Audio Retention

Retention Policies

You can configure retention in Settings -> Retention.

Retention exposes two related controls:

• Transcript Retention - How long session transcripts and metadata are kept
• Audio Retention - Whether retained audio is stored, and for how long

When you tighten transcript retention, Parrot Scribe calculates and shows impact before you apply changes.

Encrypted Storage

Retained audio is stored as encrypted data on your local disk.

• No Plaintext: Audio files are never stored in a standard playable format (like MP3 or WAV) on your disk.
• AES-256-GCM: Each audio chunk is encrypted using AES-256-GCM with keys managed by the macOS Secure Enclave.
• Chunked Data: Audio is broken into small, encrypted segments, making it impossible to reconstruct without the app and your device's unique hardware keys.

Device-Bound Nature

Your audio data and the keys required to decrypt it are bound to your specific Mac.

• No Cloud Sync: Audio recordings are not synced to iCloud or any other cloud service.
• Non-Portable: Moving the encrypted data folder to another Mac will not allow the audio to be played, as the decryption keys reside in the original device's Secure Enclave.
• Backup Considerations: Retained audio is excluded from standard backups and remains tied to local key material on your Mac.

Manual Deletion

You can disable audio retention from Settings -> Retention.

When disabling audio retention, Parrot Scribe prompts for confirmation and removes retained audio across stored sessions.

Learn More

If you want the technical details behind retention behavior:

• read Apple Secure Enclave for the hardware-backed root of trust context
• read Encryption Architecture for Secure Enclave, key separation, and encrypted storage details
• review Privacy Model for the product-level privacy stance
• continue to Local Architecture Rationale for the trust-boundary and local-first design logic