Privacy Policy

This policy explains how the Xcribe app for Android ("Xcribe" or "the app"), made by B2B Edge ("we", "us"), handles your information.

What the app stores, and where

Xcribe stores the following in its own private storage on your device:

• Audio recordings that you record in the app or import into it.
• Recording details: the title, category and tags you give a recording, whether you marked it as a favorite or as Important, and the date, length and waveform preview the app works out from the audio.
• Your categories and tags, including the color you chose for each category.
• Settings, such as audio quality, noise suppression, auto gain, echo cancellation, playback speed and skip interval. The app also remembers that it has asked for notification permission, so it asks only once.

While a recording is in progress, the app also keeps a small file with its details so the recording can be recovered if the app closes unexpectedly. That file is deleted when the recording is saved or discarded.

Xcribe has no servers and no account system. It doesn't send any of this information to us or to anyone else, so we can't see, access or recover your recordings.

Microphone and other permissions

Xcribe asks for access to the microphone the first time you start a recording. It uses the microphone only to record, and only after you start a recording. Without microphone access you can't make new recordings, but you can still play, organize, import and share the ones you have.

Xcribe doesn't ask for access to your photos, contacts, location, storage or other personal information. These are the Android permissions it uses:

• Microphone: asked for the first time you start a recording, as above.
• Notifications (Android 13 and later): the first time you record, right after microphone access, Android asks once whether Xcribe may show notifications. Xcribe uses this only for its "Recording in progress" notification and sends no other notifications. If you decline, recording still works, in the background too, and Xcribe doesn't ask again.
• Recording in the background (foreground service for the microphone): keeps a recording going when the screen locks, you press Back or you switch to another app. While a recording is in progress, Android shows Xcribe's ongoing "Recording in progress" notification (on Android 13 and later, if you allowed notifications). Tapping it returns you to Xcribe, and it goes away when the recording ends. Android 12 and later also show their own microphone indicator.
• Change audio settings: lets Xcribe record through the microphone of a connected Bluetooth headset.
• View network connections: comes with Android's media playback library (AndroidX Media3), which Xcribe uses to play recordings. It only lets the app see whether the device is connected to a network. Xcribe doesn't have Android's internet permission.

Android grants the last three when you install the app, without asking. You can turn microphone or notification access off at any time in Settings ▸ Apps ▸ Xcribe ▸ Permissions (the names vary a little between phone makers).

In Xcribe, Settings ▸ Privacy ▸ Microphone shows the current status and takes you to the right place in your device's settings.

Importing audio

When you import, Xcribe opens Android's system file picker. Xcribe receives only the files you pick. The picker gives Xcribe a temporary copy of each file. Xcribe copies it into its storage, then deletes the temporary copy, and the original stays where it was. If a file is stored in Google Drive or another cloud service, that service may download it first. That download is handled by them, under their own terms.

Sharing

A recording leaves your device only when you tap Share (or in a transfer to a new phone, described below). Xcribe then opens Android's share sheet, and you choose where the file goes: for example Gmail, Quick Share or Google Drive. Once you share a recording, the app or service you chose handles that copy under its own privacy policy.

So that the shared file is named after its title, Xcribe makes a temporary copy in its cache folder on your device. The copy is replaced the next time you share.

No account, ads, analytics or tracking

• Xcribe has no account, sign-in or registration.
• It shows no ads and contains no advertising, analytics or crash-reporting software, from us or from anyone else.
• It doesn't track you across apps or websites, and it doesn't use Android's advertising ID.
• The components the app is built with (Android and Google's AndroidX libraries, and open-source libraries for recording, playback, picking files, sharing, storing settings and opening web pages) run on your device and don't collect data.
• Xcribe itself never goes online. When you open this policy or our support page from its Settings, the page opens in a tab of your default browser shown inside the app, or in the browser itself if that isn't available. Xcribe adds nothing about you or your recordings to the link, and the pages use no cookies, scripts or trackers.
• We don't sell, rent or share personal information, because we don't collect it.

Information Google may share with us

Google handles Google Play downloads under Google's own privacy policy. If your device shares usage and diagnostics data with Google, Google Play may give us crash reports and statistics about the app's stability and performance, such as how often it crashes or stops responding (Android vitals), in a form that doesn't identify you. You can turn this off in your device's Google settings, under Usage & diagnostics.

We use this information only to fix problems and improve the app.

Backups and moving to a new phone

Xcribe is left out of Google's cloud backup: none of its data (recordings, labels or settings) goes into your Google account's backup of your phone, so restoring from that backup doesn't bring it back.

If your old phone runs Android 12 or later and you set up a new phone by copying data straight from it (with a cable or over Wi-Fi), Android can copy Xcribe's data, including your recordings, to the new phone. On Android 11 and earlier, Xcribe's data is left out of backups and transfers altogether.

These transfers go directly between your own devices, under your control. We don't receive them.

Security

Your recordings and details stay in Xcribe's private storage, which other apps on your device can't read, so they are protected by your device's own security, such as its screen lock and encryption. Because nothing is sent to us, there is nothing in transit or on our side to protect. This policy and our support page are served over HTTPS.

Deleting your data

• One recording: swipe it left in the Library, or touch and hold it and choose Delete. It's permanently removed from your device.
• All recordings: use Settings ▸ Delete all recordings in the app. Your list of categories and tags is kept.
• Everything: uninstall the Xcribe app. Android removes everything the app stored on your device, including recordings, labels and settings. (Archiving the app instead keeps its data until you restore or uninstall it.)

Deleting in the app doesn't affect copies you've already shared, or copies on a phone you've transferred them to. Because we hold no data about you, there is nothing for us to delete on our side.

Children

Xcribe is a general-audience app and isn't directed at children. Its content rating is shown on its Google Play page. It doesn't collect personal information from anyone, including children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age where you live).

Your choices and rights

Your recordings and settings are on your device and under your control: you can view, edit, export (with Share) and delete them in the app at any time. Because we don't collect or hold personal data through the app, requests to access, correct or delete it usually have nothing for us to act on. You're still welcome to contact us with any privacy question, and we'll answer it.

If you email us

If you contact us by email, we receive your email address and whatever you include in your message, such as a recording you choose to attach. We use it only to reply to you, and we delete it once we no longer need it to deal with your request, unless the law requires us to keep it.

Changes to this policy

If we change how Xcribe handles information, we'll update this page and its "Last updated" date before the change takes effect. If a future version adds a feature that sends any of your data off your device, we'll update this policy before that version is released, and the app will ask for your permission before sending anything.

Contact

B2B Edge
Email: xcribe@b2bedge.com

See also: Xcribe Support