Yaps
Yaps is a private AI toolkit that runs on your device: dictation, file transcription, read-aloud, translation and Markdown voice notes. It keeps working offline once local models are installed, on Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone and iPad.
What is Yaps?
Yaps is a private AI toolkit built on a single architectural decision: your content is processed on your own machine instead of being uploaded for processing. The homepage puts it as powerful AI that stays on your device, and claims roughly 300 milliseconds from speech to text precisely because there is no network round trip.
The product is organised into five blocks. Capture covers dictation, voice notes and existing recordings. Knowledge covers the Markdown vault, saved web pages and questions put to your own sources. Create covers read-aloud, the Studio timeline, translation and captions. Media covers transcribing, cleaning, trimming and converting files locally. Access covers voice input inside desktop applications, Android and connected AI workflows. Seven feature pages document dictation, text-to-speech, voice notes, Studio, translation, voice commands and voice cloning.
The notes vault is ordinary Markdown with backlinks and wiki-links, readable outside the app; optional end-to-end encrypted sync moves it between devices, with a public relay able to route encrypted packets it cannot read. On-device translation covers 28 languages in the Standard pack and 53 in the Extended pack. The Android build ships a full keyboard with tap and swipe typing, autocorrect, 20+ languages, themes and a one-handed mode. Agent Access opens the vault to third-party AI clients such as Codex, Claude and Cursor through a local MCP integration, read-only by default and revocable. Snap.Yaps adds screen, window, system audio, microphone and webcam recording with a timeline, on-device captions, effects and MP4 or GIF export.
Sixteen free browser tools run the same technology without an account, from speech-to-text and caption generation to PDF and ebook conversion. Voice generation is built on Supertone's Supertonic 3 model under a BigScience Open RAIL-M licence. Everything keeps working offline once the local models are installed, while accounts, billing, sync and updates still need a connection. The site exists in 30 interface languages, the desktop build was 2.3.2421 at review time, and the publisher describes itself only as a small distributed team with a remote headquarters, founded in 2026.
What it does
- Dictate into any application: hold a key, speak, release, and cleaned-up text lands at the cursor
- Transcribe imported audio and video files on the device, with nothing uploaded
- Generate editable captions and export them as SRT or VTT
- Read text aloud with 18 on-device voices, or 2 voices on the free mobile tier
- Translate notes, selected text and subtitle files locally
- Capture searchable voice notes in a Markdown vault with backlinks and wiki-links
- Ask questions about your own notes and get answers computed on the device
When to use Yaps / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if Yaps is the right fit.
When to use Yaps
- Heavy dictators in confidential lines of work — lawyers, clinicians, therapists — who refuse to send voice recordings to a cloud service
- Journalists handling protected sources who need to transcribe files without uploading them anywhere
- People who work offline or on constrained networks: flights, fieldwork, restricted sites
- Multi-device users who want the same dictation on desktop, Android and iPhone, plus a Markdown vault that follows them
- Plain-text note-takers who want backlinks and wiki-links in ordinary Markdown files rather than a proprietary format
When not to use Yaps
- Teams looking for an automatic meeting-notes bot that joins video calls: Yaps compares itself with Otter and Granola but does not position itself there
- Developers who need server-side integration: no public API documentation and no endpoint are published
- Windows users who need production-grade stability, since the Windows app is still labelled Beta on the download page
- Buyers who require a signed DPA, a formal subprocessor list or SOC 2 / ISO certification: none of these is published
- Owners of older or low-memory machines, since the local models require a substantial initial download
How to use Yaps
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Try the technology first through the 16 free browser tools, which need no account and no installation
- Download the app: macOS 13+ (Apple Silicon or Intel), Windows 10/11 (Beta), Linux as AppImage, .deb or .rpm, Android 10+ on Google Play, iPhone and iPad on the App Store; Homebrew and WinGet also work
- On mobile, start straight away on the free tier: no account and no payment card are required
- On desktop, sign in with the same email address on the site and in the app, then run the 7-day free trial before subscribing to Pro
- Install the local models at first launch: this is the step that unlocks offline operation
- Dictate anywhere: hold the key, speak, release, and the text appears in the active field of any application
- On Android, enable the Yaps keyboard in system settings to dictate wherever you type
- Install the Save to Yaps extension from the Chrome Web Store and pair it with the desktop app over 127.0.0.1 to send pages and images to the local vault
- If the sign-in code never arrives, run the connection-test page to identify the network block and get instructions for your IT administrator
- Cancel at any time from Account > Subscription in the app, or through Manage billing after signing in on the site
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Core processing stays on the device: dictated audio, transcripts and notes are not sent to a cloud AI service
- Keeps working offline once the local models are installed, with a claimed 300 ms to text and no network round trip
- Unusually broad platform coverage: macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, iPad and a browser extension
- Notes are plain Markdown, portable outside the tool, with no proprietary format to escape from
- The mobile tier is genuinely free, with no account and no payment card, and 16 browser tools need no installation at all
- Low price for unmetered use: 12 USD per month billed annually, no minute quotas, a 7-day desktop trial and cancellation at any time
- Detailed privacy policy that names its third-party processors and describes each network route
Cons
- Minimal corporate transparency: no postal address, no full legal entity name and no named founder or director anywhere on the site
- The Windows app is labelled Beta, speaker identification is Windows and macOS only, and voice cloning is limited to Apple Silicon Macs
- Voice-command intent classification goes through an online service, and on iPhone or iPad the system may fall back to Apple's remote recognition if the local engine is unavailable
- No DPA, no formal subprocessor list, no security certification such as SOC 2 or ISO, and no Article 27 EU representative
- No documented public API, so server-side integration is out of reach
- The marketing site carries Meta Pixel, Google Analytics 4 and Mixpanel with session replay
- Substantial initial model download; the browser tools lose their state on reload, and the PDF tools perform no OCR and preserve neither layout, images nor complex tables
Pricing & Plans
Yaps offers a permanently free plan, restricted to mobile (Android, iPhone and iPad) and usable without an account or payment card. The lowest paid entry point is the Pro plan at 12.00 USD per month on annual billing, or 15.00 USD per month on monthly billing, the annual commitment representing an announced 20% saving. Desktop use is preceded by a free 7-day trial. An Enterprise plan is available on quotation. Subscriptions may be cancelled at any time, access being maintained until the end of the paid period. Web and desktop purchases are processed by Stripe, iOS purchases by Apple In-App Purchase, and any price change is notified at least 30 days in advance and applies at the following renewal.
- mobile only (Android
- iPhone
- iPad)
- voice input inside apps
- voice notes with local search
- read-aloud with 2 mobile voices
- on-device
- no account required
- desktop on Windows
- macOS and Linux
- unlimited dictation and read-aloud
- unlimited transcription of audio and video files
- unlimited video captioning exported as SRT
- speaker identification on Windows and macOS
- on-device chat with your notes
- 18 read-aloud voices
- priority support
- volume licensing and centralised billing
- private onboarding
- on-device by default
- A Max tier is mentioned on the referral page but does not appear on the pricing page
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how Yaps handles your data.
GDPR overview
Yaps never writes that it is GDPR compliant, but its privacy policy is built along GDPR lines. A Legal Bases section names contract, legitimate interests, legal obligation and consent, the last withdrawable at any time. A Your Rights section lists access, rectification, erasure, portability and objection under GDPR, CCPA or similar legislation, exercised through privacy@yaps.ai, and it names the UK Information Commissioner's Office as the supervisory authority, failing that the authority where the user lives or works. A dedicated cookie policy covers essential cookies alongside Mixpanel (with autocapture and session replay), Google Analytics 4 and Meta Pixel. Three things are missing: no Article 27 EU representative is designated, no data protection officer is named, and no data processing agreement is offered or even mentioned. In place of a formal subprocessor register, a Third-Party Services section names the processors. The minimum age is 13.
Who owns the data?
The terms state that content remains the user's: the publisher claims no ownership over text, voice recordings, screen recordings, projects, captions or exports created with Yaps. The notes vault is stored locally as Markdown files that the publisher neither uploads nor hosts, and Snap.Yaps recordings stay on the device unless the user deliberately sends one, for instance as a support attachment. What the publisher does reserve is its own intellectual property: the Yaps name, its logos and the product content belong to the publisher or its licensors. Users receive nothing more than a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable licence to use the software.
Reuse rights
Because content is created and stored on the user's own device, it can be reused without asking permission, subject to one documented limit: voices generated with the Supertonic 3 model fall under a BigScience Open RAIL-M licence whose usage restrictions the user must pass on downstream. On the publisher's side, collection is limited to account name and email, subscription and billing metadata, usage metadata (counters, installation identifier, device type, app and model versions, feature attempts and outcomes, durations, aggregate volumes), crash reports and marketing-site analytics. These serve to run and authenticate the service, bill it, enforce plan limits, send service updates, improve reliability and measure site usage and ad attribution, on the legal bases of contract, legitimate interests, legal obligation and consent. Product events are designed to exclude dictated audio, transcripts, note bodies, prompts, clipboard content, screen content, file names and paths, and raw error messages. Two narrow exceptions are documented: a GIF or sticker search term goes to Klipy without any link to the account, and on iPhone or iPad the system voice service may fall back to Apple's remote recognition when the on-device engine is unavailable. The publisher states that it never sells personal information.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
No hosting country or region is named anywhere on the site. The architecture makes the question partly moot: the primary content — dictated audio, transcripts, notes, recordings, imported files and generated media — stays on the user's device, and the notes vault is stored locally as Markdown rather than hosted by the publisher. Optional device-to-device sync is end-to-end encrypted, and while a public relay may forward encrypted packets it cannot read, it does see routing metadata. Only account data, billing, plan verification, model downloads, updates and limited diagnostics reach servers. The third-party processors named are Stripe for web and desktop payments, Apple In-App Purchase on iOS, Sentry for crash reports and diagnostics, Mixpanel, Google Analytics 4 and Meta Pixel on the marketing site, Klipy for GIF and sticker search, and Apple for the remote speech-recognition fallback on iOS. What the browser extension saves goes only to the local app over 127.0.0.1. The website resolves behind a Cloudflare anycast address, which says nothing about where data is stored. On the server side, the jurisdiction question is simply left unanswered.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting Yaps.
- The publisher cannot be identified: no postal address, no legal form and no named director, while the terms designate the law of the State of California
- No DPA, no subprocessor page, no security certification and no Article 27 EU representative, which limits recourse in a professional setting
- Two paths leave the device despite the on-device promise: voice-command intent classification uses an online service, and iPhone or iPad may fall back to Apple's remote speech recognition
- The marketing site is heavily instrumented: Mixpanel with autocapture and session replay, Google Analytics 4 and Meta Pixel
- Optional note sync may transit through a public relay which cannot read the encrypted packets but does see routing metadata
- Generated voices are subject to the usage restrictions of the BigScience Open RAIL-M licence, which the user has to pass on downstream
- Screen recording and connected AI clients shift responsibility onto the user: consent and prior notice are the user's own duty, and a third-party client reached through Agent Access processes the excerpts it receives under its own terms
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Low for most users. The apps install like ordinary consumer software — direct download, Homebrew, WinGet, Google Play or the App Store — and the free mobile tier requires no account or card. The extra step is downloading the local models at first launch, which is substantial and conditions offline use. Requirements are macOS 13.0+, Windows 10/11 in Beta, 64-bit Linux or Android 10+. The Android keyboard must be enabled in system settings, and the browser extension needs the desktop app plus local pairing. Agent Access, for technical users, adds an MCP client connection. The browser tools need nothing installed.
Deployment
Apps stores
Integrations
Supported languages
Behind Yaps
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Alternatives
Tools that compete with or complement Yaps.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Yaps cost?
Does Yaps work offline?
Does my voice go to the cloud?
Which devices does Yaps support?
Can I try Yaps without installing anything?
Is there a permanently free plan?
How do I cancel my subscription?
How does the referral programme work?
How do I exercise my rights over my data?
Is there a minimum age, and how fast is support?
Should you pick Yaps?
Yaps makes one promise and organises everything around it: capable voice AI without handing your content to a cloud service. Dictation, file transcription, read-aloud, translation, captions and a Markdown note vault all run on the device, and they keep running offline once the local models are installed. The platform coverage is unusually wide for this category — macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, iPad and a browser extension — and the pricing is modest for unmetered use: a genuinely free mobile tier with no account or card, then 12 USD per month billed annually on desktop, with a 7-day trial and no minute quotas. Notes remain plain Markdown, so nothing is locked in.
The reservations are real, but they concern the company more than the product. Nothing on the site identifies the publisher beyond the name Yaps: no postal address, no legal form, no named founder, while the terms designate California law. There is no DPA, no subprocessor page and no security certification, which will stop a procurement team long before it stops an individual. Technically, the Windows app is still Beta, speaker identification is missing on Linux, voice cloning needs an Apple Silicon Mac, and two narrow paths do leave the device: voice-command intent classification and, on iPhone or iPad, a possible fallback to Apple's remote recognition.
For an individual working with sensitive material — a lawyer, a clinician, a journalist protecting sources — or simply someone who dictates a lot across several devices, the trade-off is attractive and cheap to test: the mobile tier and the browser tools cost nothing. For an organisation that needs signed paperwork and an identified counterparty, the file is incomplete.
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
- Opens in a new window.