Protect the person who talked to you.
A source's name and a complainant's account are the two things that must not turn up in a vendor's logs. Walkie's On-Device Mode transcribes interviews on your own machine, with no network request and nothing to hand over later.
You are handling a source's identity, off-the-record material, and the account a complainant only gave once because they were promised discretion, under source protection, and the promise of confidentiality you made before the interview started. Here's exactly where it goes, tier by tier — starting with the option that sends nothing at all.
Why on-device, and not just a good policy
You cannot be compelled to produce what you never created, and a transcription vendor cannot hand over logs it never received. On-Device Mode makes no network request, so a source's name in your notes exists in exactly one place: your machine, under your control.
What actually leaves your machine
Ranked from strongest to weakest — because these three guarantees don't mean the same thing.
The speech model runs on your own machine and makes no network request at all. There is no server to trust, no policy to read, and no log to audit — the audio has nowhere to go. This is unlimited and free forever, on every plan and with no account.
Audio is transcribed in the cloud under Zero Data Retention: the request is processed and the content is discarded when the response is returned. Walkie does not retain it. Providers are contractually bound not to train on it. Cloud Mode also sends the name of the app you are dictating into, and can send the text around the cursor so polish can format the sentence — you can switch that off. If even that is unacceptable, use On-Device Mode.
A meeting archive you can search later is, definitionally, stored. Recordings and transcripts live in your account until you delete them, and deletion is permanent. Walkie can capture and summarise a meeting entirely on-device on a Mac with Apple Intelligence — but recorded hours are metered the same either way, so on-device capture is a privacy decision, never a cheaper one.
What you would dictate
Dictate what was said and what you noticed, immediately after, while both are still sharp.
Write up a background conversation without routing the source's words through anyone else's servers.
Document a workplace interview the same day, in the neutral language the file will need later.
Talk the draft out. The version you say aloud usually has a better structure than the one you type.
Keep grievance and complaint records current without a second evening of typing.
Capture observations on a laptop with no connection, in airplane mode, anywhere.
What Walkie does not do
Procurement will ask. Here first.
- Walkie is HIPAA-ready, not HIPAA-certified, and does not sign Business Associate Agreements. If your work requires a BAA, On-Device Mode removes the question instead of answering it — there is no third party to cover.
- There is no SSO, SCIM provisioning, or admin console. If your security team works from a procurement checklist, Walkie will not fill in every row.
- Recording other people is a legal question that varies by jurisdiction and often turns on consent. Walkie captures your computer's audio without joining the participant list, which makes telling people you are recording your job, not the app's.
Questions
Not if there is nothing to hand over. In On-Device Mode no network request is made, so no vendor ever receives the audio or the transcript. Cloud Mode sends audio under Zero Data Retention, meaning content is discarded when the response returns — but On-Device Mode removes the question rather than answering it.
Yes, and it can capture and summarise entirely on-device on a Mac with Apple Intelligence. Recordings and transcripts are stored in your account until you delete them, and deletion is permanent. Walkie records your computer's audio without joining the participant list, so telling people you are recording is on you — and in many jurisdictions it is required.
On-Device Mode dictation works with no account at all, unlimited and free forever. If you would rather not have an account associated with your reporting, you do not need one.
Walkie handles 100+ languages, and you can choose from several on-device models depending on how much accuracy you need against how fast your machine is.