Your words,
handled with care.
This page describes the Mac and Windows apps, Cadence’s managed service, and website accounts. Updated 1 November 2026.
What leaves your Mac
Dictation is transcribed on your Mac or PC by NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 (Mac 0.3.34 and Windows 1.2.40 and later), so your recording isn’t uploaded. Cadence receives only the number of words and seconds of each dictation, for your weekly allowance. Spoken Refine instructions are transcribed the same way. Voice input for Chat can send audio to Cadence’s service for speech recognition. Rewriting sends selected text, your instruction and enabled vocabulary. Ask Cadence (⌃⌥A on a Mac, Ctrl + Alt + K on Windows) sends your question with the name of the app you asked in, its window title and the text you had selected there; you can remove that before sending, and password fields and blocked apps send nothing. Annotate sends a picture of the area you circle, any text read from it on your device, and your question; Translate sends only the circled text. Optional dictation cleanup sends the transcript for rewriting, unless it is cleaned up on your device: by S1-mini by Superwhisper on your Windows PC (Light, English; Windows 1.2.45 and later), or by Apple Intelligence on your Mac (macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence turned on; Mac 0.3.40 and later). Cadence needs an internet connection for these features.
Our managed service uses Vercel AI Gateway and its configured AI model providers, including Microsoft for speech recognition and Google for writing, to process these requests. Their processing and retention policies apply too. Cadence does not promise end-to-end encryption or universal zero retention. See Vercel’s privacy policy.
Website sign-in uses a Clerk browser session. Account and billing requests use the same Cadence identity as the app. Stripe handles checkout and subscription management; the website does not store your payment card details.
Older versions with Cadence Agent
Cadence for Windows 1.2.45 and earlier and Cadence for Mac 0.3.40 and earlier include Cadence Agent. If you use it, your request, command output and the readable text of the app windows it works in are sent to your configured writing provider, and voice mode sends your voice to Cadence’s service. It reads apps through Accessibility, never as a picture of the screen, and skips secure fields and blocked apps; its command and control backend keeps this content in memory and doesn’t add it to disk logs. Its terminal commands run with your normal operating-system permissions, and connectors you add receive what the Agent sends them, under their own policies.
What stays on your Mac
Recording begins when you trigger it. The microphone test is local. Audio uses memory and private temporary files removed after use, cancellation or failure. History keeps the text of your dictations, the app each one went to and its window title on this computer, so you can search them later. It is on by default from Mac 0.3.42 and Windows 1.2.48, starts with those versions, is never sent to Cadence and stays until you delete it. Delete a single dictation on the History page, or turn History off or delete all of it in Settings → Privacy. Text in password fields and blocked apps isn’t saved. Rewrites aren’t saved, and recovery text stays in memory until it is dismissed. Preferences, vocabulary, presets and blocked-app choices stay on your Mac.
Sign-in sessions are saved in macOS Keychain. Signing out removes the saved session from this Mac. It does not erase preferences, remove your account or cancel a subscription. Cadence uses redacted diagnostics for stages and errors, without recording your dictation or selected text in application logs.
Account and usage information
Clerk handles Google and email sign-in, including verification and session information. Cadence stores the Clerk issuer and user ID linked to an internal customer record, together with usage information needed to provide access. The service does not persist your email address; verified email can be returned to the app for account display. See Clerk’s privacy policy.
The Cadence service does not persist recordings, selected text or generated output. It stores account references, usage counts and processing reservations. Usage records older than 31 days are removed by scheduled cleanup. Account records remain until explicitly removed. The service uses a connecting IP transiently for rate limiting, without storing it in the customer database or application logs.
Payments and hosting
Stripe handles checkout, payment details and invoices. Cadence stores customer and subscription references, status and billing dates, but does not receive full card numbers. Vercel hosts the website, and Cloudflare hosts the Cadence service. Both process network requests. These providers have their own policies: Stripe and Cloudflare.
Windows app
The current Windows app supports managed Cadence accounts and optional providers you configure. Provider processing, retention and billing policies apply. Provider keys and saved sign-in credentials use Windows-protected local storage. The Claude Code sessions shown in the sidebar are read from Claude Code’s own files on your PC and never sent anywhere. Dictation runs on your PC; other AI features can send the content described above to their configured service. See the Windows setup guide.
Support
Support messages, the email address you provide, and any attachments you choose to send are stored in Help Scout for the Cadence support team. Replies are sent from support@usecadence.app, and your replies are kept in the same conversation. The contact widget loads after you agree and open it; Help Scout also processes browser information needed to operate the widget. Recordings and diagnostic logs are not attached automatically. The Cadence website does not store new support messages in its own database. Reports submitted before this change may remain in Linear until removed under the support team’s retention process. See Help Scout’s privacy policy.
Your controls and requests
You can revoke Microphone or Accessibility access in macOS System Settings, block apps in Cadence, and sign out. For account deletion or other data questions, contact support from the email associated with your account. We may need to verify your identity. Billing records may need to be retained separately; use Manage billing to cancel a subscription.
Never include passwords, verification codes, API keys or private recordings in a support report.