Effective date: September 25, 2026
Gold Penguin LLC ("Gold Penguin," "we," "us," or "our") provides the Yapper iOS application ("Yapper" or the "App"), a voice dictation app and keyboard. This Privacy Policy explains how information is handled when you use Yapper.
Privacy at a glance
Yapper is built so that nothing you say or write leaves your iPhone. It has no account, no server, no analytics, no advertising, and no crash reporting. We never receive your audio, your text, or anything about how you use the App, and we do not sell data or track you across apps or websites.
What we collect
Nothing. Gold Penguin does not collect any personal information through Yapper.
What stays on your iPhone
- Audio. Yapper records only while you dictate. Speech is turned into text on your iPhone, either by NVIDIA's Parakeet model running on the device or by Apple's speech recognizer set to run on the device. Each recording is kept on your iPhone for 1 day by default so you can play it back or transcribe it again; you can change this in Settings › Keep recordings, from "Don't keep" to "Forever." Recordings are excluded from iCloud backups.
- Text. Your dictations, including failed attempts, are kept in the App's History on your iPhone for as long as you choose in Settings › Keep text. If your iPhone backs up to iCloud, iOS includes app data such as History in that backup, as it does for any app. That backup is controlled by you and Apple; we have no access to it.
- Clipboard. If "Copy every dictation" is on, each dictation is placed on the clipboard of this iPhone only. It is not shared with your other devices through Universal Clipboard.
- Stats and settings. Daily word and dictation counts and your preferences are stored on your iPhone.
You can delete any dictation, or all of History, in the App. Deleting the App deletes everything it stored.
The keyboard and Full Access
iOS does not allow keyboards to use the microphone. The Yapper keyboard asks the Yapper app to listen, and the two pass your text through a private App Group folder on your iPhone. That is the only reason Yapper asks for Full Access. The keyboard contains no network code and does not record what you type. Without Full Access, the keyboard still types; it just cannot dictate.
The internet
The only network request Yapper makes is downloading a speech model, which happens only when you tap Download. The model files come from Hugging Face (huggingface.co), which, like any website, receives your device's IP address when it serves them and is governed by its own privacy policy. After that, Yapper works fully offline. Links you tap in the App (for example to this page) open in your browser.
Permissions
- Microphone: to record while you dictate.
- Speech Recognition: only to use Apple's on-device recognizer, when you choose it or before a Parakeet model is ready. Yapper requires on-device recognition, so audio is not sent to Apple.
You can turn either off at any time in iOS Settings › Yapper.
Children
Yapper does not collect personal information from anyone, including children. If you believe a child has sent personal information to us through a support request, contact us and we will delete it.
Support requests
If you email us, we use the information you choose to send only to respond to you. This policy covers the Yapper app; a visit to goldpenguin.org is subject to the Gold Penguin website privacy policy.
Changes
If this policy changes, we will post the new version here and update the effective date.
Contact us
For questions or requests about Yapper and privacy, email team@goldpenguin.org or use our contact form.
Gold Penguin LLC