Audio Retention

Version: This guide describes Parrot Scribe 1.1.0.

Retention Controls

Configure audio retention in Settings > Output.

• Retain audio recordings: keep audio for sessions in Library. Retained audio enables Library playback and post-session speaker identification.
• Keep audio for and Or up to: remove audio older than a time limit or beyond a storage size. The oldest audio is removed first.

Sessions and their transcripts stay in Library until you delete them. Audio retention never deletes a transcript, speaker names or comments.

Retained recordings can be compressed after processing. Playback and speaker analysis use the compressed audio; running speaker analysis again on a compressed recording tells you it hears lower fidelity.

Reviewing a Shorter Limit

When a shorter time or size limit would remove existing audio, Parrot Scribe shows the number of affected recordings and how much stored audio would be removed.

• Apply saves the limit and removes that audio now.
• Cancel changes nothing.

A limit that removes nothing right away applies without a confirmation. If the recordings or settings change while the review is open, nothing is applied; choose the limit again to review the new effect. If cleanup cannot remove every file, the limit stays saved. Parrot Scribe reports successful and failed cleanup counts; failed cleanup may already have removed some audio.

Upgrading from 1.0.x

Automatic transcript expiry and keeping uncompressed audio are not part of 1.1.0. If your 1.0.x settings used either one, Parrot Scribe shows a notice after the upgrade. Got it acknowledges it; Remind me next launch shows it again next time. Acknowledging changes no recording or retention policy and leaves the original 1.0.x library and its preferences intact.

Encrypted Audio Storage

Retained audio is stored only in encrypted form, sealed with XChaCha20-Poly1305 under the library key. See Encryption for the key hierarchy and its limits.

Audio exists as plaintext in memory while Parrot Scribe captures, transcribes or plays it. Exporting audio writes a plaintext file to the destination you choose.

Parrot Scribe does not sync or upload retained audio. A copied library needs the matching master secret, from iCloud Keychain or the 24-word Recovery Key. The Recovery Key cannot recreate missing audio. See Backups and Moving to Another Mac.

Deletion

Turning off Retain audio recordings asks you to type DELETE, then removes retained audio from every session. New recordings then keep no audio. Transcripts stay.

Deleting audio in 1.1.0 does not remove the preserved 1.0.x library, independent backups or exported files.

Learn More

• Read Encryption for encrypted storage details.
• Review Privacy Model for the product-level privacy stance.