Safeclip

For journalists

Interviews with sources stay on your laptop.

Safeclip records and transcribes interviews on your computer, and works offline once the models are downloaded. The recordings and transcripts are not sent to Safeclip or to a transcription service.

What leaves your computer →

Where it fits

Sensitive interviews

Record in person or over a call. The audio and transcript live on your laptop, not in a transcription service’s account.

Transcribing in the field

No connection needed once the models are on your laptop. Record on a train, transcribe in a hotel room with the Wi-Fi off.

Finding the quote

Search months of interviews, or Ask where someone said something and get the passage with its timestamp. Check it against the audio before it runs.

Public audio from a link

Paste a link to a press conference or a podcast. Safeclip fetches it from that site, then transcribes it on your computer.

How it works

  1. 01

    Record

    Your microphone, plus the call audio if the interview is remote. No bot joins, so the call looks like any other call.

  2. 02

    Transcribe

    Whisper turns the audio into a timestamped transcript on your computer, with or without a connection.

  3. 03

    Find and check

    Search or Ask across everything you have recorded, on the local model, and jump back to the audio to verify.

  4. 04

    Keep only what you need

    Delete recordings by hand or after a set number of days, and keep the transcript. Ghost mode transcribes live meetings without keeping the audio at all.

Runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. Mac needs Apple Silicon. Transcription is slower on Windows and Linux, where it runs on the CPU, and calendar features are macOS only for now. English only today. Platform details →

What leaves your computer, and what doesn't.

Interview audio and transcripts stay on your computer. They are not sent to Safeclip. Here is the short version of what does go over the internet.

Stays on your computer

  • Recordings and audio
  • Transcripts and notes
  • Ask, on the local model
  • Clips, client spaces and calendar events

Leaves your computer

  • Update checks, to Safeclip
  • Sign-in and a license check at launch and daily, only if you sign in for Founding
  • Model downloads from Hugging Face and GitHub, including the local search model if you turn on Search by meaning
  • Cloud Ask, only if you turn it on with your own key
  • Transcripts of files an AI assistant you connect asks for, and your library’s transcripts and notes only if you let it read them
  • Media from a link you paste, fetched from that site

No analytics or crash reporting in the app. Read the full list →

Questions journalists ask

Can a subpoena reach Safeclip’s servers?

The desktop app doesn’t send recordings, transcripts or notes to Safeclip; they stay on your computer. No account is needed to use Safeclip. If you sign in, account and usage data does live on our side, and like any company we may have to disclose it if the law requires. That data is:

  • Your email, and your name and avatar if you set them.
  • The IP address and user agent of each sign-in, registration and session refresh, and when the session was last active.
  • Your license and purchase records. Stripe processes payments.
  • For each install: a random install ID, the app version and operating system, when it was activated and when it last checked in.
  • Feedback you send from the app, which is also filed in our issue tracker (Linear).
  • Website visits, counted with Google Analytics and our own page-view log. The log keeps a visitor ID that changes daily instead of your IP address.

Your recordings are on your computer, so protecting them means protecting that device.

Read the privacy policy →

How do I protect the recordings on my laptop?

Your recordings are as safe as your computer. Turn on disk encryption (FileVault on a Mac, BitLocker on Windows, LUKS on Linux), use a strong login password, and lock the screen when you step away. Delete recordings you no longer need, or set Safeclip to delete recording audio automatically after a number of days.

Does it work offline?

Yes, once the models are downloaded. Recording, transcription, notes and Ask on the local model all work with no connection, on a plane or in a basement.

No account is needed. If you sign in for Founding, signing in needs a connection once; after that the license works offline too and re-checks when you reconnect. Link imports and cloud Ask need a connection.

Which languages does it understand?

English only today. The speech models Safeclip ships with (Whisper base.en, and small.en if you choose it) are English models. If your conversations are in another language, Safeclip is not the right tool yet.

Do I need to tell people I’m recording?

It is good practice, and in many places it is the law. Consent rules vary by country and state: some require everyone’s permission, some only one person’s. Check the law where you and the other people are.

Safeclip shows a consent reminder when a meeting is detected and on screen while you record. It is on by default if you set up Safeclip for therapy or legal work, and you can turn it on in Settings.

More answers, including offline use, storage and pricing, on the FAQ.

Try it on your next interview.

Free to download, with unlimited recordings, transcripts and notes. English only today.

See pricing →

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