Last updated November 3, 2026
Surtitle doesn’t collect any data. It has no account, no ads, no analytics and no tracking, and it doesn’t send anything to us or to anyone else.
Surtitle listens only between Start listening and Done, and iOS shows its orange microphone dot the whole time. Pause turns the microphone off until you tap Resume. If nothing is heard for 30 minutes, Surtitle ends the talk on its own.
What the microphone hears is turned into text on your iPhone or iPad by Apple’s speech recognition, then translated on the device by Apple’s translation. The sound never leaves the device and is never recorded. Surtitle keeps only the text.
The speech and translation languages you choose are downloaded by iOS from Apple, the way iOS downloads them for its own apps. After that, captions work offline.
Each talk is saved on your device as text: its title, date, length and languages, and each line’s time, original, translation and whether you marked it. Surtitle also keeps your lists of words to expect and your settings, such as your languages, the text size how many free talks you’ve used and how long your short tries ran.
While you listen, the newest line also shows on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, where anyone who can see your iPhone can read it. It goes away when you tap Done.
A transcript you share as a PDF or as text goes only where you send it. What happens to it there is up to that app and the people who get it.
Surtitle is for talks you’re allowed to listen to, like a guided tour, a lecture, a service or a meeting you’re part of. In some places, everyone in a private conversation has to agree before it’s recorded or transcribed, so ask first if it isn’t a public talk.
The unlock is sold through the App Store. Apple handles the payment, and Surtitle only learns whether the unlock is active.
Everything Surtitle stores stays on your device until you delete it. To delete a talk, swipe it to the left in Recent, or open it and choose Delete from its menu. Swipe a word list to the left to delete it. Deleting the app removes everything Surtitle stored, except the count of free talks used and short tries, which stays in your device’s keychain so the free talks aren’t given back. It’s two numbers and nothing else. If you back up your device, the backup includes Surtitle’s talks, as it does for your other apps.
To take back microphone or speech recognition access, go to Settings, then Apps, then Surtitle. Surtitle can’t caption anything without the microphone.
Surtitle collects nothing from anyone, children included.
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new date.
Email floorapps@icloud.com with any questions.