Privacy is OpenWhisp's whole point, so we treat it as a security property.

• Transcription is 100% on-device. Audio is captured locally, written to a temporary WAV in ~/Library/Caches/com.openwhisp.app/, transcribed by whisper.cpp on your Mac, and the WAV is deleted after each transcription.
• No telemetry. OpenWhisp sends no analytics, crash reports, or usage data.
• The one network call made by default is the update check. OpenWhisp uses Sparkle to check for new versions. On a scheduled interval (once a day) it fetches a small signed feed (appcast.xml) over HTTPS. What it sends: only your app version and macOS version (standard HTTP request headers Sparkle adds). System profiling is deliberately disabled (SUEnableSystemProfiling is not set), so no hardware/usage profile is ever sent. No dictation text, audio, or personal data is involved. Updates are EdDSA-signed — OpenWhisp refuses to install one whose signature doesn't match the public key baked into the app — and official builds are additionally Developer ID signed and notarized by Apple. Turn the check off entirely in Settings → General → Software Update (then it never contacts the network on its own); see docs/AUTO_UPDATE.md for the full pipeline.
• The only egress of your dictated text is optional AI post-processing with the OpenAI (cloud) provider. If you use the local provider (llama.cpp / Ollama), text stays on your machine / LAN. If AI post-processing is off, no text leaves the device. The Settings → Status panel shows the current state.
• Secrets (the OpenAI API key) are stored in the macOS Keychain, never in plain text.
• Secure fields (password fields) are detected and OpenWhisp refuses to dictate into, insert, or store their contents.

Because OpenWhisp is open source you don't have to take our word for it:

# Watch for any network activity by OpenWhisp while you dictate. It should be
# silent except for the daily Sparkle update check (and the OpenAI cloud provider
# if you enabled it). Disable Settings → General → Software Update to see zero egress:
nettop -p "$(pgrep -x OpenWhisp)"

You can also read the relevant code: audio capture (OpenWhisp/Services/AudioRecorder.swift), the WAV deletion and HTTP calls (OpenWhisp/Services/WhisperEngine.swift), the only outbound text endpoint (OpenWhisp/Services/OpenAITranslationService.swift), and the auto-update wiring (OpenWhisp/Services/UpdaterManager.swift, OpenWhisp/Services/UpdatePreferences.swift, and the SU* keys in OpenWhisp/Info.plist).

If you find a security or privacy issue (e.g. a path where audio/text could leak off-device unexpectedly), please do not open a public issue. Instead, report it privately via GitHub's "Report a vulnerability" (Security → Advisories) on the repository, or open a minimal private channel with the maintainer.

Please include: macOS version, OpenWhisp version, the engine/provider in use, and clear reproduction steps. We aim to acknowledge reports promptly.

OpenWhisp is pre-1.0; security fixes target the latest main / latest release.