Manual Privacy
What is stored, and for how long
The retention settings, what they default to, where your data sits on your PC, and how to delete it.
Everything Neato Echo keeps is on your own PC, and you control how long it stays there. Neato Ventures stores nothing — there's no account and no server side. Two settings do the work: audio recordings are deleted after 30 days by default, and transcripts are kept forever by default until you change it.
Both live in one place. Open Settings, then Privacy & Data under System.
The settings, and what they're set to out of the box
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Data Retention | On | Saves transcriptions and audio to your history. Turn it off and text is still pasted, just never saved |
| Audio Retention | 30 days | Deletes stored recordings after this long |
| Transcript Retention | Forever | Deletes saved transcriptions — and their audio — after this long |
| Save discarded dictations | Off | Keeps the audio of dictations you cancelled with Escape, so you can recover them |
Audio Retention and Transcript Retention both offer 1, 7, 14, 30, 60 or 90 days. Audio Retention can also be set to Disabled, which keeps no audio at all; Transcript Retention can be set to Forever, which is where it starts.
Turning history off entirely
Set Data Retention off. Your words are still typed at your cursor; nothing is written to history. The app confirms this state in the history view: "Data retention is off. Transcriptions and audio are not saved to history."
This is the setting to reach for if you dictate anything you'd rather not have sitting on disk afterwards.
Deleting what's already there
The same section has a Storage Usage panel showing how many audio files are stored and how much space they take, with a Clear All Audio button beneath it. It deletes every stored recording and can't be undone.
Shortening a retention period also applies to what you've already got — the next cleanup sweep removes anything past the new limit.
To delete individual notes, use the Notes view. To delete everything at once, Settings → System → Data Management → Reset app data removes settings, transcriptions, recordings and downloaded models together.
Where it sits on disk
If you'd rather look for yourself, or you're wiping a machine:
%APPDATA%\neato-echoInside it, audio/ holds the recordings and transcriptions.db is the SQLite
database holding your history and notes. Downloaded models are separate, in
%USERPROFILE%\.cache\neato-echo. Uninstalling the app leaves both folders in
place; delete them yourself for a clean slate. Where your files
live has the full map.
What is held anywhere else
Nothing, by default. Neato Ventures has no copy of your audio, transcripts or notes and no account to delete.
If you've added a cloud provider key, that provider handles the audio or text you send it under its own retention policy. If you've connected a calendar, Google or Microsoft hold your calendar data as they always did; Neato Echo only reads it.
FAQ
Does changing retention delete my old recordings?
Yes. The limit applies to everything stored, not just new recordings, so lowering it clears out anything already past the new period.
If I turn Data Retention off, do I lose my existing history?
No. It stops new transcriptions being saved; what's already there stays until you delete it or a retention period expires. Clear All Audio removes the recordings.
If I delete a note, is it gone?
Yes. There's no backup copy anywhere else. If you've turned on Save notes as files, the mirrored Markdown file in your chosen folder is also removed.
Related
Still need help?
Write to [email protected] with your Windows version, your Neato Echo version (Settings → System), and what you were doing. A person reads every message.