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Privacy Policy

Effective November 2, 2026

Ambient is built so that your voice stays yours. This policy explains, in plain English, what data the Ambient desktop app and the website at tryambient.ai handle, why, and what you can do about it. The short version: your audio never leaves your device, and neither do your dictation transcripts. On Macs with Apple Intelligence, AI features run on your Mac whenever they can. When a feature needs our server, only the text it needs is sent, it is not stored, and you can see every request in the app’s Privacy Center.

1. Who we are

Ambient is provided by Valenor Core Design FZCO, a free zone company registered with the International Free Zone Authority (IFZA), Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (“we”, “us”). We are the controller of the limited personal data described below. Contact us at hello@tryambient.ai.

2. Audio and transcripts stay on your device

Speech-to-text runs locally on your computer using models stored on your computer. Your recordings, your transcripts and your transcription history are saved only on your device. We never receive them, and nothing in the app uploads them to us or to anyone else.

You can delete history from within the app at any time, or remove the app’s data folder entirely.

3. AI features and where they run

Ambient uses a language model to polish dictation, answer questions, write drafts, summarise text and meetings, and work out what you are asking it to do. Where that model runs depends on your computer:

  • On your Mac. On Macs with Apple Intelligence, AI tasks run on the device whenever they fit: polish, answers that don’t need the web, drafts, summaries, suggestion work and meeting nudges. Nothing is sent for these. Apple Intelligence is Apple’s on-device model; Ambient sends nothing to Apple.
  • On our server. On Windows and Linux, on Macs without Apple Intelligence, when the text is too long for the on-device model, and for questions that need the web, the app sends the text of the request (never audio) to our server, identified by your license key or, on Free, by the device hash described below. We pass it to our model provider, Baseten, which runs the language model (a DeepSeek model) in the United States and returns the result. We do not store the text or use it to train models, and our provider processes it only to answer the request.

Voice requests. When you speak, the app decides whether your words are text to type or a request for the assistant. On Macs with Apple Intelligence that first decision is made on the Mac, and ordinary dictation is simply typed. Only if your words look like a request are they sent to our server to confirm what you want and pick out details such as times or app names. What is sent is only what you said, never what is on your screen.

Web search. For questions that need the web, our server sends only the search query to our search provider, Tavily, and the model writes an answer from the results. We cache search results on our server for up to 6 hours, stored against the query only and not linked to you or your device.

Keep everything on this Mac. On Macs with Apple Intelligence you can turn on “Keep everything on this Mac”. AI then runs only on your Mac and web search is turned off, so no text is sent to us for AI processing.

Your own provider. If you enter your own API key for a language model provider, the app sends transcript text directly from your device to that provider, under its terms and privacy policy.

Secrets are removed first. Before text from your screen leaves your device, the app redacts things that look like secrets, such as card numbers, API keys, passwords and one-time codes.

4. Screen context and screen memory (optional, Mac only)

Screen context is off until you turn it on, and is part of Pro. When you ask about “this”, or ask Ambient to find something, the app reads the text of the front window and of your other open windows using macOS Accessibility. It keeps a rolling buffer of the last 2 minutes of window text in memory only; that buffer is never written to disk. Screenshots are never stored or sent.

Apps and sites on the never-watch list are never read. By default it includes password managers, banking apps, private and incognito browser windows and messaging apps, and you can add any app or site. Password fields are never read. Only the text a request needs is sent, after secrets are redacted as described above, and only when the request can’t be handled on your Mac.

Screen memory is a separate opt-in. If you turn it on, window text is saved on your device, encrypted (AES-256-GCM, with the key kept in your macOS Keychain), so you can find things you saw earlier. It is kept for 7 days by default (you can choose 1 to 90 days), and you can delete it for a single app or entirely at any time. Screen memory is never uploaded.

5. Your files, mail and calendar

When you ask Ambient to find something, it searches on your device only: the macOS Spotlight index (your files, Mail.app messages and notes), your calendar events through macOS EventKit, and your dictation history. Calendar is read only after you grant Ambient Calendar access; it also reads upcoming events to help you prepare for meetings, but only if you have already granted that access. These sources are not uploaded or copied to us. If a request then needs our server (see above), only the text needed to answer it is sent.

Ambient can also give you links that search your Google Drive or Gmail. Those open in your own browser, under your own Google sign-in; we receive nothing from them.

6. Actions on your computer

When you ask, Ambient can create reminders and calendar events in your own Calendar and Reminders apps (through macOS EventKit, with your permission) or, on Windows and Linux, as an .ics file opened by your calendar app. It can also open apps and links, run your Shortcuts and paste drafts where your cursor is. These happen on your computer; the reminders and events are stored by your own apps, not by us.

7. Meetings (optional)

If you turn on meeting notes, Ambient listens to your microphone and, on Mac, to your computer’s audio output (this uses the macOS Screen Recording permission for audio only). It transcribes on your device. Meeting audio is never saved. Transcripts, notes and summaries are stored on your device, encrypted, until you delete them.

Summaries, notes and nudges during the meeting are generated on your device when possible. Otherwise the transcript text is sent to our server and processed by Baseten as described above, and is not stored.

The app reminds you to tell the other participants and offers a message you can send to let them know. Recording laws vary by place, and you are responsible for getting consent where the law requires it.

8. Proactive suggestions (optional)

If you turn on suggestions, Ambient decides on your device, using local rules on the text of your window, whether to offer help. Nothing is sent unless you accept a suggestion. The one exception is meeting nudges: during a meeting you have chosen to take notes on, the app checks the last few minutes of the transcript about every 90 seconds, on your device when possible and otherwise through our server as described above. Preferences learned from your feedback (for example, “don’t show me these”) are stored locally in your settings.

9. Trial and free allowance

To give each computer one free trial and count the free weekly allowance of 25 AI uses (shared across polish, answers, actions, Ask and meeting summaries), the app sends a one-way hash of your computer’s hardware identifier. We store only a further keyed hash of it, with the date your trial started and the number of hosted AI uses in the current week. AI uses that run on your Mac are counted on your device and are not sent to us. We cannot reverse the hash into your hardware identifier, and it is not linked to your name, email or payment details. The app also checks for a trial once, on first launch.

10. Licenses, payments and billing

Paid plans are sold through Polar (polar.sh), which acts as our merchant of record: Polar is the seller for your purchase and handles checkout, payment, sales tax and VAT, invoices and receipts, under its own privacy policy. We never see or store card numbers.

From Polar we receive and use:

  • your Polar customer ID and email address,
  • your plan, subscription status and billing period.

A paid license key is a signed token that contains your Polar customer ID, email address, plan and an expiry date. A trial key contains only the device hash above, the plan and an expiry date. The app checks it offline. While your subscription is active, the app periodically sends the license key to our server to renew it; we use it only to look up your subscription status with Polar. We do not keep a separate user database.

11. Other network requests the app makes

  • Model downloads: when you choose a speech model, the app downloads it from Hugging Face (huggingface.co), and from our backup storage at Cloudflare if that fails. The host sees your IP address and the file requested, as with any download. Nothing about your audio or transcripts is sent.
  • Update checks: if enabled, the app asks our website for the latest version, and updates are downloaded from our storage at Cloudflare. These requests carry your IP address and app version. You can turn update checks off in settings.
  • Installer downloads: installers on the website are served from our storage at Cloudflare, which sees your IP address and the file requested.
  • License renewal: described above.
  • Network ledger: the app keeps a local, encrypted log of every request it sends and the text that was sent, for 30 days, which you can view in the Privacy Center. It stays on your device.

12. The website

We do not use analytics, advertising or tracking on this website. Our hosting provider processes standard server logs (such as IP address, user agent and the page requested) to deliver the site and keep it secure. If we add analytics in the future we will update this policy first.

Cookies: the site sets no cookies of its own beyond what is strictly necessary for it to work. Polar’s checkout, which opens on Polar’s own pages, may set cookies needed for payment and fraud prevention.

If you email us or use a contact form, we receive what you write and your email address.

14. Who we share data with

We do not sell personal data. We share it only with service providers who help us run the service:

  • Polar (merchant of record for payments, tax and subscriptions),
  • Baseten (runs the hosted language model, for AI tasks that don’t run on your device),
  • Tavily (web search; receives only the search query, through our server),
  • Vercel (hosts the website and our server),
  • Neon (database holding the hashed trial and weekly allowance records),
  • Cloudflare (stores and delivers installers, updates and backup model files),
  • our email provider, for messages you send us.

Model files are downloaded directly from Hugging Face, which handles those requests under its own privacy policy. Apple Intelligence runs on your Mac; Ambient sends nothing to Apple. These providers may process data outside the UAE, including in the United States and the European Union. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.

15. How long we keep data

  • Billing records: Polar keeps transaction records as merchant of record. We keep the billing records we hold for up to 7 years, as required by UAE tax law.
  • Trial records: the hashed device and trial start date, for as long as we offer trials, so a computer cannot start a second trial.
  • Weekly AI allowance: only the current week’s count; earlier weeks are deleted.
  • Text sent for hosted AI processing: not stored by us after the response is returned.
  • Web search results: cached on our server for up to 6 hours, against the query only.
  • Support emails: up to 24 months after the conversation ends, unless you ask us to delete them sooner.
  • Server logs: kept by our hosting provider for a short period, typically no more than 30 days.
  • Data on your device: dictation history, meeting transcripts, notes and summaries are kept until you delete them; screen memory for 7 days by default (1 to 90 days, your choice); the network ledger for 30 days; the screen context buffer for 2 minutes, in memory only.

16. Your rights

Under the UAE Personal Data Protection Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021) and, if you are in the European Union or United Kingdom, the GDPR and UK GDPR, you can ask us to:

  • tell you what personal data we hold about you and give you a copy,
  • correct inaccurate data,
  • delete your data (subject to records we must keep by law),
  • restrict or object to certain processing,
  • move your data to another service (portability).

Email hello@tryambient.ai to make a request; we will respond within the time the law requires. You may also complain to your local data protection authority — in the UAE, the UAE Data Office; in the EU or UK, your national supervisory authority.

17. Security

On-device processing is our main safeguard: audio never leaves your device, and on Macs with Apple Intelligence AI tasks run on the Mac whenever they can. When text must leave, the app sends only what the request needs and redacts secrets such as card numbers, API keys, passwords and one-time codes first. Apps and sites on the never-watch list and password fields are never read. Screen memory is encrypted on your device with a key held in your macOS Keychain, meeting records are stored encrypted, and the network ledger lets you check every request the app has made. License keys are signed so they cannot be forged, connections to our servers use HTTPS, downloaded models and updates are checked against cryptographic hashes or signatures before use, and access to billing data is limited to people who need it.

18. Children

Ambient is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their data.

19. Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle data, we will update this page and its effective date. For material changes we will give notice on the website or in the app before they take effect.

20. Contact

Valenor Core Design FZCO, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (IFZA free zone company). Email hello@tryambient.ai.

Valenor Core Design FZCO · Dubai, United Arab Emirates (IFZA free zone company) · Registered with International Free Zone Authority (IFZA), Dubai