Told by Me Privacy Policy
Effective October 30, 2026 ยท Published by The News Bakery LLC
Told by Me ("the app") is a private voice journal. You talk, and the app keeps the recording, turns it into text and writes a short summary. This policy explains what happens to what you say and type.
What the app stores
The app stores your recordings, their text, the summaries and key moments, titles, tags, things you want to bring up, and your settings. All of it is saved only on your device, in the app's private storage.
What we collect
Nothing. We do not collect, receive or store any of your recordings, words or other data. The app has no account, no sign-in, no server, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking, and it contains no third-party code that sends data anywhere. On Android the app does not even have permission to use the internet.
Speech to text and summaries happen on your device
Your recordings are turned into text on your device, by a speech model that ships inside the app or by your phone's own on-device speech recognition. On supported iPhones, a smart summary can be written by Apple's on-device AI model. These models are provided by Apple or are part of the app. They run on the phone, and your voice and your words never leave it. The app never uses a speech or AI service in the cloud.
Cloud backups
The app keeps its recordings and text out of iCloud Backup and out of Android's cloud backup and device transfer, so your journal is not copied to a cloud account by the app. To move to a new phone, you make a backup file yourself (see below).
When information leaves your device
Only when you choose to share it. A report PDF, a text file of your transcripts or a backup file is made on your device and goes only where you send it with your phone's share sheet, for example to a printer, an email, your files or a computer. Once you send it, the app or service you chose handles it under its own terms.
Permissions
The app asks for a permission only when you use the feature that needs it: the microphone to record, speech recognition on iPhone to turn recordings into text on the device, notifications for the daily check-in if you turn it on, and Face ID, Touch ID, fingerprint or your passcode if you turn on the app lock. The app never sees your fingerprint, face or passcode; your phone checks them and tells the app only whether it worked.
Reminders
The daily check-in is scheduled by your phone itself. No data is sent to a server to do this.
Purchases
You buy the app once from the App Store or Google Play. Apple or Google handles the payment under their own terms, and we never receive your payment details. The app has no in-app purchases and no subscriptions.
Deleting your data
You can delete any entry, delete only its audio, delete all audio, or delete everything from Settings. Uninstalling the app or clearing its storage removes everything. Backup files and reports you saved yourself stay where you saved them until you delete them. Because we never receive your data, there is nothing for us to delete.
Children
The app is meant for adults. It is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from anyone.
Not therapy or medical care
Told by Me is a private journal, not therapy or medical care. It does not give advice, diagnose or interpret what you say. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, US). If you are outside the US, contact your local emergency number.
Changes
If this policy changes, we will update this page and the effective date above.
Contact
Questions? Email chef@thenewsbakery.com.