At a glance
LAPEL Notes records, transcribes and organises conversations on your iPhone. No LAPEL account is required. The app has no advertising or analytics SDKs and no app-owned inference server. Audio recording and transcription happen on device. Summaries and answers use on-device Apple Intelligence by default.
This policy covers the LAPEL Notes app, lapelnotes.com and support correspondence. Contact us at support@lapelnotes.com.
Your recordings and notes
The app stores recordings and imported audio, transcripts, speaker labels and names, edited transcript versions, summaries, actions and saved questions and answers in its local vault. Microphone permission is used to record when you ask it to. Speech models are bundled with the app.
Conversation metadata is encrypted using AES-GCM, with a key held in the device-only iOS Keychain. Audio files use iOS Data Protection. Active recording and recovery files use protection settings that allow recording to continue while the phone is locked. These are separate protections; audio is not wrapped in the metadata vault’s AES encryption.
Optional Ollama processing
If you select an Ollama server, the app sends the transcript text, speaker labels, questions and intermediate summaries needed for summaries and answers to that server. Library-wide questions can include passages from multiple recordings. Names or other personal information spoken in a conversation remain in the text. Audio is not sent to Ollama.
You choose and control the server. Its operator, configuration and retention practices determine what happens to text there. The app checks for local models, does not silently switch servers after a failure, and stores an optional gateway token in the device-only Keychain.
Public connections require HTTPS. You can explicitly allow unencrypted HTTP on a trusted local network. Optional server discovery probes local addresses without sending your recordings, transcripts, questions or token; connection checks use a synthetic message.
Backups, exports and deletion
There is no automatic iCloud sync or backup of the vault. Removing the app can remove its local recordings and notes. You can export an encrypted backup containing audio and meeting data. It has a separate recovery key that you must keep safely; we cannot recover that key or your device vault key. Restoring a backup adds copies and starts their retention period again.
You can delete recordings in the app. By default they remain until you delete them. Optional retention rules remove eligible recordings during the app’s retention checks; items in use may be removed on a later check. Deleting a recording does not delete copies you previously exported, shared or backed up.
When you export audio, notes, transcripts or PDFs, the recipients and services you choose handle those copies under their own terms. Store and share exports carefully.
Apple purchases and managed devices
Apple processes App Store payments and subscriptions. The app checks signed Apple transactions to unlock purchased features and restore purchases. We do not receive your full payment-card details or operate a purchase-verification server.
If an organisation manages your device, its policy can set retention, require on-device processing or restrict export options. Organisation licences are verified offline. Your organisation’s own policies also apply to its use of the app and any server it provides.
The website and support
This website does not use advertising trackers, analytics scripts or cookies for profiling. Its guided example uses synthetic content and does not record audio or send questions to an AI service. Assets are served with the site.
Our hosting provider may process technical request information, such as IP address, requested page, browser information and time, to deliver and protect the website. When you email support, we receive your email address, message and any attachments you choose to send. We use these to respond, resolve issues and meet applicable obligations. Please avoid sending private recordings unless needed for your request.
Hosting and email providers process this information to operate those services, potentially in other countries. Support correspondence is kept for as long as needed to handle the request and any applicable legal or record-keeping obligations.
Your choices and requests
You control microphone permission in iOS Settings, the processing provider in the app, and the recordings you retain or export. We cannot access your on-device vault to retrieve or delete its contents for you.
For access, correction or deletion requests concerning information you have sent us, or questions about privacy, email support@lapelnotes.com. We will handle requests under applicable law. You may also have the right to complain to your local privacy regulator.
We may update this policy as the product changes. The date above identifies the current version; material changes will be communicated where required.