Hourhand
Privacy Policy
Last updated 2026-10-21. Hourhand is made by Yunpeng Chen (chirpet.com). Contact: hourhand@chirpet.com.
The short version
Your recordings and their text stay on your Apple Watch and iPhone. Hourhand has no account, no ads, no analytics and no tracking. Nothing leaves your devices unless you turn on Cloud processing in Settings.
On your devices
- Audio recorded on Apple Watch is sent to your iPhone with Apple's WatchConnectivity and deleted from the watch once it has arrived.
- Recordings, transcripts, summaries and bookmarks are stored in the app's private storage on your iPhone (included in your device backup like other app data). Deleting a recording deletes all of it.
- Transcription runs on your iPhone (Apple's on-device speech recognition). Summaries use Apple Intelligence on your iPhone when available.
Cloud processing (off by default)
If you turn it on, Hourhand sends only what is needed for the recording you are processing:
| When | What is sent | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud transcription (a language your iPhone can't transcribe, or “Always transcribe in the cloud”) | The audio of that recording, in parts of up to 3 minutes | Outside mainland China: Cloudflare (Workers AI). Mainland China App Store: Alibaba Cloud (Function Compute, Hong Kong; speech recognition by Alibaba Cloud Model Studio) and DeepSeek for text. |
| AI summary or tidy-up when Apple Intelligence isn't available | The text of that recording |
The audio or text is processed and the result returned immediately. Hourhand's servers do not store it, do not log it and never use it to train models. The providers process it only to answer the request.
Purchases and usage limits
To keep cloud processing fair, each request includes the App Store–signed proof of your install and, for Pro, of your purchase. The server checks Apple's signature and keeps one counter per month (seconds transcribed, number of AI requests) keyed by the anonymous App Store transaction ID, deleted after 45 days. It cannot identify you. Payments are handled entirely by Apple.
Permissions
Microphone (to record, only when you tap Record) and, on iOS 18–25, Speech Recognition (on-device only). Hourhand does not access contacts, location or photos.
Children
Hourhand is not directed at children and collects no personal data from anyone.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date.