Dictation and HIPAA
JotMic is not HIPAA certified and we do not sign business associate agreements.
- No certification
- No BAA
- Offline sends nothing
Free to try. No card. Offline included.
Apple Silicon · macOS 14 or later · Windows 11
That is the answer, and it is first because a page that puts it further down is a page hoping you stop reading before you reach it. We hold no SOC 2 and no ISO 27001 either.
What follows is the thing we can actually tell you: where your audio goes on each of the two paths this app can run on. What that means for your obligations is a question for whoever signs off your compliance, and nothing on this page is legal advice.
Where does the audio actually go?
Offline mode
It does not go anywhere
Speech becomes text on your own computer. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is queued to be.
Online mode
It goes to a server
Sent, transcribed, returned, discarded. Never stored, never used for training — but it does leave.
The default
Online, until you switch
Install it and change nothing and you are on the path that sends audio.
The default is the part to read twice
Online is what you get out of the box. Offline is a switch, and it needs a one-time download of about 490 MB before it will do anything. If the reason you are on this page is that audio must not leave a machine, then the install is not the finished job — turning offline mode on is.
How do you check any of this?
Turn the network off and dictate a sentence. If it works, no audio was leaving — and you know that because you watched it, not because a page told you.
Apply the same test to every app on your shortlist, including this one. A privacy claim you can run in ten seconds is worth more than one you have to believe.
What we do not have
- No HIPAA certification and no business associate agreement
- No SOC 2, no ISO 27001
- No third-party security audit to point you at
- No enterprise agreement, no procurement process, no vendor questionnaire on file
Some apps in this category do have these. If a signed BAA is what your organisation requires, that is a real requirement and we do not meet it — buy one of the ones that does.
Try it offline before you decide anything. Free to try, no card.
What we do have
- A mode where the audio never reaches us, so there is nothing for us to hold
- A published privacy policy that describes both paths
- A transcript history that lives on your machine and can be cleared or turned off
- An account that carries an email address and a plan, and no speech
Software that never receives your audio is not processing it. Whether that changes anything about your own obligations is genuinely not ours to answer, and we would rather say so than guess in your favour.
Read next
Offline dictation
What offline mode is, what it costs the machine, and when to switch back.
Air-gapped machines
For a computer kept off the network on purpose, and what it still needs.
Privacy policy
What is sent, what is stored, and what is never kept on either path.
Questions
Is JotMic HIPAA compliant?
No. We are not certified, we hold no SOC 2 or ISO 27001, and we do not sign business associate agreements. Any dictation app that answers this question with an unqualified yes and no BAA is worth a second look.
Will you sign a BAA?
Not today. We are a one-person company and a BAA is an obligation we would not be able to stand behind, so signing one would be worse than declining.
Then why does this page exist?
Because the honest answer is more useful than no answer. In offline mode no audio leaves your computer at all, which is a different situation from a vendor processing it under an agreement. Whether that difference matters to you is a question for your compliance officer.
What happens to my audio in offline mode?
Nothing leaves the machine. The recording is turned into text on your own computer and neither the audio nor the text is uploaded or queued to upload. There is no request for a network to carry.
What happens to my audio online?
It is sent to our service, forwarded to a speech provider, held for the moment it takes to transcribe, returned as text and discarded. It is never stored and never used for training — and it does leave your machine, which is the part that matters here.
Which one am I on by default?
Online. Offline is a switch you turn on, and it needs a one-time download of about 490 MB. If you install it and change nothing, your audio is going to a server.
How do I know offline mode is really offline?
Turn the network off and dictate. If it works, nothing was being uploaded. It is the same test we would apply to anyone else in this category.
Do you store transcripts?
On your machine, so you can find what you dictated. You can clear that history or turn it off. We do not hold a copy.
Is the account a problem?
The account exists for licensing — which plan you are on. It carries your email address. It does not carry your speech or your transcripts on either path.
What would you actually recommend for patient notes?
Offline mode on a machine you control, and a conversation with whoever signs off your compliance before you rely on it. We would rather lose the sale than have you assume something we have not claimed.
Free to try, no card. Turn the network off and check it yourself.