PRIVACY · 9 MIN READ
Private AI note taker: 8 questions to ask before you record
What makes an AI note taker private: where audio becomes text, who receives it, how long it is kept, training, and what still goes online. With Aurora's answers.
Published · Updated
What makes an AI note taker private?
Four things: where your audio is turned into text, who else receives it, how long it is kept, and whether it trains anyone's models. "No bot in the call" answers none of them. A bot-free tool can still upload every recording, and a local app can still send your conversation in a support report. Ask the eight questions below of any vendor, Aurora included, and check the answers in the privacy policy, not on the homepage.
1. Where is speech turned into text?
This is the question that decides the most. Transcription needs the whole recording, including everyone else's voice. If it runs on a server, the audio leaves your device. If it runs on the device, it does not have to.
- Aurora: on your iPhone. No recording is uploaded for transcription.
- Granola: its help page says it passes your audio "directly" to its transcription provider, and does not record or save the audio (source). Its mobile app temporarily caches audio until transcription finishes (mobile source).
- Otter: a cloud service; data is stored on AWS S3 with AES-256 server-side encryption (source).
- Plaud: recordings are stored locally by default and sent to AI service providers when you ask for a transcript or summary (source).
2. Where is the summary written?
Speech to text and the summary are often separate steps. A tool can transcribe on your device and still send the whole transcript to a cloud language model for the summary. Ask about each step.
- Aurora: recording, transcription, speaker separation and summaries run on the iPhone.
- Plaud: lists the AI models it uses, "including GPT-5, Gemini 3 Pro, Claude Sonnet" (source).
3. Does a bot join, and who tells the room?
A bot is a visible extra participant, which at least tells everyone a recording is happening. A tool that records from your own device puts that job on you. Recording rules differ by country, so say you are taking AI notes before you start. Our recording consent page covers this.
- Aurora: no bot. It listens through the microphone of the device you are holding.
- Otter: joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet (source).
- Fireflies: joins when invited or by your auto-record settings; participants can see when a meeting is being recorded (source).
4. Is the audio kept, and for how long?
A transcript is usually enough to work from. Every day the audio is kept is another day a sensitive file exists.
- Aurora: the audio is deleted from the phone after seven days; audio still waiting to be refined is kept until that is done. The transcript stays.
- Granola: "Audio deleted after transcription" (source).
5. Does your content train models?
Check whether training is off by default or something you have to switch off, and whether the answer changes between free and paid plans.
| Tool | What the vendor says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Aurora | No server receives your conversations for transcription. A diagnostic report you send can include conversation content. | Privacy Notice |
| Granola | Uses anonymized data for training unless you opt out; per-user opt-out, workspace-wide on Enterprise | Granola pricing and training FAQ |
| Otter | "uses a proprietary method to de-identify user data before training our models" | Otter privacy and security |
| Fireflies | "Your data is never used for AI training" | Fireflies features and privacy |
| Plaud | No training without your explicit consent | Plaud AI data policy |
6. What still goes online in "local" mode?
Local apps can still download models, check for updates and check a subscription. That is normal. What matters is that the app names each connection and none of them carries your conversation unless you chose it.
Aurora is local-first, not network-free. Its automatic connections include model downloads, a setup-time estimate and preparation profile, an update check, subscription checks, a count of recorded minutes on the free allowance, settings and recording totals in your own iCloud, and a diagnostic routing lookup. These flows carry no conversation audio or transcript. Anonymous preparation and usage measurements require your agreement; an onboarding question sends your answer only when you press Send. Conversation sync, off by default, copies text to your own iCloud and registers for Apple push notifications. A diagnostic report can carry conversation content when you send it, and an export goes to the destination you choose. Each flow is listed, with what it sends, on the privacy page.
7. Does a support report carry your conversation?
This is the question vendors rarely answer. A crash or bug report can include the transcript, or even the audio.
- Aurora: a report is sent only when you send it. On a session report, the switch that attaches the conversation's text and screenshots starts on; the recording has its own switch, and it starts off. We would rather tell you that than describe a default the app does not have. What a report contains is in inside a diagnostic report.
8. Is there an account, and where does sync go?
An account means a server holding your identity, and often your library.
- Aurora: no account with us. Conversation sync is off by default; turned on, it copies the text through your own iCloud, never the audio.
- Fireflies: sign-in through Google or Outlook (source).
What about certifications?
Granola lists SOC 2 Type II, Otter SOC 2 Type 2, and Fireflies SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and HIPAA on Enterprise with Private Storage, each on the pages linked above. If your organisation requires a certification, ask for it in writing. Aurora does not claim one on this site.
Where Aurora falls short on this list
- Question 7: the session-details switch starts on. Check it before you send a report.
- Question 3: no bot means no automatic notice to the room. Telling people is up to you.
- It is an iPhone beta by invitation, with no team, CRM or external workflow integrations.
- Audio is kept for seven days on the phone, which is longer than a tool that deletes it right after transcription.
FAQ
Is a note taker without a bot automatically private? No. "No bot" describes how a meeting is captured, not where the audio goes next. Granola has no bot and still sends audio to its transcription provider.
Is Otter AI safe for confidential meetings? Otter is a cloud service that stores data on AWS with server-side encryption, holds a SOC 2 Type 2 report, and says it de-identifies user data before training its models (source). Whether that is safe enough depends on your rules. See Aurora vs Otter.
Does Aurora send my audio anywhere? Not for transcription. Transcription runs on your iPhone. You can separately choose to export the transcript as plain text or sync its text (never the audio) through your own iCloud. A diagnostic report is sent only when you send it. Its session-details switch starts on; its separate recording switch starts off, and audio is attached only with both switches on.
Is there an AI note taker that does not train on my data? Several vendors say so on their pages: Fireflies says your data is never used for AI training, and Plaud says it does not train without explicit consent. Aurora does not upload conversations for transcription. A diagnostic report you send can include conversation content.
Where can I see exactly what Aurora sends? On the privacy page, and in what happens to your audio.
Related
- What happens to your audio
- Inside a diagnostic report
- Why no meeting bot joins
- Aurora for confidential work
- Granola alternative for iPhone
- Best AI note takers, compared
Sources re-read 5 November 2026. Aurora implementation details refer to TestFlight 0.9+4815, reviewed 14 October 2026; the public privacy page names the flows and report defaults. This is an implementation-based checklist, not an independent security certification.
