Your voice stays on your phone
LocalType turns your speech into text on your own Android device. Your voice does not need to be uploaded to a cloud transcription service to become text. This page explains what that means in practice, and is honest about the one thing that does need a connection.
The whole idea in one sentence
Speech recognition is a piece of software. It can run on a server somewhere, or it can run on the device in your hand. LocalType chooses the second option, which removes the need to send your audio anywhere at all.
Where the processing happens
Both approaches turn speech into text. The difference is where the speech recognition happens. This is a difference in architecture, not a claim about any particular product.
With LocalType
Cloud voice typing
What LocalType does
On-device transcription
The speech model runs locally on your Android device. Your audio is turned into text there.
No account
There is no sign-up, no login and no profile. Nothing ties the app to an identity.
No tracking
No behavioural tracking inside the product.
No ads
There is no advertising in LocalType, so there is no advertising profile to build.
No cloud backup
LocalType app data is deliberately excluded from Android’s cloud backup, so it is not copied off the device that way.
Private model storage
The model the app runs on is kept in its own private storage. The file you download first lands in your Downloads folder, like any other download.
Protected password fields
Voice input is automatically disabled in password fields, so a password cannot be dictated by accident.
Offline after download
Once a model is installed, transcription no longer needs a connection at all.
What happens to the text you dictate
The text goes straight into the field you were typing in, in whichever app that is, exactly as if you had typed it. LocalType does not need to send it anywhere to recognise your speech.
What happens to it after that is up to the app you put it in. If you dictate a message and then send it through a messaging app, LocalType handled the transcription on your phone. What that messaging app does with the message afterwards is governed by that app, not by LocalType.
What LocalType does need
Being straight about what the app asks for is more honest than claiming it needs nothing at all.
Microphone access
Only when you choose to dictate. Without it, the keyboard still types as usual.
Internet access
To download the speech model you pick. Not for transcription itself.
Local storage
To keep the downloaded speech model and the app’s own settings on your device.
Why does LocalType ask for internet access?
For downloading the speech model you choose, and nothing about that is hidden. A model is a file of a considerable size, so it is not shipped inside the app; you pick one and LocalType fetches it. After that, transcription runs on your device and works with the connection switched off.
If you would rather verify than take our word for it: install LocalType, download a model, turn on airplane mode, and carry on dictating.
What LocalType is not
Being clear about this avoids the wrong expectations.
- It is not an assistant or a chatbot. It does not answer questions or write text for you.
- It is not a recorder. It produces text in the field you are typing in, and does not keep an audio archive.
- It is not a transcription service you upload files to.
- It does not send anything you type or dictate to us or to anyone else.
A word about keyboards in general
Any Android keyboard sees what you type. That is simply how an input method works, and LocalType is no exception: it reads the words around your cursor to correct typos and suggest the next word. The question is not whether a keyboard can see your text, but what it does with it. LocalType keeps all of it on the device and has nowhere to send it to.
A closer look at a few specifics
Your own words stay on your phone
If you add names, technical terms or other words to help recognition, those words are stored locally on your device and can be given to the on-device speech model as context.
They are not uploaded to a LocalType speech recognition service.
Using a Bluetooth microphone
If you dictate through a connected Bluetooth headset, the audio comes from that headset instead of the phone’s built-in microphone. The speech recognition still runs locally on your Android device.
What the headset itself does with audio is down to that third-party hardware, which LocalType does not control.
Payments go through Google Play
Subscriptions are bought and managed through Google Play. Google processes the payment and the payment details under its own terms and privacy practices; LocalType does not receive or store your card details.
Diagnostic reports, only if you send them
If something goes wrong, you can choose to export a technical report. It describes your device and how the app is set up: app and Android version, device model, processor, free memory, the model and language you picked, permission status and any error codes.
It does not include your dictated text, microphone recordings, clipboard contents or passwords. Nothing is sent in the background; you decide whether to share it.
There is no “private mode” to switch on
Local speech recognition is not a setting you enable. It is simply how LocalType works. There is no separate cloud mode for voice typing to fall back to, and nothing to remember to turn on.
The technical summary
For anyone who wants the details in one place.
- Speech recognition runs locally on your device.
- Speech models are downloaded to the device and stored in the app’s private storage.
- After a model is downloaded, transcription works without an internet connection.
- The microphone is used only while you are dictating.
- Models and app data are kept on the device and left out of Android’s cloud backup.
- Network use is deliberately limited to downloading models.
Questions about privacy
Is my voice stored anywhere?
Transcription happens on your device and produces text in the field you are typing in. LocalType does not keep an archive of your recordings.
Does LocalType work if I block its internet access?
Once you have downloaded a speech model, yes. You need a connection to fetch the model in the first place.
And the text I dictate, is that sent anywhere?
No. The text goes into the field you were typing in, in whichever app that is, exactly as if you had typed it.
Do you use my speech to improve the models?
No. The transcription happens on your device, so there is nothing collected to train on.
What happens to my email address if I contact you?
It is used to reply to your message, and nothing else. You can ask us to remove it at any time.
Your voice. Your phone.
LocalType brings voice typing straight to your Android device, without a cloud speech recognition service in the loop.
Understand private voice typing
These guides explain the data path, the difference between local and cloud processing, and how to assess an Android keyboard.
Is voice typing secure?
The questions that reveal where speech is processed and what information leaves the phone.
Read moreWhat happens to your voice?
Follow speech from the microphone to text in the field where you are typing.
Read moreCloud versus local recognition
Compare the two processing routes and the practical tradeoffs behind each one.
Read moreChoose a private Android keyboard
A practical checklist for permissions, network use, accounts and data handling.
Read moreGet LocalType for Android
Private voice typing that runs on your phone, with speech recognition on the device itself.
Get it on Google Play