Security
What leaves your computer.
Aside records your calls on your computer and transcribes them there, except when you’ve added a language the on-device model doesn’t know (then every call is sent) or the computer is too slow to keep up. On Free, only guided calls are transcribed online; in 13 of the online-only languages, the rest are transcribed on your computer after the call. Here is what stays there, what is sent and where, how long it’s kept and how to delete it.
Where your data goes
Voiceprints never leave your computer. Audio leaves it only to be transcribed: every call once you add a language the on-device model doesn’t know, or on a computer too slow to keep up. On Free, only guided calls are transcribed online; in 13 of the online-only languages, the rest are transcribed on your computer after the call. Text goes only where a feature needs it.
Stays on your computer
Your computer
- AudioBoth sides of the call, recorded and kept here
- TranscriptionAn on-device speech model turns audio into text, for English and 24 European languages on a computer fast enough to keep up, unless you’ve added a language it doesn’t know
- VoiceprintsHow the people you’ve named sound, kept here
- Calendar detailsDescriptions, links and attendee email addresses
Your Aside account · United States
Meeting text
Titles, transcripts, summaries, notes, plans, playbooks and speaker names, while you’re signed in. The titles, times and attendee names of your next two weeks of meetings. Memory. Transcripts can stay on your computer instead: Settings → Account → Privacy → Keep transcripts on this Mac (this PC on Windows), on each computer where it’s turned on.
AI models · Our AI providers
Only the text a feature needs
Guidance gets your plan, playbook, what Aside remembers about who’s on the call and recent transcript; a write-up, the whole transcript. Sent through our server. For research before a call, the meeting’s title, attendee names and their email domains go to our AI provider from your Aside account. Never used for training.
Speech to text · Our speech-to-text providers
Audio of the calls your computer doesn’t transcribe
Every call once you’ve added a language the on-device model doesn’t know, and calls on a computer too slow to keep up, with the title, plan, names and terms: as you talk, and for that language also after the call if lines were missed, or on Transcribe. Never through our server.
Sign-in · Google
Your name and email address.
Billing · Payment provider
Your email, plan and payment status.
Only if you connect them
Your AI apps
Claude, ChatGPT or another MCP app can read your meetings, upcoming calendar, playbooks, promises and what Aside remembers about you; write your meeting plans, playbooks and memories, and forget memories; and tick off a promise or open it again. Disconnect it and its access stops straight away.
What’s kept, and for how long
| Where | How long | |
|---|---|---|
| Audio | Your computer | Until you delete it. |
| Audio sent for transcription | Our speech-to-text providers | We never receive or store it. Our providers keep it only as long as their data processing terms with us allow. |
| Voiceprints | Your computer | Until you forget them in Settings → General, or turn voice recognition off. |
| Meeting text and memory | Your Aside account (United States) | Until you delete it or your account. A deleted meeting stays in Trash for 30 days, then it’s gone for good. |
| Upcoming meetings | Your Aside account | Until each one ends, or until you disconnect Google Calendar. |
| Text for AI features | Our AI providers | We don’t keep it. Our AI providers delete it within 30 days, unless it’s flagged for breaking their usage policy or the law requires longer. |
| Notes you share by a link | Your Aside account, shown at the link | The summary and next steps only, until you stop sharing, the meeting is deleted or your account is. |
| Connected app tokens | Your Aside account, as a hash | Until you disconnect the app or the token expires. |
| Billing records | Our payment provider | As long as tax law requires, even after your account is deleted. |
The privacy policy has the full detail.
Hidden when you share your screen
Aside’s pill, answer cards and note field are hidden from screen sharing and screen recordings on Mac and Windows, so they don’t show even when you share your whole screen. The main Aside window isn’t hidden, so close it or share a single window if it’s open.
Never used for training
Nothing you record or write is used to train AI models, ours or anyone else’s. We don’t sell your data, and your meetings are never used for advertising.
Sent over HTTPS
Everything the app sends to your account, our server and Google goes over HTTPS, and audio to our speech-to-text providers over encrypted connections. Aside records audio only: no video, and it never captures your screen.
Deleting your data
Delete a meeting and it goes to Trash, where you can restore it for 30 days. Delete your account in Settings → Account and everything stored in it is deleted from our servers, your AI apps are disconnected and your subscription is cancelled. Recordings and voiceprints are on your computer, so delete them there.
Who handles your data
Providers store your account, run our server, run the AI features, transcribe calls online, take payments and measure our ads. The privacy policy has the details.
Certifications
Aside doesn’t have SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification. If your company needs a questionnaire filled in, email privacy@asidehq.app.
For your IT team
What changes on a company computer, and what doesn’t.
Aside hears the microphone and the computer’s sound. Nothing joins the meeting, so it works where recording bots are blocked.
No Zoom app, Teams add-in or browser extension, and no admin approval in the call app.
The Windows installer installs for the current user. On a Mac, Aside goes in Applications like any app.