Privacy Policy
The short version: your recordings, transcripts and notes never leave your phone. Offhand processes everything with AI models that run entirely on your device, and stores your data in encrypted form locally. The only data that can ever be sent off the device is anonymous crash reporting — and only if you explicitly opt in.
1. Who we are
Offhand is developed by Dmytro Samoilov ("we", "us"). For anything related to this policy or your data, contact us at dmytro@dmytrosamoilov.com.
2. What Offhand does with your voice notes
Offhand records voice notes and meetings, transcribes them, and turns them into structured notes. All of this happens on your device:
- Recording — audio is captured only while you actively record, and is stored on your device in encrypted form.
- Transcription — speech is converted to text by an AI model (Whisper) running locally on your phone.
- Structuring — titles and overviews are generated by a language model (Qwen) that also runs locally on your phone.
- Storage — notes, transcripts and audio are kept in an encrypted database and encrypted files on your device.
Your audio, transcripts, notes, titles and overviews are never uploaded, synced, or transmitted to us or to any third party. We have no servers that receive your content, and we cannot access it.
3. Data we collect
| Data | Where it lives | Sent off your device? |
|---|---|---|
| Audio recordings | Encrypted files on your device | Never |
| Transcripts, notes, titles, overviews | Encrypted database on your device | Never |
| App settings (theme, preferences, consent choices) | Local app storage | Never |
| Crash and stability reports | Firebase Crashlytics (Google) | Only if you opt in |
Offhand has no user accounts, no advertising, no behavioural analytics, and no tracking. We do not sell, rent, or share any data.
4. Optional crash reporting
During onboarding (and at any time in Settings) you can choose whether to share anonymous crash and stability reports. If you decline, nothing is sent. If you opt in, we use Firebase Crashlytics, a service provided by Google, to receive:
- crash stack traces and error information from the app's code;
- basic device information such as device model, operating system version, and app version;
- technical identifiers Crashlytics uses to group reports (not linked to your name, email, or any account).
Crash reports never include your recordings, transcripts, notes, or any content you create in the app. Crashlytics data is retained by Google for a limited period (currently 90 days for crash data). You can withdraw consent at any time in Settings; reporting stops immediately. For details on Google's handling of this data, see the Firebase Privacy and Security documentation.
5. One-time AI model download
To work fully offline, Offhand needs to download its AI model files once after installation. These files are fetched over an encrypted connection (HTTPS) from huggingface.co, a public model-hosting service. This is a plain file download: no content from your device is included in the request beyond what any web download technically requires (such as your IP address, which the hosting provider may log under its own privacy policy). After the download completes, transcription and note generation require no internet connection at all.
6. Permissions the app requests
- Microphone — required to record voice notes. Audio is captured only during an active recording that you start and stop.
- Notifications — used to show recording status and to tell you when the one-time model download finishes. Optional; the app works without it.
Offhand does not request access to your contacts, location, camera, photos, or files outside its own storage.
7. Where your data is stored and how it is protected
- All notes and transcripts are stored in a database encrypted with SQLCipher (AES-256).
- Audio recordings are stored as encrypted files; encryption keys are protected by the Android Keystore on your device.
- The app blocks screenshots and screen recording of its content by other apps.
- Your data is excluded from Android cloud backups.
Because your content exists only on your device, deleting the app (or clearing its data) permanently deletes all recordings, transcripts and notes. We cannot recover them for you — and that is by design.
8. Your rights and choices
- Access and portability — your notes are on your device; you can view, copy, or share them at any time.
- Deletion — delete individual notes in the app, or remove everything by uninstalling the app or clearing its data.
- Consent — crash reporting is off unless you turn it on, and you can withdraw consent at any time in Settings.
If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another region with data-protection laws, you may have additional statutory rights (such as access, rectification, erasure, and complaint to a supervisory authority). Since we do not hold your content, most of these rights are exercised directly on your device; for crash-report data, contact us and we will assist.
9. Children
Offhand is not directed at children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction), and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children.
10. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top and, for material changes affecting data leaving your device, ask for your consent again in the app. Continued use of the app after non-material updates constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.
11. Contact
Questions, requests, or concerns: dmytro@dmytrosamoilov.com.