Lingua Live ("the app") works on your device by default. The free version never sends your speech or text to us. Data only leaves your device when you use Lingua Live Cloud (included in Pro and Premium) or an online service you add yourself. We do not show ads, do not track you across apps, and do not sell data.
What stays on your device
Transcripts, translations, summaries, history and favorites are stored only in the app's local database. Deleting the app deletes them.
Audio from the microphone is processed in memory and is never saved to a file.
API keys you enter are stored in the iOS Keychain on this device and are not synced.
Your free daily listening time is counted on the device (in the Keychain).
Lingua Live Cloud (Pro and Premium)
When Lingua Live Cloud is selected as an engine (the default for subscribers):
Audio you record while listening is sent to our server for speech recognition, and text is sent for translation, summaries and questions about a recording. Our server forwards it to our AI processing provider to produce the result and returns it to you. We do not store your audio, transcripts or translations. Our provider processes the data on our behalf, does not use it to train models, and may keep it for a limited time for abuse monitoring as required by its terms.
Account: if you sign in with Apple we receive a stable Apple user identifier and, if you choose to share it, your email address (or Apple's private relay address). If you subscribe without signing in, your account is identified by your App Store transaction ID.
Subscription: we receive the signed App Store transaction for your subscription (product, dates, status) from the app and from Apple's App Store Server Notifications, to know which plan you have.
Usage: we record how many seconds of cloud time each request uses, per billing period, to apply your plan's limit.
We use this information only to provide the service. You can delete your account at any time in Settings › Account › Delete Account; this removes your account, subscription link and usage records from our server. Subscriptions are billed by Apple; cancel them in Settings › Account › Manage Subscription.
Services you add yourself
If you add an online service in Settings › Services and select it as an engine:
Speech recognition services (e.g. OpenAI-compatible, Deepgram) receive the audio you record while listening.
Translation services (e.g. DeepL, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI-compatible, Anthropic) receive the text being translated.
Summary services receive the transcript lines being summarized.
This data is sent directly from your device to that provider using your own API key; it does not pass through our server. The provider's privacy policy applies. The built-in Apple engines may use Apple's servers for speech recognition when on-device recognition is unavailable for a language; see Apple's privacy policy.
Purchases
Payments are handled entirely by Apple. We never see your payment details.
Permissions
Microphone and Speech Recognition — to hear and transcribe speech for translation.
Camera and Photos — only when you choose to translate text in a photo.
Children
The app is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Changes
We will update this page if our practices change, and note the date above.