What stays here and what leaves
No "we take your privacy very seriously". A list of concrete things, with what happens to each one.
Never leaves your iPhone
Speech recognition runs on the iPhone itself. What travels to the server is the text of what you said. Group radio is a separate feature that asks you to activate voice sending.
It is read on the phone to work out who you are calling or writing to. It is never uploaded anywhere, not even turned into codes.
Merchant, date, total, VAT and line items are read with Vision, on the device. The photo does not leave.
The transcription happens on the iPhone and finishes even if you close the app. Telling voices apart is the only thing that sends audio out, and it is asked for separately.
With Apple's translation framework, offline.
The cutout of the person or the object is computed on the phone.
Never sent to the server. Only the number you asked to hear.
Rounded to roughly a kilometre before it leaves the phone.
Reaches the server
So the model can understand it. It goes with what Nia remembers about you, the time and the rounded location.
So you can go back to them. On the free plan they are kept a year; on Plus and Pro, until you delete them.
In the clear, because a search by meaning is computed over the text. That is why Nia does not store a password without asking you.
The ones you give it, so it can answer citing file and page.
Only when you hold to speak. It reaches people who turned their listening on and lives in memory for about thirty seconds. If someone reports it, it is kept for thirty days for moderation.
They are generated on the server and saved to your Photos. Attachments in a turn are not persisted: before the conversation is stored they are replaced by a line saying what kind of file it was.
The server is the only place in the system that talks to the model: there is no AI credential inside the app. Everything goes over HTTPS.
What happens if you say a password out loud
A memory is stored as plain text. It has to be: for Nia to find it later by meaning, its representation has to be computed over the text, and a memory that cannot be read is not a memory. That leaves an uncomfortable question: what if what you tell it is your card PIN?
Nia's answer is not to decide for you. A detector recognises that what you said looks like a credential, stores nothing, and gives you a card with two buttons: keep it anyway, or remember the rest without it. Your answer sticks and you change it whenever you like in Settings, under the passwords you say out loud.
And the limit of that is written down too: inside a Shortcut, the detection sees the words of that turn and the text of each step. A PIN said three turns earlier and written as a bare number is covered by an instruction to the model, not by a check. Saying so is better than assuming it does not happen.
What you can do yourself, without writing to anyone
See it
Everything Nia remembers is on one screen, with a search box. There is no hidden memory.
Export
One file with your conversations, memories, routines and skills, from Settings.
Delete the account
In Settings, under Account, "Delete account" wipes everything on the server and signs you out. There is no email to send and no waiting.
Revoke permissions
Every permission is granted separately and taken back in iOS Settings. Nia keeps working with whatever is left, and tells you what it cannot do.
Turn off search
Google search inside a turn can be switched off. While it is on, the text of those commands reaches Google Search, and the app says so.
Disconnect Google
Gmail, Drive and Calendar are disconnected from the same screen where they were connected.
About privacy
Is Nia always listening?
No. The wake word "Hey Nia" is switched on by hand in Settings, with its battery warning, and it only works with the app open or with background audio mode on. With the app closed, Nia does not listen, and that is not a fault: iOS does not allow it to any app other than Siri. While it is listening, the orange microphone indicator is on, as it should be.
Does my voice leave the iPhone?
Dictation and the wake word are recognised on the device itself. What travels to the server is the text of what you said, so the model can understand it. Group radio is the exception: when you turn it on and hold to speak, the voice notice travels to the server to reach people in that group who turned their listening on. Reading a receipt, translating text, Nia Studio masks and your location also stay on the phone, with location rounded to a kilometre before it leaves.
Does Nia remember what I tell it?
On the Plus or Pro plan, yes. You can say "remember that I am allergic to shellfish" and it will take that into account the next time it looks for a restaurant. Everything it remembers sits on one screen where you can search it, edit it, delete entries one by one or delete the lot. And if you say a password out loud, Nia does not save it: it works out that it is a credential, writes nothing and asks you what to do.
Can I delete my data?
Yes, and without writing to anyone. Settings, under Account, Delete account removes your conversations, your memories, your routines, your skills and your devices. You can also export all of it first, in one file.
Does group radio record my voice?
A voice notice is only sent when you turn radio on and hold to speak. There are no public channels and nobody can turn listening on for you. A notice lives in memory for about thirty seconds so it can reach people who chose to listen. If someone reports it, it is kept for thirty days so it can be reviewed. There is no end to end encryption and Nia does not identify anyone by their voice.
Does Nia read my contacts?
Only on the phone, and only when it is needed for what you asked: working out who you are calling or who you are writing to. Your address book is not uploaded to any server, not even to find out which of your contacts use Nia: a group invitation is a code that works once, and Nia writes it for you in WhatsApp or Messages.
Shall we begin?
Download Nia, tell it the first thing and see what happens. The free plan asks for no card.
Free to start. Requires iOS 18. In English and Spanish.