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Privacy

By default, nothing you type leaves your phone.

One optional feature is the exception, and this page is specific about which. Glotta is a keyboard: it sees messages, emails and conversations. That makes an honest description of where the text goes matter more than a reassuring headline.

The short version

Translation, by defaultStays on the device (Apple's Translation framework)
Corrections and rewrites, by defaultStay on the device (Apple Intelligence, or a bundled dictionary)
Cloud engine, if you turn it onThe sentence is sent to OpenRouter
Phrase analysis, with the cloud engine onThe phrase is sent to OpenRouter
Vocabulary, phrase list, settings, cacheStay on the device
WidgetStays on the device

The cloud engine

Settings has an AI engine choice. Out of the box it is set to on-device, and until you change it, nothing below applies.

If you switch it to cloud, then for translations, same-language corrections, rewrites and phrase analysis Glotta sends the sentence you are working on to OpenRouter, which forwards it to the model you selected. What is sent is the sentence itself and the languages involved — not your contacts, not what you type outside that sentence, nothing that identifies you. From there OpenRouter's own privacy policy governs it.

The on-device engines stay in place as a fallback, so choosing cloud never leaves you unable to translate when there is no network.

Worth knowing

The API key is compiled into the app so beta testers do not need one of their own. That means it is shared, and it is not a secret: anyone who downloads the app can extract it. Moving it behind a service of our own is one of the things to do before anything is sold.

On the device

  • Translation

    Uses Apple's Translation framework, which runs on the device. The language pair downloads once and then works without a network too.

  • Corrections and rewrites

    Use Apple Intelligence on the device where available, a round trip through the local translator, or a frequency dictionary bundled with the app — in that order.

  • Secure fields are ignored

    For passwords and other secure text fields iOS gives the keyboard no context at all: there, Glotta cannot read, translate or learn. The “allow in secure fields” setting is off by default.

  • Sentences, vocabulary, cache and settings

    Are stored in the app's shared container on the phone, and nowhere else.

  • Definitions

    Use Apple's built-in system dictionary, never a network request.

  • The widget

    Shows a word from your vocabulary or one of the bundled curated phrases. Its one-line notes are generated on the device, and it makes no network calls — not even with the cloud engine on.

  • No analytics

    No tracking SDKs, no third-party telemetry.

Phrase history

Glotta keeps a list of the sentences you write and their translations. It is what the phrase list and the “phrases you use most” section are built from, so it is on by default.

It never leaves the device, and Settings can turn it off or clear it at any time. Turning it off stops new sentences being recorded; it does not delete what is already there, which the clear action does.

What Apple may collect

Per Apple's documentation, the Translation framework may collect usage and performance metrics (for example the app's identifier and the language pair). This data does not include the original or translated text.

Apple Intelligence requests run on the device and are not sent to Apple.

Purchases

Purchases are handled by Apple through StoreKit. Glotta only reads the result — whether the subscription is active — to unlock the premium features: it receives no payment details.

Full Access

The keyboard needs Full Access for the shared store (vocabulary, settings, cache) and to play pronunciation. Full Access is also what makes network access possible at all — which is why the cloud engine cannot run without it.

The point

With Full Access on and the cloud engine off, nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Your controls

In Settings you can:

  • Choose the AI engine (on-device or cloud) and the cloud model.
  • Turn phrase history on or off, and clear it.
  • Decide whether Glotta works in secure fields (off by default).
  • Manage which language models are downloaded.
  • Restore purchases.