How to check with a network monitor whether a dictation app uploads audio: the Dictivo Local example
To check whether any dictation app uploads your audio, watch its network traffic while you dictate, then repeat the test with the network blocked. This page gives that procedure with Dictivo Local mode as the worked example, so you can verify the boundary before using any app for sensitive dictation.
Short answer
Watch the dictation app and its helper processes with a per-app network monitor while you dictate a short, non-sensitive phrase, and note the hosts it contacts and the bytes it sends. Then block its network access and dictate again: transcription that still completes offline ran on the device. After you reconnect, keep watching for delayed uploads. The same test works for any dictation app.
The Dictivo example: In Local mode, Dictivo does not send your dictation audio to a transcription server. Network activity you may still see is for product operations such as app updates, license actions, downloads, support, or optional Cloud Fast when you choose that mode.
What to test
Install the model first and let downloads finish. Record the app version, operating system, model, and mode. Monitor Dictivo and its helper processes continuously before, during, and after a short non-sensitive dictation. Record destination hosts and changes in outgoing bytes, including traffic on connections that were already open.
Repeat in Local mode with network access blocked after setup and activation are complete. Check that recording, transcription, and paste still work. Then restore the connection and observe any delayed traffic. If you already have Cloud Fast access, use a non-sensitive phrase as a separate comparison; expect a transcription request in that mode.
A connection count alone cannot show whether audio was uploaded. Encrypted traffic does not reveal its contents, and sampling can miss brief transfers, helper processes, or activity outside the observation window. This is a test procedure, not a published measurement or a guarantee about every future session. Separate product traffic such as updates, trial activation, and optional statistics from transcription traffic.
With Dictivo 0.3.51 or later, lock Cloud Fast (Settings › Privacy) before you start observing, and begin idle: no recording in progress and every earlier recording finished, because a Cloud Fast recording that was being recorded or transcribed when you locked still finishes as Cloud Fast. No recording started while Cloud Fast is locked is uploaded. Expect connections to downloads.dictivo.app (the update check about five seconds after launch and every 24 hours, and model downloads you start) and to app.dictivo.app (the trial start, the first successful trial transcript, optional statistics, the purchase claim after a checkout until the licence arrives, and the Local price and renewal information when that screen opens). Three more hosts can appear, in the situations the security page lists: the licence service when you activate, refresh or remove a licence, or once after a reinstall restores one; huggingface.co only if a model download from downloads.dictivo.app fails; and api.dictivo.app for Cloud Fast licence or status checks, for example when you activate, refresh or sign out a Cloud Fast licence or open Account & Billing with one stored. Run check (Settings › Account & Billing) probes the update host, app.dictivo.app, the Cloud Fast service and the licence service, and only when you click it. Without the lock, a recording started while Cloud Fast is selected is sent to api.dictivo.app.
- Local mode: record, transcribe, and paste while watching for upload activity.
- Cloud Fast mode: expect a remote transcription request because you chose the speed path.
- Model downloads and update checks are separate from dictation upload behavior.
Tools you can use
Any tool that shows network activity per process works for this test. Pick one for your operating system:
- A per-app firewall or network monitor for macOS, such as Little Snitch or LuLu: shows which process opens which connection and can block an app's access.
- Built into macOS: nettop in Terminal and the Network tab of Activity Monitor show bytes sent and received per process.
- Packet capture, such as Wireshark: shows destinations, timing and sizes; the contents of encrypted traffic stay unreadable.
- Windows: the Network tab of Resource Monitor shows each process's connections and bytes sent.
- A router log can confirm the same destinations from outside the computer.
Expected network surface
Dictivo does not promise that the desktop app never uses the network. The privacy claim is narrower and more useful: Local dictation does not send the recording or transcript to a transcription server.
The app may also use the network for update checks, model downloads, licenses, billing, support and optional Cloud Fast. These product operations are separate from uploading Local recordings for transcription. Usage statistics are off unless you enable them in Settings. Separately from that setting, the app reports content-free facts to app.dictivo.app (api.dictivo.app in versions before 0.3.51): once per install, that the app was first opened and, when it is decided, whether microphone access (and on a Mac, accessibility access) was granted, denied, or produced no audio; and, for the Local trial, two milestones — trial start and the first Local transcript successfully copied or pasted. Reports contain a hashed device identifier, platform, app version, the times of those events and a capability flag; the success report adds its time. Failed deliveries may retry. No report contains audio, transcript text, file names or application names. If you ask for it during setup or under Settings › Account & Billing, Dictivo stores the email address you type, a hashed device identifier, your interface language, platform, app version and your trial's start date on Dictivo's own server (a database whose primary copy is in Western Europe) for one purpose: to send you one email two days before your 14-day Local trial ends. Dictivo deletes the address from its database the moment that email is sent, and at the latest three days after the trial ends if it could not be sent; the email delivery provider keeps its delivery logs for its own retention period. You can withdraw at any time: cancel in the app, use the link in the email, or write to support@dictivo.app. This is based on your consent; withdrawing does not affect what was processed before.
- Use Local mode for sensitive audio.
- Use Cloud Fast only for recordings you are comfortable processing remotely.
- Email support@dictivo.app if Local mode behavior does not match this page.
Frequently asked questions
01 How can I check whether a dictation app uploads my audio?
Watch the app with a per-app network monitor while you dictate a short, non-sensitive phrase, then repeat with its network access blocked. Transcription that still completes offline ran on the device; after you reconnect, keep watching for delayed uploads.
02 Does Dictivo Local mode upload audio?
No. In Local mode, Dictivo does not send your dictation audio to a transcription server.
03 Why might I still see Dictivo use the network?
The app may also use the network for update checks, model downloads, licenses, billing, support and optional Cloud Fast. These product operations are separate from uploading Local recordings for transcription. Usage statistics are off unless you enable them in Settings. Separately from that setting, the app reports content-free facts to app.dictivo.app (api.dictivo.app in versions before 0.3.51): once per install, that the app was first opened and, when it is decided, whether microphone access (and on a Mac, accessibility access) was granted, denied, or produced no audio; and, for the Local trial, two milestones — trial start and the first Local transcript successfully copied or pasted. Reports contain a hashed device identifier, platform, app version, the times of those events and a capability flag; the success report adds its time. Failed deliveries may retry. No report contains audio, transcript text, file names or application names. If you ask for it during setup or under Settings › Account & Billing, Dictivo stores the email address you type, a hashed device identifier, your interface language, platform, app version and your trial's start date on Dictivo's own server (a database whose primary copy is in Western Europe) for one purpose: to send you one email two days before your 14-day Local trial ends. Dictivo deletes the address from its database the moment that email is sent, and at the latest three days after the trial ends if it could not be sent; the email delivery provider keeps its delivery logs for its own retention period. You can withdraw at any time: cancel in the app, use the link in the email, or write to support@dictivo.app. This is based on your consent; withdrawing does not affect what was processed before.
04 Should Cloud Fast show network activity?
Yes. Cloud Fast is the optional speed mode that sends the selected recording for remote transcription.
05 What should I do if a Local dictation opens an unexpected connection?
Record the timestamp, app version, operating system, and destination host, then email support@dictivo.app so the discrepancy can be investigated.