Compliance questions
What a compliance review needs to know about Parrot Scribe
The Parrot Scribe app records, transcribes and stores meetings on your Mac. We, the app’s maker and seller, never receive your audio or transcripts, so there is no transcription processor to assess. Whether your use meets GDPR, HIPAA or a client agreement is your organization’s determination. This page states what the product does, so you can make it.
Does Parrot Scribe work on an air-gapped network?
Yes, once the app’s models are on the Mac. Recording, transcription and the encrypted library work with no network connection, and free personal use needs no license.
Download the models while the Mac still has a connection. Recording needs the speech model for your language setting and two speaker models. The app fetches them from downloads.parrotscribe.com and uses a file only when its size and SHA-256 checksum match. Changing the language setting can need another speech model.
Works without a network
- Recording the microphone and the Mac’s system audio.
- Transcription and telling speakers apart, with on-device models.
- Searching, playing back and exporting sessions in the library.
Needs a network
- The first model download, and any later one for a different language setting.
- Activating Pro. By default, the app revalidates a Pro license online every 30 days, with 7 days of grace. After that, Pro features stop until the license is revalidated online. Transcription itself does not need a license.
- Buying Pro in the app, which opens our payment provider’s checkout.
- Listing or deactivating the Macs on a Pro license.
- Checking for and installing updates, including automatic checks when they are on.
- Sending feedback from the app.
- iCloud Keychain, if it is on, when it carries the master secret to another Mac.
- A cloud-based AI app you connect through MCP, which talks to its own provider.
Does Parrot Scribe keep meeting data on the device for GDPR?
The Parrot Scribe app processes and stores audio and transcripts on your Mac. We never receive them, so there is no transcription processor to assess. Whether your use meets GDPR is your organization’s determination.
The app does not upload or sync session transcripts, retained audio or session metadata. These are the parts a GDPR review may still want to record:
- For Pro licensing and device management, the app sends us license and device information through hosted services: the license key, a hash of the hardware ID, the Mac’s name and model, and the macOS and app versions.
- Buying Pro in the app opens our payment provider’s checkout, where you enter your purchase details.
- Feedback you send us from the app carries your message, an optional reply address, and the app and macOS versions.
- The app downloads its models and checks for updates at downloads.parrotscribe.com.
- Free personal use needs no account and has no telemetry.
- Voice recognition stays off until you turn it on, and the app asks before saving each voice profile. You can remove a speaker and their saved voice profile.
- Deleting a session removes its current records and audio from the library. Copies in backups, exports or the original 1.0.x library may remain readable, so keep them under your own retention policy.
- An AI app you connect through MCP is its own processor. A cloud-based AI app sends the transcript content it reads to its provider. MCP is a Pro feature and is off until you enable it.
Is Parrot Scribe safe for confidential client meetings?
The Parrot Scribe app keeps the recording and transcript of a client meeting on your Mac, and no bot joins the call. We never receive either, so we cannot leak or hand them over. Whether the app fits your confidentiality duties is your organization’s determination.
- The app records your microphone and the Mac’s system audio, so it hears a call in any app. Nothing joins the participant list.
- Sessions are saved in an encrypted library on your disk. Exports and files you share are plaintext at the destination you choose.
- Each AI app you connect gets its own token and the permissions you choose. A cloud-based AI app sends what it reads to its provider.
- Recording laws differ between countries and states, and many organizations have their own rules. Tell people you are transcribing, and get consent where it is required.
Is Parrot Scribe an encrypted meeting transcription app for Mac?
Yes. The Parrot Scribe app encrypts the session records, retained audio, settings, folders, speaker information and AI-app grants in its library with XChaCha20-Poly1305.
- A random 32-byte master secret lives in the macOS Keychain. HKDF-SHA256 derives the library key from it, and each sealed record has a fresh random 24-byte nonce.
- We have no server-side copy of the master secret. A 24-word Recovery Key encodes it, so you can restore it without iCloud Keychain.
- If iCloud Keychain is on, Apple can carry the master secret to another Mac signed in to the same Apple Account. This does not copy library content.
- A small plaintext index holds session IDs and start times, not transcript text, titles or speaker names. Filenames and file sizes are visible to someone who can read the data folder.
Encryption at rest does not protect content from software that can access your unlocked account or the running app. Audio and transcripts exist in memory while the app captures, transcribes, searches, displays, exports or plays them. The encryption guide describes the design and its limits.
Can Parrot Scribe transcribe on a Mac without the cloud for HIPAA work?
The Parrot Scribe app transcribes on the Mac with on-device speech models and sends no audio to a transcription server. We never receive the audio or transcript. Whether a deployment meets HIPAA is your organization’s determination.
- Exports and files you share are plaintext at the destination you choose. Deleting a session does not remove copies in independent backups or exported files.
- A cloud-based AI app connected through MCP sends what it reads to its provider. Assess that provider on its own terms.
- The app runs on Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 15 or later.
FAQ
Can the maker of Parrot Scribe see my meetings?
No. The Parrot Scribe app transcribes on your Mac, and your recordings and transcripts are never sent to us.
What does the Parrot Scribe app send over the network?
For Pro licensing and device management, the app sends us license and device information. Buying Pro in the app opens our payment provider’s checkout. The app also downloads its models and updates, and sends us feedback when you submit it. The app does not upload or sync session transcripts, retained audio or session metadata.
What changes when I connect an AI app?
The AI app receives the transcript content it reads. A cloud-based AI app can send that content to its provider, so it is its own processor to assess. MCP is a Pro feature and is off until you enable it.
Do I need permission to record a conversation?
Often, yes. Recording laws differ between countries and states, and many organizations have their own rules. Tell people you are transcribing, and get consent where it is required.