As ToldYour writing stays yours.
No sign-up, no cloud library of your writing, and voice that is transcribed faithfully and not kept. This page explains exactly what that means.
Last updated · August 2026
The short version
- No account. There’s no sign-up, email, or password to write something down.
- Your notes stay on your device. They’re stored locally on your iPhone. There is no cloud copy and no sync.
- Voice leaves the device only when you ask. A recording is sent for transcription only when you choose to transcribe it, and only after you agree the first time.
- OpenAI does the transcription. As Told sends the recording through its own transcription service to OpenAI. Nothing else from your note goes with it.
- Your content isn’t logged. No audio, transcript, note text, or search query is written to As Told’s logs. Ordinary connection information is handled by the service that hosts it.
- Optional Face ID. Lock the app, and your notes are covered in the app switcher until you unlock.
Where your notes live
Your note library is kept locally, in the app’s own storage on your iPhone. As Told doesn’t require an account and doesn’t sync your notes to a server you don’t control. Because there’s no account, there is nothing tying your notes to an identity.
Search and the calendar run against your own device, which is also why they stay fast and work without a connection. In this version there is no built-in sync or backup service — the device backups you already use are the way to keep a copy.
If a future version adds optional device-to-device sync, it will be exactly that — optional, clearly explained, and off unless you turn it on.
Voice & transcription
Recording a voice note keeps the audio on your iPhone. It leaves the device only when you choose to transcribe it — and the first time that would happen, As Told tells you and waits for your answer. If you decline, the recording is deleted and nothing is sent.
When you continue, As Told sends that recording securely to OpenAI, through the As Told transcription service, for one purpose: turning your speech into text. No title, existing note text, search history, or other note content is included — the service receives the recording, a fixed set of transcription instructions, and allowed-language hints, and nothing else.
The recording on your iPhone is deleted once the transcript arrives. As Told does not keep the recording or the transcript on its side after the request finishes. OpenAI’s API documentation states that its audio transcription endpoint does not retain customer content for abuse monitoring or application state.
What is written down. As Told’s transcription service logs only technical metadata needed to run reliably — a request identifier, the response status, how long it took, the model used, and the size and length of the audio. It does not log your audio, your transcript, your note title, your note text, or your search queries. The infrastructure that hosts the service handles ordinary connection information, such as an IP address, to keep it available and to prevent abuse.
Keeping the service from being abused. Transcription requests are checked with Apple’s App Attest to confirm they come from a genuine copy of As Told. That check identifies the app, not you, and is not linked to your notes.
Your speech is transcribed in your own words. Natural punctuation, capitalization, and paragraph breaks are added so a spoken thought reads like written language — but As Told does not translate, summarize, rewrite, polish, or grammar-correct what you said. The transcript is meant to be what you actually spoke — in English, Telugu, Hindi, or a natural mix — inserted directly into your note as ordinary, editable text.
Plenty of apps say “nothing ever leaves your device” and quietly mean “except this.” Voice is the one place where something does, so it is said plainly, at the only honest moment: before the audio is sent.
Face ID & the app switcher
You can optionally require Face ID (or your device passcode) to open As Told. It is off unless you turn it on. Authentication is handled by Apple’s Local Authentication framework — As Told is told whether you succeeded, and never receives your biometric data. When the lock is on and the app leaves the screen, your note content is covered before iOS takes its app-switcher snapshot, so your writing isn’t left visible behind the lock.
Your name and settings
The name on your profile is optional and stored only on your device. It isn’t an account, it isn’t sent anywhere, and you can leave it blank. Your theme choice and lock setting are local in the same way.
Advertising, tracking, and analytics
As Told carries no advertising and no tracking. There is no analytics SDK in the app, and no third-party software development kit of any kind. Nothing you write is used to build a profile of you or to target anything at you. If product analytics are ever added, they will never include your note text, transcript text, audio, or search queries.
Children
As Told is a general-audience notes app and isn’t directed at children, and it doesn’t collect personal information to build a profile of anyone.
Changes to this page
If these practices change, this page and the date at the top are updated. Material changes will be reflected before a new version relies on them.
Questions about privacy?
There is no support queue to wait in, and two places that answer straight away: the questions on Support, and the app’s own reference — tap Aa in the writing toolbar and choose Writing help. If neither covers it, that is a gap in this page.