Privacy Policy

Last updated October 15, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Aura(“Aura,” “we,” “us”) collects, uses, and protects your information. It covers this website (auravoiceapp.com), the Aura app for Android, and Buddy for desktop on Windows and Mac. Across all of them you talk to Buddy, an all-in-one AI companion that chats, talks with you by voice, remembers, checks in, types what you say, takes meeting notes, and can help with your calendar, email, reminders, and the web.

The short version

We collect what we need to run Aura and make Buddy useful to you, and we tell you what each feature sends before it sends it.
We never sell your data or use it for advertising.
We don’t train AI models on your conversations, and the AI providers we use aren’t allowed to either. The only exception is samples you choose to share to help improve Aura, which are off unless you turn them on. See AI processing and model training.
Your microphone is used only when you start something: a voice call, a dictation, or a meeting recording you chose to start.
On the website, analytics stay cookieless until you accept cookies. The voice demo streams your audio for a real-time reply and we don’t store that audio, though we do keep an anonymized text transcript of the demo chat to make Buddy better.
Aura Keyboard processes your typing on your device. Text leaves your phone only when you tap an Aura writing action or the mic, and the keyboard asks you before the first time either one does. See Aura Keyboard.
You can delete your data or your whole account from settings at any time. You can also disconnect Google or revoke its access; revoking stops future access but does not, by itself, delete information you previously asked Aura to save.

Information we collect

On this website

Waitlist details. If you join the waitlist, we collect the email address you submit and, optionally, which features you tell us you are most excited about, so we can tell you when Aura is available. This is stored in our own database (Firebase).
Product analytics. We use PostHog to understand how the site is used (pages viewed, buttons clicked, the voice-demo funnel). Before you accept cookies this runs in a cookieless mode; see Cookies & analytics below.
Voice demo.If you try the in-browser voice demo, your microphone audio is streamed in real time to our model provider (OpenAI) to generate Buddy’s spoken reply. We do not record or store this audio. We do keep a text transcriptof the conversation, along with coarse location (country, region, city) and basic device and browser info, linked only to an anonymous analytics ID and a one-way hashed version of your IP address (never your name, email, or full IP), so we can understand how people talk to Buddy and improve him. To prevent abuse we also use Cloudflare Turnstile to verify you’re human.

In the Aura app and Buddy for desktop

Account information needed to create and secure your account (handled via Firebase).
Your conversations and memory: the messages you exchange with Buddy and the things you ask him to remember, stored to provide continuity across sessions and devices.
Voice interactions processed to enable real-time spoken conversations (via LiveKit).
Reminders, check-ins, and notification preferences you set up.
What you tell us at sign-up: the name you want Buddy to call you, the topics you want to hear about, your device language and region, and whether you are 18 or older or 13 to 17. We do not ask for your date of birth or your gender.
Approximate location, only if you switch on weather in your morning briefing. Your device asks you at that moment, and saying no is a normal answer: Buddy then uses your region instead. When you allow it, the coordinates are rounded to about a kilometre, sent with that one briefing request, used to look up the forecast, and never stored or logged by us.
Plan and payment status. If you subscribe on our website, Dodo Payments processes the payment, and we receive your plan, its status, and its billing dates, never your full card number. App Store purchases are handled by Apple.
Google data and other apps you choose to connect. See Google user data and Sharing & third parties.

On your computer

Buddy for desktop can do more because it runs on your computer. Each of these features works only while you are using it:

Your screen. When you ask Buddy about your screen, circle part of it, or use Guide Mode, Buddy captures the screen (or the part you chose) and the text of the window you are working in, and sends them with that request. During a voice call, Buddy also looks at your screen with each thing you say, so it can help with what you are doing; you can turn this off anytime with Screen Sight (Ctrl + Alt + S, or Control + Option + S on Mac) or in Settings. If you save a screen, the image is stored with your account until you delete it.
Dictation. While you hold your dictation keys, your microphone audio is streamed to our speech provider to turn it into text. To format that text, Aura sends it along with the app and window you are in, the kind of field, and up to 200 characters already in the field before your cursor. Your dictation history (the text and audio of past dictations) is stored encrypted on your computer, not on our servers, for up to 90 days, with audio also capped at 512 MB. Dictations into password fields are never kept.
Meeting Notes. Nothing is recorded until you choose to record a meeting. Buddy then captures your microphone and the call audio, shows a recording indicator the whole time, and uploads the recording so it can be transcribed and turned into notes. Notes are kept for 7 days on Free and Companion unless you pin them, and on Pro until you delete them.
Background tasks.When you give Buddy a task to run on its own, such as research, a task in Aura’s own browser, or a task on your computer, the instructions and the pages, windows, or command results the task works with are sent to our AI providers to decide each step. Aura’s browser is separate from yours and has none of your sign-ins, and Aura asks before steps such as sending, buying, or deleting. The pages and windows a task reads are not stored; the result and a record of the steps are kept so you can review them.

All of this is collected from you as you use Aura: you type it, say it, show it, or choose it. We do not buy personal data or collect it from data brokers, and Aura reads your screen, your other apps, or a connected account only for a feature you asked for or switched on. It is used to run those features and to make Buddy’s replies and check-ins relevant to you. We never use it to advertise to you, and we never sell it.

Buddy does not run on your device. Answering you means sending what you share to the AI companies that run the models, listed under Sharing & third parties. The app tells you this and asks your permission before it sends anything.

How we use your information

To provide, maintain, and improve Aura and Buddy.
To run the features you ask for: conversations, memory, voice, reminders, dictation, meeting notes, screen help, background tasks, and calendar and email help.
To process payments and manage your plan.
To send you product and waitlist updates (you can opt out anytime).
To keep Aura secure and prevent abuse.
To understand usage in aggregate so we can improve the product.

AI processing and model training

Buddy is powered by large language models, including Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini and Meta (and OpenAI for the website voice demo), along with the speech and other AI providers listed under Sharing & third parties. To generate a response, relevant parts of your request may be sent to these providers and processed for Aura under applicable agreements. As explained in the Google user data section, this can include relevant Calendar details or email content when needed to complete your request.

We don’t use your conversations to train AI models, and your Google data is never used to create, train, or improve any AI or machine-learning model. The one exception is samples you choose to share, which are off unless you turn them on:

Help improve Aura in Buddy for desktop has two options. Conversation samples send finished dictations: the recording and transcript, the app and kind of field you dictated into, up to 200 characters already in that field before the cursor, and the edits you make to what Aura typed. Action samples send screen context and the corrections you make, so Aura gets better at acting for you.
Help improve voice typing in Aura Keyboard on Android shares finished dictations in the same way.

Nothing is shared from password fields. Shared samples are kept for 180 days and then deleted, and turning sharing off deletes what you already sent. Anonymous website voice-demo transcripts are also kept to improve Buddy, as described above.

Buddy is an AI companion, not a person, and its answers can be wrong. It is not a substitute for professional medical, legal, financial, or mental-health advice. If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, please contact your local emergency services or a crisis line such as 988(Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, US) right away.

Google user data & Limited Use

Connecting Google Calendar or Gmail is optional. Aura uses Google's OAuth authorization process, so you choose whether to grant access and Google shows you the permissions being requested. Aura does not receive your Google password. We request the minimum Google permissions needed for the feature you choose, in context where possible.

Google data Aura can access

Connection information: the Google account you connect, authorization tokens, granted permissions, and technical identifiers needed to maintain and secure the connection.
Google Calendar data: calendar and event information needed for the requested feature, such as calendar names, event titles and descriptions, dates and times, locations, availability, attendees, and related event metadata.
Gmail data: the connected email address; the messages Buddy reads from your inbox when you ask about your email, such as the sender, recipients, subject, date, and message content; and the recipient, subject, body, and delivery identifiers of an email you ask Buddy to send. Aura sends an email only after you confirm it.

How Aura uses Google data

Aura accesses Google data only to provide the Google-connected features you request or an ongoing instruction you enable. Examples include showing upcoming events, answering a question about your schedule, creating a calendar event, finding or summarizing an email you ask about, and drafting or sending a message on your behalf. Aura does not use Google data for generalized profiling, advertising, or unrelated product features.

AI processing and service providers

When a Google-connected request requires AI processing, Aura may send the Calendar details or email content needed for that request to our AI model providers, such as Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, or OpenAI. They process that information for Aura as service providers so Buddy can return the requested result. We do not permit them to use your Google data to create, train, or improve any AI or machine-learning model. Other infrastructure providers may securely host or process data only as needed to operate, secure, and support the feature.

Storage and retention of Google data

We retain Google authorization tokens and connection metadata while your account remains connected so Aura can perform the features you enable. While Google Calendar is enabled, Aura caches event data in its database so it can keep your schedule synchronized and answer calendar requests. Aura deletes that Calendar cache when you disable or disconnect the Calendar integration. Gmail messages are read only when a request needs them; Aura does not sync or keep a copy of your inbox.

If you intentionally ask Buddy to save Calendar information or email content in a conversation, memory, reminder, or other Aura feature, that saved or derived content becomes part of your Aura data and is retained under the rules for that feature until you delete it or your account. We delete or anonymize Google data and derived data when it is no longer needed for the disclosed feature, subject to limited security, legal, and backup requirements.

Aura’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Specifically:

We use Google data only to provide or improve the prominent, user-facing Google-connected features you request.
We do not use your Google data to train, fine-tune, or develop any AI or machine-learning models.
We do not sell your Google data or use it for advertising.
We transfer Google data only to service providers as needed to provide the requested feature and with your consent, for security, to comply with law, or as part of a merger or sale after obtaining any consent required by Google policy and applicable law.
Humans don’t read your Google data except with your explicit consent, for security/abuse purposes, or where required by law.

You can review or revoke Aura’s access to your Google account at any time from myaccount.google.com/permissions. Revocation prevents new access after Google notifies Aura or the authorization stops working. It does not automatically erase Aura conversations, memories, reminders, drafts, or other content you previously asked Aura to create from Google data. To delete those items and the associated connection data, use Aura’s available deletion controls or contact us using the address below.

We do not sell your personal information. We share data only with service providers that help us run Aura, each handling data under their own terms:

Google APIs: the Calendar and Gmail connections you authorize.
Anthropic, Google Gemini, OpenAI, Meta: AI model providers. They receive the messages and files you send Buddy, the transcript of what you say, your name, and the profile Buddy builds, and use them only to produce the reply you asked for. Calendar details or email content are shared with an AI provider only when needed for the Google-connected feature you request; Google data is not used to create, train, or improve AI models.
Deepgram: speech-to-text. Receives your microphone audio while a voice conversation or dictation is running, and the names in your personal vocabulary so it recognizes them. We opt out of Deepgram’s model-improvement program, so your audio is not used to train their models.
Meta: also transcribes the audio of a meeting you record with Meeting Notes on desktop, so the notes can be written.
DeepInfra: runs some of the open AI models behind background research and agents on desktop. Receives the task and the material that model works on.
Cartesia: text-to-speech. Receives the text of Buddy’s reply in order to speak it.
ai-coustics: removes background noise from your microphone audio during a voice conversation.
Groq: formats text you dictate, and receives that text with the context described under On your computer.
Brave Search, Brave News, newsdata.io, Google News: news and web lookups. They receive the search terms or topics involved, not your conversations.
Open-Meteo: the forecast in your morning briefing. It receives the rounded coordinates described above, or your region when you have not granted location, and nothing else about you.
Firebase: accounts, app data, website waitlist signups, and stored website voice-demo transcripts.
LiveKit: carries the real-time voice call in the app, and routes one of the voice model connections.
PostHog: product analytics.
Cloudflare: bot/abuse protection for the voice demo.
Vercel: website hosting.

Every provider above is bound by a written agreement to protect your data to a standard at least equivalent to this policy: to process it only on our instructions and only to deliver the feature you asked for, not to sell or share it, and not to use your content to train or improve their own models.

Apps you connect. If you connect Notion, GitHub, Slack, X, or LinkedIn and ask Buddy to save, post, or create something there, that content goes to the service you chose, under its own terms and privacy policy.

Payments. Plans bought on our website are sold through Dodo Payments, the merchant of record, which handles what you enter at checkout under its own privacy policy. App Store purchases are handled by Apple the same way.

Before anything is sent to an AI provider, the app tells you what is sent and names who receives it, and asks you to agree. You can review that disclosure, and withdraw your agreement, at any time in the app under Settings → Legal → AI processing.

We may also disclose information if required by law, or to protect the rights, safety, and security of our users and Aura.

Aura Keyboard

Aura Keyboard is an optional Android keyboard. When you enable it, Android warns you that a keyboard can read what you type. Here is exactly what we do with that.

Your typing stays on your phone. Keystrokes, autocorrect, and word suggestions are processed entirely on your device. We do not receive, store, or transmit what you type.

What the keyboard learns, it keeps locally. Words, phrases, and corrections it picks up are stored encrypted on your device under a key held in the Android Keystore. That data is excluded from Google cloud backup and from device-to-device transfer. It is never uploaded to us, and we cannot read it.

Text is sent only when you explicitly ask for it. Three features send data, and each asks your permission before the first time it does:

Aura writing actionssend the text in the field you are typing in, up to 2,000 characters, to our servers so Buddy can draft or rewrite it. “Reply as me” sends the message you copied instead. If what you copied looks like a one-time code or a password, it is not sent.
Talking to Buddy streams your microphone audio to our servers while the mic is on, along with the text in the field so Buddy knows what you are working on.
Voice typing (Dictate in the keyboard, or the mic in the Aura chat box) streams your microphone audio to our speech provider, Deepgram, while you dictate, to turn it into text. When personalization is allowed, names from your Aura vocabulary may be sent with it to improve recognition. Nothing from the field around your cursor is sent. If you tap Clean up, the transcript is sent to our servers to fix punctuation. Unless you turn on Help improve voice typing (see AI processing and model training), Aura does not save the audio or the transcript.

If you decline any of them, the keyboard keeps working normally for everything else. You can turn any of them back on, or off again, in Aura Keyboard settings at any time.

Private fields are excluded. In password, PIN, one-time-code, numeric, phone, email, and web address fields, the writing features are unavailable and no field text is ever sent, even if you start a voice session from one.

Processing. Text and audio you explicitly send are processed by us and by our model and speech providers to produce a reply. They are not used to train models unless you have turned on Help improve voice typing.

Deleting it.“Clear learned words and personalization” in Aura Keyboard settings removes everything the keyboard has learned on that device, including any saved vocabulary hints and your recently used emoji. The keyboard confirms only after it has verified each one is gone. If you sign in with a different Aura account on the same device, the previous account’s learned data is cleared automatically.

Diagnostics. The optional developer diagnostics screen in keyboard settings shows status values and counters only. It never displays, stores, or transmits anything you typed.

Cookies & analytics

On the website we use PostHog for analytics. Until you accept cookies, PostHog runs in a cookieless mode that measures anonymous, in-session activity without storing a tracking cookie on your device. If you accept, we store a cookie so we can recognize return visits and measure conversions more accurately. If you decline, analytics capture is turned off. You can change your mind by clearing your browser storage for this site, which brings the choice back.

Data retention

We keep your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide Aura, and we delete or anonymize data we no longer need. Some features have their own limits:

Conversations, memory, reminders, and saved screens stay until you delete them or your account.
Meeting notes are kept for 7 days on Free and Companion unless you pin them, and on Pro until you delete them.
Dictation history stays on your computer for up to 90 days.
Samples you share to help improve Aura are kept for 180 days, or until you turn sharing off.
Google data follows the more specific rules in the Google user data section above.
Anonymous website voice-demo transcripts are retained to help us improve Buddy. Because they hold no name, email, or account link, they aren’t tied to your identity.

Your rights & choices

Delete your account, in the app.On your phone, open Settings from the side menu, then Manage account → Delete account. In Buddy for desktop, go to Settings → Account → Delete account. Either one removes your stored files, your database records and your sign-in record. It is immediate and needs no email to us. Deleting your account also cancels a plan you bought on our website, so you are not charged again. A plan bought through the App Store is billed by Apple, so cancel it in your App Store subscriptions. You can also email us to access or correct your data.
Withdraw AI processing consentat Settings → Legal → AI processing.
Stop sharing samples by turning off Help improve Aura in Buddy for desktop, or Help improve voice typing in Aura Keyboard. What you already sent is deleted.
Keep your screen out of voice calls by turning off Screen Sight in Buddy for desktop.
Revoke Google access anytime at myaccount.google.com/permissions. Revocation stops future access; separately delete any Google-derived content you previously asked Aura to save.
Opt out of emails using the unsubscribe link in any message.
Depending on where you live (e.g. the EEA/UK under GDPR, or California under the CCPA/CPRA), you may have additional rights to access, portability, correction, deletion, and to object to certain processing. Contact us to exercise them.

Children’s privacy

Aura is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country), and we don’t knowingly collect their data. At sign-up we ask only whether you are 18 or older, or 13 to 17. We do not ask for or store your date of birth. If you tell us you are 13 to 17, Aura never builds a profile from your conversations and Buddy keeps additional conversational restrictions. Companion AI may not be suitable for some minors; if you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we’ll delete it.

Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information, including encryption of data that Buddy for desktop stores on your computer. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we work to safeguard your data and limit access to it.

International users

Aura is operated from the United States, and your information may be processed in the US and other countries where our providers operate. By using Aura you consent to this processing.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Aura evolves. We’ll revise the “Last updated” date above and, for material changes, give notice through the app or website.

Contact

Questions, requests, or deletion: hello@auravoiceapp.com.