode | Settings › Dictation. Hold the dictation key with control to rewrite text you select, or, with nothing selected, to write new text at your cursor. The text you select (if any), your instruction, your dictionary words and, with Context awareness on, the app's name pass through our server to OpenAI, only while you use it. Password fields are never read. Off: the keys do nothing. | On (Free: 10 commands a week) |
| Share with Verve | Settings › Data and privacy. Help make Verve better: how you use Verve, facts about your text, and samples of what you said and what Verve wrote, including what Command Mode read, with personal details replaced. Anonymized: the same, with personal details replaced in everything. Share nothing: none of it is sent. Your plan and its fair use count still work. | Help make Verve better (chosen in onboarding) |
| Keep history | How long dictations and commands stay on your Mac: forever, a year, 30 days or 7 days. Older ones are deleted automatically. Seals they earned stay. | Forever |
| Keep a copy of my audio | Saves each recording on your Mac so you can play it back in History. Never uploaded. On or off, a dictation that fails keeps its audio on your Mac until it's recovered, for up to a day, and on Pro Verve sends it to OpenAI again to be transcribed. | Off |
| Download your data | A new folder, ready immediately: your history (as JSON and a spreadsheet), your commands, dictionary, snippets, corrections, seals, settings, any audio you kept or that's waiting to be retried, Verve's log, and everything our server keeps about you, sign-in records included. | Any time |
| Delete all history | Removes every dictation and its audio, every command, the corrections Verve noticed and your insights from your Mac. Your seals stay: they're kept apart from history, in Verve's settings on your Mac, and the app has no button to remove them (our Privacy Policy says how). | Any time |
| Delete account | Settings › Account. Ends any subscription right away and deletes your account and everything our server keeps about it. Only a one-way code for your Mac stays, with nothing linking it to you, so a free trial can't be claimed twice. | Any time |
| Manage subscription | Settings › Plan and billing. Opens your subscription page at our payment provider, Polar, to change plan, update your card, see invoices or cancel. | Paid plans |
What's always true
These aren't settings. They're how Verve works for everyone.
- Your history stays on your Mac. Your full history, your voice measurements and your insights are stored only on your Mac. What our server keeps is the samples you share (see Share with Verve), kept 12 months, and the feedback you send.
- No training by OpenAI. OpenAI doesn't use what we send it to train its models; it may keep it for up to 30 days to detect abuse, then deletes it. We use the samples you share to test and improve Verve, including the AI that polishes your words, and never sell them.
- On the Free plan, your voice never leaves your Mac. It's transcribed on your Mac by Apple's on-device model. Only the text you have polished passes through our server to OpenAI, with your dictionary words and snippet phrases and, unless Context awareness is off, the app's name.
- On paid plans, audio goes to OpenAI to be transcribed, straight from your Mac, with your dictionary words and snippet phrases as hints: while you hold the dictation key, and again if a dictation failed and Verve retries it. Our server never receives it.
- Command Mode sends only what you ask it to work on: the text you selected and your instruction, or with nothing selected, just your instruction, plus, as for polishing, your dictionary words and, unless Context awareness is off, the app's name. Where an app doesn't share the selection, Verve copies it with ⌘C and puts your clipboard back; a clipboard manager may still keep that copy. Password fields are never read.
- Our server keeps daily counts: how many dictations and words you polished, and how much AI processing they used. Numbers only, never words. We need them to run your plan and keep costs fair, so they aren't optional.
- No screenshots, no ads, no tracking across other apps or sites. Verve never takes screenshots or reads other windows, and we don't sell or rent your data.
- Encrypted in transit. Everything Verve sends travels encrypted. Your sign-in is kept in your Mac's Keychain. Your Mac never holds our providers' permanent keys, only temporary ones that expire within an hour.
Feedback you send
When you use Send feedback, we receive your message, the app version and your macOS version. When you report a dictation, we also receive what you said, what Verve typed and the app's name, but only if you tick "Include this dictation". We use feedback to fix problems, and we delete it when you ask or when you delete your account.
More
Our Privacy Policy covers all of this in full, including the companies that process data for us and your rights under the GDPR. Questions? Write to hello@vervewrites.com.