Privacy Policy, clir Voice

Last updated: November 8, 2026

1. Who we are, and what this covers

This policy covers our app clir Voice (the "App") for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, including its widgets, its share extension, and its Siri and Shortcuts actions. The App is provided by clir Technologies GmbH, Stremayrgasse 16, 8010 Graz, Austria (referred to as "clir", "we", "us"). We are the controller responsible for the personal data described in this policy. You can reach us at contact@clir.ai.

Our apps clir Focus and clir Hearing have their own privacy policy, and the clir.ai website has its own notice. The terms for using clir Voice are in the clir Voice terms of use.

2. The short version

• Your recordings stay on your devices. Recordings, imported audio and video, transcripts, speaker labels and voice fingerprints, titles, summaries and search are stored and processed on your device. Transcription, enhancement (Plus and Ultra), speaker labels and voice recognition, filler removal, and titles, summaries and Ask all run on the device; titles, summaries and Ask use Apple's on-device language model, not Apple's cloud (Private Cloud Compute). Nothing from a recording is uploaded or used to train AI models, and we have no access to it.
• Recording calls on the Mac is your responsibility. The App can record your microphone and your Mac's system audio, and if you choose, a screen or window. That includes other people on a call. It stays on your Mac and we never receive it. You must tell the other people and get any consent the law requires (see 3.11).
• Agents can share what they read. If you connect an AI agent on your Mac, the agent receives what you ask it to read, and it may share that with its provider under the provider's own terms (see 3.12). The App itself uploads nothing from a recording.
• Between your iPhone and Apple Watch, recordings travel end-to-end encrypted by Apple. Neither we nor Apple can read them.
• Recordings are left out of iCloud and computer backups unless you turn on "Back Up Recordings to iCloud".
• What does leave your device: your account details (your email address, and your name if you sign in with Apple or Google), your purchases (through Apple), your hours while you're signed in (what you have and which jobs used them, never anything from the recordings), usage statistics and crash reports (which you can switch off in the App), and the download of the App's AI models from our server.
• Refund requests only if you agree. If you ask Apple for a refund, we tell Apple how you used the purchase only if you turned that on. It is off by default.
• Our newsletter only if you say yes. The box at sign-up is unticked, and you can unsubscribe any time.
• No advertising SDKs and no tracking, and we never sell your personal data.

3. Data we process, and why

3.1 Recordings, imports and transcripts: on your device

Everything you record or import, and everything the App makes from it, is stored in the App's own storage on your device and processed there: the audio, the original video of an imported video, transcripts and their word timings, speaker labels, the names you give speakers and their voice fingerprints, your edits (removed fillers and tightened pauses), generated titles and summaries, and the search index. Searches and questions you ask run on your device too. We never receive any of it. Because it never leaves your device through the App, it is not "collected" within the meaning of data protection law.

The App asks for these permissions:

• Microphone (iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch): to record.
• Screen & System Audio Recording (Mac only): to record the sound of a meeting in Meeting Mode, and the screen or window you choose if you turn on Record Screen. The App keeps a picture of your screen only then.
• Speech recognition: only if you choose Apple's speech engine in the App. Apple's engine also runs on your device.
• Photos, add only: to save an exported video to your photo library when you choose "Save Video to Photos". The App can add videos but cannot see your library.

Audio and video you import from Files, Photos or other apps (for example with "Open in clir Voice" or the share sheet) are read on your device. When you choose a video from Photos, the system's picker runs outside the App: the App receives only the videos you pick and gets no access to your library. A recording, transcript or export leaves your device only when you share or export it yourself. "Copy Text" puts a transcript on this device's clipboard only, not on your other devices'.

While you record, the Lock Screen, the Dynamic Island and your Apple Watch show the recording's title and time. Caption words appear there only if you turn on "Captions on Lock Screen", which is off by default.

Apple Watch. The Watch app talks only to the App on your iPhone. Apple encrypts this traffic end to end with keys that only your paired devices hold; when they aren't near each other, Apple may relay it through its servers, still encrypted. A recording made on the Watch is deleted from the Watch once your iPhone has it.

Speaker labels and voice fingerprints. The App works out who spoke when on your device. For each speaker it keeps a voice fingerprint with the transcript: 256 numbers that describe how the voice sounds, which contain no words and can't be played back. When you name a speaker, the App saves the name with the fingerprint, so that it can suggest the name when the voice comes up in another recording. Fingerprints are made, stored and compared only on your device, and we never receive them. The library's Saved Speakers lists the voices you have named; forgetting one there deletes its fingerprint. Because a fingerprint can recognize a person, name and save only the voices of people who agree to it.

Notifications. The App's notifications (for example that a transcript is ready) are scheduled on your device. No push service is involved, and nothing about them is sent anywhere.

Backups. Your recordings, transcripts, exports and videos are excluded from iCloud and computer backups by default, so a lost or replaced iPhone takes them with it. If you turn on Captions & Speech → Backup → "Back Up Recordings to iCloud", your next backup includes them. An iCloud Backup is encrypted, but Apple holds the keys unless you have turned on Advanced Data Protection; a computer backup is encrypted only if you chose to encrypt it. The App's settings are always backed up; they contain no titles and no transcript text.

3.2 AI models and our model server

The App's AI models (speech recognition, filler detection, the Plus and Ultra enhancement, and speaker labels) are not built into the App. They are downloaded from our server once you agree to it, during setup ("Get clir Voice ready") or in Settings → Models; until then, the App doesn't contact our server at all. After that, the App checks our server for updated models when a download starts and at launch, at most every 12 hours.

These are plain file downloads. The App sends no account, installation or device identifier, no cookies and no other data with them. Our server receives your IP address and the standard information every request from an iOS app carries (the App's name and version, and the versions of iOS's network components). For each request it logs the IP address, the time, the requested file (which shows which model was downloaded), the response status, the size and that standard information. We use this to deliver the files and to operate and secure the server. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in delivering the models and running the server securely (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The server's logs are rotated daily and deleted after 14 days.

The server is a virtual server we rent from Hostinger International Ltd. in its data centre in Boston, USA (see sections 5 and 6). No audio and nothing about your recordings is involved: the models are downloaded, then run on your device. Before using a model, the App checks that it carries our signature and is exactly the file we published.

3.3 Apple's speech model

Only if you choose Apple's speech engine: iOS downloads Apple's speech model for your caption language once, so Apple learns which language that is. No audio is sent to Apple.

3.4 Account data

You can create an account with your email address and a password, with Sign in with Apple, or with your Google account. Accounts are run on Firebase Authentication (a Google service).

• Email and password: we process your email address and password. We also keep one account record in Google Cloud Firestore with your account ID, the fact that the account was created in clir Voice, and your device type ("iPhone"). Accounts created before October 2026 also hold the first and last name that the earlier sign-up form asked for.
• Sign in with Apple: the App asks Apple for your name and email address. Apple shares them only the first time you sign in, and lets you hide your real email address behind a relay address. We process the name and email address you share and Apple's sign-in identifier.
• Google: Google shares your name, email address and profile picture with Firebase Authentication.

We use this to operate your account, to keep your free previews and purchases tied to it, and to let you delete it. Legal basis: performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

3.5 Free previews

Each account can preview the Plus and Ultra enhancement on two recordings each. So that reinstalling the App doesn't reset this, we store with your account which recordings had a preview, as the App's random recording identifiers, never titles or anything from the recording. Legal basis: performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

3.6 Purchases

Subscriptions and purchases are processed entirely by Apple. We never receive your payment details. Apple confirms to the App what you bought so that it can unlock it. Before a purchase, while you are signed in, the App stores a purchase token together with your account ID and the App's installation ID (a random identifier for this installation of the App), so that the purchase can be tied to your account. Legal basis: performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

Apple also notifies our backend (Google Cloud Functions and Cloud Firestore) of each event in a subscription, for example a purchase, a renewal, a cancellation or a refund. Each notification contains the product, the price and currency, the App Store country, the dates, Apple's transaction identifiers and the purchase token, through which it is tied to your account. We use these notifications for our revenue statistics, to decide whether the discount below can be offered to you, and to recognise repeated refunds of purchases, using Apple's identifier for your Apple Account in this App. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in understanding our business and in preventing abuse (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

We may email you about a purchase or your account, for example to ask whether something isn't working after a refund request. These messages contain no advertising and need no newsletter consent. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in supporting our customers (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

If, when you cancel a subscription, the App offers you a discount and you accept it, our backend signs Apple's offer. The discount is available once a year: the backend checks Apple's notifications for whether you redeemed it in the past 12 months, and keeps a record of the offers it signed for your account (when, and for which product and offer). Legal basis: performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

If a purchase doesn't go through, the App may show you an offer for a few days. If you tap an offer that comes with a code, our backend gives this installation of the App, and your account if you are signed in, one App Store offer code, and stores which code went to which installation ID and account, and when, so that each gets only one. You redeem the code on Apple's page. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in offering you a discount (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

3.7 Your hours

The hours you use for transcripts, live captions and Plus belong to your account, so that every device you are signed in on shows the same balance and two devices can't spend the same hour. While you are signed in, our backend (Google Cloud Functions and Cloud Firestore) keeps:

• Your balance: where each hour came from (a plan, a pack or earlier credit), when it expires, the hours held for jobs in progress, and any hours used beyond your balance while offline.
• The jobs that use hours: for each transcript, live captions or Plus enhancement, a random job ID, the recording's random ID (never its title), the kind of job and how much recording time it covered. Nothing from the recording is sent.
• Your devices: for each one a random device ID that stays on that device, an installation number, the platform (iPhone or iPad), the model type (for example "iPhone17,1", not your device's name), the App's build number and when it last checked in.
• Your purchases: Apple's signed purchase records, which our backend checks itself, and which account each purchase belongs to.

Legal basis: performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

3.8 Refund requests

When you ask Apple for a refund, Apple may ask us, within 12 hours, how the purchase was used. We answer only if you agreed: in Settings → Refund Requests → "Tell Apple How Much I've Used" (off by default), or when the App asks you once after a purchase. Then we tell Apple that you agreed, that the purchase was delivered, that free samples were available, our view on the refund (that it be declined, unless we failed to deliver what you bought), and for a pack of hours or a Starter plan the share of its hours you used, taken from your hours (3.7) or, for a purchase not kept there, from the processing events in our usage statistics (3.9). Apple decides about the refund and keeps its own copy (privacy.apple.com).

We store each answer you give (yes or no, when, where you answered and the version of the wording) with the purchase tokens it covers, and each request Apple sends us (Apple's transaction identifiers, the product, the purchase date, Apple's reason code, the purchase token and installation ID it carries, and when it came). Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). You can withdraw it at any time in Settings, with effect for later requests.

3.9 Usage statistics and crash reports

These are on by default. Captions & Speech → Analytics → "Share Analytics & Crash Reports" turns everything in this section off at once, and also deletes crash reports not yet sent. While it is off, none of the following is collected.

• Google Analytics for Firebase receives events about how features are used, for example that a recording was saved and how long it was, that an enhancement or a transcription finished, or that store screens were shown. It never receives titles, transcript text, search queries, questions you ask or names. It also receives an app-instance identifier, your device model, your iOS and App version, your language, and a coarse location that Google derives from your IP address.
• Our own statistics in Cloud Firestore: the same kind of events, with a random installation ID instead of your account ID, and once a day per installation the total time used per feature. The events include how each purchase attempt ended (completed, cancelled, or failed and why) and which version of an offer you were shown after a purchase didn't go through. The purchase token described in 3.6 can link the installation ID to your account.
• Firebase Crashlytics receives crash reports with your device model and your iOS and App version, and no user ID. A crash report also includes the most recent Analytics events described above.

Legal basis: our legitimate interest in understanding how the App is used and keeping it stable (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

3.10 Our newsletter

We email you about new features, tips and offers for clir Voice only if you agree: by ticking the box when you create your account (it is unticked), by answering "Yes, email me" when the App asks once, or with Settings → Account → "Email Me News and Offers". Creating an account and using the App don't depend on it.

With your answer we store, in your account record: whether you agreed, where you answered (sign-up, the App's question or Settings), the version of the wording you agreed to, the time, your email address, your App Store country and the App's language. We keep every answer you give, so that we can show when and how you agreed or withdrew. We use your email address, your language and your App Store country to send these emails in your language and with offers that apply where you are. We add an address only if your account has confirmed it is yours (through Sign in with Apple, Google, or a verified email address). We send them from a clir.ai address through Buttondown (see section 5), which receives your email address, language and App Store country. We don't measure whether you open these emails or click their links.

You can withdraw your consent at any time, with effect for the future: turn the switch off in Settings → Account, use the unsubscribe link in any of these emails, or write to contact@clir.ai. Emails we must send to run your account, such as password resets or important changes to this policy, are not affected. Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, and § 174 of the Austrian Telecommunications Act 2021).

3.11 Recording calls on the Mac

In Meeting Mode, the App records two things at once and keeps them as separate tracks: your microphone, and the sound your Mac is playing. By default that is all of your Mac's sound except the App's own, so besides the people on the call it can include music, videos and notification sounds. You can limit it to the apps you choose.

If you turn on Record Screen, the App also records the screen or window you choose, for as long as it is on. That can show other people's faces and names, and whatever else appears there, such as notifications, messages and documents. It is stored and handled like the rest of the recording.

The recording is handled like any other: it is stored and processed on your Mac, it stays out of backups unless you turn them on, and we never receive it. The App transcribes both tracks on your Mac, labels your track as you, and works out on your Mac who spoke when on the other track. If you name a speaker, the App keeps that person's voice fingerprint (see 3.1), so name and save only the voices of people who agree to it.

Other people's voices are personal data. When you record a call, you decide to record those people, and you are responsible for that recording. We do not receive the recording and cannot see or control what you do with it. Before you record, tell everyone on the call and get any consent the law requires. Laws on recording conversations differ by country and region, and in many places recording without the consent of everyone taking part is illegal. Some services and employers have their own rules as well. If you use recordings beyond purely personal purposes, data protection law may make you responsible for them as a controller.

The App reminds you of this when you first use Meeting Mode. It doesn't tell the other people on the call that you are recording, and the call service may not show them that it is happening either.

3.12 Agents on the Mac (MCP)

You can let AI agents on your Mac, such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, use the App through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This is off until you turn it on in Settings → Agents. The connection stays on your Mac: the App opens no network port and sends nothing itself.

An agent can read what you ask it to, including transcripts and the files you export for it. An agent may share that data with its provider, whose servers may be outside the EU, under the provider's own terms and privacy policy. Many agents send what they read to their provider to work at all. That is between you and the provider, and we are not responsible for it. Check before you connect an agent to recordings of other people, and get any consent that requires.

When an agent works on a file you name, the App keeps a temporary copy of its audio, called an Agent Job, in the App's own storage on your Mac. Each is deleted 7 days after an agent last used it, and you can delete them sooner in Settings → Agents → Agent Jobs. Your original file stays where it is. The first time, the App asks you to choose a folder agents may use, and you can remove it there too.

3.13 AI actions and meeting notes

Summaries, meeting notes, and the actions you run on a transcript, including ones you write yourself, use Apple's on-device language model where your device supports it. The text and your instructions are processed on your device and are not sent to us or to Apple's cloud (Private Cloud Compute). Results and your saved actions are stored on your device with the recording. Generated text can be wrong.

3.14 Contact Support

If you use Contact Support in the App, your email address, title and question reach us by email through Google Workspace (Gmail), with the App's version, your device model, system version, language, plan and hours left, and your account ID if you're signed in, so that we can answer you (Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR). No recordings or transcripts are included. To protect the form against bots and floods, we keep a scrambled form of your IP address and email address in counters that are deleted automatically within two days.

4. What we do not collect

We never receive your recorded calls, your screen recordings or anything about the people on them. We never receive your audio, your transcripts, your voice fingerprints, your recording titles or anything else from your recordings. The App does not collect your contacts, your photo library, your precise location, health data or the advertising identifier (IDFA). There is no tracking and no tracking prompt.

5. Recipients of data

We use the following processors and recipients:

• Google LLC / Google Ireland Ltd.: Firebase Authentication, Google Sign-In, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Functions, Analytics, Crashlytics, Google Workspace (Gmail) for support requests (policies.google.com/privacy)
• Apple Inc. / Apple Distribution International Ltd.: App distribution, payment processing, Sign in with Apple, Apple's speech model, and our answers to refund requests if you agreed to them (apple.com/legal/privacy)
• Hostinger International Ltd.: hosting of our model server in Boston, USA (hostinger.com/legal/privacy-policy)
• Buttondown, LLC: sending our newsletter, only to people who agreed to it (buttondown.com/legal/privacy)

Each third party listed above is bound by written data-processing or data-protection terms with us that require it to provide the same or equal protection of your data as this policy does, to process it only for the purposes described here, and to apply confidentiality and security obligations at least equivalent to our own; we do not share data with any third party that does not meet that standard.

Nothing from your recordings is shared with any of them, or with anyone else. We do not sell personal data to anyone.

6. International transfers

Some of the providers above process data in the United States. Transfers to Google are protected by the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and/or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, which are designed to ensure that your data continues to receive a level of protection essentially equivalent to the one it has in the European Economic Area. Our model server is in the USA: transfers to Hostinger are protected by the Standard Contractual Clauses in Hostinger's data processing agreement. Buttondown is in the USA: transfers to Buttondown are protected by the Standard Contractual Clauses in Buttondown's data processing agreement.

7. How long we keep data

• Account data: until you delete your account. Delete Account in the App deletes your sign-in, your account record, your preview record and the links between your purchases and your account. You can also email contact@clir.ai.
• Your answers about the newsletter: until you delete your account, so that we can show your consent or that you withdrew it. Withdrawing doesn't delete them; deleting your account does.
• Our usage statistics carry no account ID, so deleting your account doesn't delete them. They are deleted automatically 25 months after they were recorded.
• Your hours: until you delete your account. Deleting it deletes your remaining hours; we keep a minimal record of each purchase (which account it credited, and with what) so that a refund or a restore can't credit the deleted hours again. Records of individual jobs are deleted after 400 days.
• Your answers about refund requests and Apple's requests: they are tied to purchases, not to your account, so deleting your account doesn't delete them. There is currently no automatic deletion period for them; you can ask us to delete them at contact@clir.ai.
• Apple's subscription notifications and records of discount offers and offer codes: they are tied to your account, but deleting your account doesn't delete them. There is currently no automatic deletion period for them; you can ask us to delete them at contact@clir.ai.
• Support requests: as long as answering you and any follow-up require.
• Analytics data: retained by Google Analytics for Firebase for up to 14 months.
• Crash reports: retained for approximately 90 days.
• Model server logs: deleted after 14 days.
• Data stored on your device (recordings, imports, transcripts, settings): kept until you delete it in the App or remove the App from your device. We cannot access or delete it for you. iCloud backups, if you turned them on, are kept according to Apple's rules.

8. Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to access, rectify, and erase your personal data, the right to restrict or object to processing, the right to data portability, and the right to withdraw any consent at any time with effect for the future. To exercise these rights, email contact@clir.ai. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular the Austrian Data Protection Authority (Datenschutzbehörde, dsb.gv.at).

California residents: we do not sell or share personal information. We do not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.

9. Children

The App is not directed at children under 13 (or the higher minimum age of digital consent in your country), and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you believe a child has provided us personal data, contact us at contact@clir.ai and we will delete it.

10. Security

All data in transit is protected with TLS. The App checks every model it downloads against our signature before using it, so a model can't be swapped on its way to you. Traffic between your iPhone and Apple Watch is end-to-end encrypted by Apple. Data at rest is stored with the reputable providers listed in section 5, protected by access controls and industry-standard safeguards.

11. Changes to this policy

We will post any changes on this page with an updated date. If a change is material, we will additionally inform you in the App before it takes effect.

12. Contact

clir Technologies GmbH
Stremayrgasse 16, 8010 Graz, Austria
contact@clir.ai