Oral Journal
Oral Journal lets you keep a personal journal by speaking instead of typing. Your recordings are transcribed and saved so you can read them back later. This policy explains, in plain terms, exactly what the app collects, where it goes, and the control you have over it.
At a glance
Oral Journal is an independently developed app. In this policy, “we,” “us,” and “the app” refer to the developer of Oral Journal. If you have any questions, you can reach us at the email address at the bottom of this page.
We only collect what the app needs to work. We do not ask for your name, and there is no password-based account.
| Data | Why we collect it | Where it's stored |
|---|---|---|
| Voice recordings | They are your journal entries; we transcribe and save them so you can listen again. | Amazon Web Services (private storage) |
| Transcripts | The written version of each recording, shown to you in the app. | Amazon Web Services (private database) |
| Location (optional) | To label where an entry was recorded, only if you grant location permission. | Stored with the entry on AWS |
| Account ID | A label you choose so your entries stay grouped together on your device. | Stored with your entries on AWS |
| Date & time | To organize entries by day. | Stored with the entry on AWS |
The microphone is used only while you are actively recording an entry. Location is read only at the moment you record, and only if you have granted permission — you can decline and still use the app.
Oral Journal does not use traditional sign-in. Instead you pick a simple account ID — any label you like — which keeps your entries grouped together. It is not verified and is not tied to your real identity. Anyone who enters the same account ID on the same app can reach the entries saved under it, so choose an ID that isn't easy to guess if privacy matters to you.
To turn your speech into text and to create the optional daily summaries, your recordings and transcripts are sent to OpenAI, which provides the transcription and summarization technology. OpenAI processes this content only to return the result to the app. Per OpenAI's API terms, content sent through the API is not used to train its models.
All of your entries are stored in the app's own private cloud infrastructure on Amazon Web Services (AWS), located in the United States.
Oral Journal lets you send a transcript or a daily summary to other apps on your device — for example Apple's Journal app, Notes, Messages, or email — using the standard iOS share sheet. This happens only when you choose to share. Once you send content to another app, that content is governed by that app's own terms and privacy policy, not this one.
You can speak your entries in any language that OpenAI's transcription supports; the app transcribes whatever language you record in.
Your entries stay stored so they remain available to you across your devices until you delete them. You can delete any entry from within the app, which removes its recording and transcript from our storage.
Your data is transmitted over encrypted connections (HTTPS) and stored in access-controlled cloud storage. No method of transmission or storage is ever completely secure, but we take reasonable measures to protect your information.
Oral Journal is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them. If you believe a child has used the app, contact us and we will remove the associated data.
If this policy changes, we will update the date at the top of this page. Continued use of the app after an update means you accept the revised policy.