How voice transcription works

Last updated: 22 July 2026.

You choose whether transcription runs automatically

Symply gives you a per-account toggle for automatic transcription in Account & Privacy → Voice transcription. You can turn it on or off at any time and the change takes effect immediately for future voice notes.

When it is on: a saved voice note is sent for transcription as described below, and the transcript is stored alongside your recording.
When it is off: the recording stays in your Symply account and is never sent to a transcription provider. You can still transcribe an individual recording later by tapping Transcribe now on the entry.
Turning it off later: recordings that were already transcribed keep their transcripts. Delete the entry to remove both the recording and its transcript from Symply.

Who processes your recording

When you save a voice note, Symply sends the audio file over an encrypted connection to the Lovable AI Gateway, which routes it to OpenAI’s speech-to-text service (gpt-4o-transcribe) to produce a written transcript. The transcript is stored in your Symply account with the recording it came from.

What we can and cannot confirm

Processing region: not disclosed to Symply. The gateway and provider may route requests to data centres outside your country.
Provider retention: we do not have a contractual confirmation of exact retention windows for audio or transcripts at the provider. We therefore do not claim that the provider deletes audio immediately.
Model training: the OpenAI API states that customer content sent through the API is not used to train OpenAI’s models by default. We rely on this public statement; Symply has not independently audited it.
Sub-processors and DPA: Lovable AI Gateway and OpenAI act as sub-processors. Their current data-processing terms apply. If you require the latest DPA text, request it via support and we will share the current provider references.

Other ways to limit transcription

Turn off Automatically transcribe my voice notes in your account settings — new recordings stay in your Symply account only. When signed in, this lives at Account & Privacy.
Delete an existing recording — this deletes the audio file and its transcript from Symply.
Withdraw consent — Symply stops processing new health data, including transcription, while your existing data remains until you request deletion.

Your retention controls

You already control how long the original audio is kept: keep, delete now, auto-delete after 7 days, or auto-delete after 30 days. Deleting audio does not delete the reviewed transcript.