Privacy Policy
Loupe does not collect any personal data.
Effective November 3, 2026
This policy explains how the Loupe app for iPhone and iPad (“Loupe”, “the app”, “we”) handles information. In short: by default everything, including the sound used for Speech captions, is processed on your device. Nothing is ever sent to us, and we have no servers that receive your data. Something leaves your device only when you turn it on yourself: LAN Live (section 4), which stays inside your local network, and a translation service you connect with your own account or Apple Cloud (section 5), which then receive data directly from your device.
- On your deviceBy default, text and speech recognition and translation run on your iPhone or iPad.
- Screen and audio never savedNo screenshots or recordings. Screen images are never uploaded; text or audio leaves your device only if you choose a service (section 5).
- No trackingNo account, analytics, ads or third-party SDKs.
- LAN Live stays localOff by default. When on, it never leaves your network.
1Screen content
- When you start Loupe, iOS or iPadOS asks you to confirm screen sharing. Only then does Loupe’s screen sharing extension receive images of your screen.
- These images are processed on your device only, to find text and show its translation in the Picture in Picture window or, on iPad, in the Loupe window.
- Translate Image works on one image you choose in Photos or pass from a shortcut. Loupe gets only that image, keeps it in memory and discards it when you close the result, unless you share or save it yourself. It has no access to the rest of your photos.
- Only while Loupe is translating, the screen sharing extension passes images to the app through a fixed-size shared-memory buffer inside the app’s private App Group container on your device. The buffer holds only the latest frame, and each new frame overwrites the previous one. When you stop Loupe, the buffer is cleared and deleted. Only Loupe can access it.
- So the Fixed Area editor can show your real screen, Loupe keeps a few reduced copies of recent screens in memory while translating. They are never written to disk. They are discarded about 5 minutes after you stop, when you start again, or when the app closes; if iOS has suspended Loupe by then, they go as soon as it runs again.
- Screen content is never saved as screenshots or recordings, never uploaded, and never used for any other purpose. It is not shared with anyone, except through LAN Live (section 4) when you turn it on, and then only within your local network.
- You can stop at any time by tapping Stop Loupe, closing the Picture in Picture window, or stopping screen sharing from the status bar.
2Sound from other apps (Speech captions: Phone Audio)
- With the Phone Audio source, Speech captions turn the audio that other apps play on your device into subtitles. They start only after you tap Start Captions and confirm screen sharing in iOS or iPadOS. In this mode, Loupe’s screen sharing extension passes on only the apps’ audio; screen images are discarded and not read.
- Phone Audio does not use the microphone, and nothing is recorded. The audio is processed only on your device, by Apple’s on-device speech recognition, and is never saved or uploaded.
- While captions run, the extension passes the audio to the app through a fixed-size shared-memory buffer inside the app’s private App Group container. The buffer holds only the last few seconds, which are overwritten continuously, and it is deleted when captions stop. Only Loupe can access it.
- The recognized text and its translation, from either audio source, are saved as a transcript on your device only, so you can look back at past sessions in Transcripts: the time, the languages and each line with its timing. Transcripts stay in the app’s private storage on your device, are never uploaded, and are not included in iCloud or computer backups. Loupe keeps the latest 200 sessions and deletes older ones automatically. You can delete one session, or all of them in Settings, and turn off Save Transcripts so new sessions aren’t saved. The sound itself is never saved. If you choose Copy or Export, the text goes to the clipboard or the system share sheet, and you decide where it goes from there.
- Key points, if you tap them, are summarized on your device by Apple’s on-device language model (available on devices that support Apple Intelligence) and saved with that session’s transcript.
- The speech model for each spoken language is downloaded by iOS from Apple after you confirm, and is shared with other apps on your device. That download is handled by Apple under Apple’s Privacy Policy.
3Microphone (Speech captions: Nearby Speech)
- Loupe uses the microphone only for the Nearby Speech audio source, and only after you tap Start Listening. iOS or iPadOS asks for your permission the first time, and you can turn it off anytime in Settings › Privacy & Security › Microphone. Screen translation and Phone Audio never use the microphone, and Nearby Speech does not use screen sharing.
- The sound is processed only on your device, by Apple’s on-device speech recognition, to show live captions and their translation. It is never recorded, saved or uploaded.
- Loupe listens while the captions are on screen in Loupe or in the Picture in Picture window. When you tap End, or if Picture in Picture can’t appear after you leave the app, Loupe stops listening and releases the microphone. While the microphone is in use, iOS shows its indicator.
- Only the recognized text and its translation can be kept: as a transcript on your device, and only while Save Transcripts is on (section 2). The sound itself is never saved.
4LAN Live (optional, off by default)
- LAN Live is one of the reading scopes you can choose. It is off unless you pick it.
- While it is on, Loupe runs a small web server on your iPhone or iPad, shows you a link with the device’s local network address, and sends the translation to devices that open that link: as images of the translated screen or, if you choose Subtitles, as the recognized text and its translation. The link contains a random password that is new for every session.
- With Subtitles, the web page keeps the text of the current page that you have already read (up to 64 items), so the viewer can scroll back. Loupe holds this text only in memory and clears it when the page changes or you stop Loupe; it is never written to disk, and the web page does not save it.
- The connection is plain HTTP inside your local network and is not encrypted, so anyone who has the link and is on the same network can watch. Use it on a network you trust, or on your own Personal Hotspot.
- Nothing leaves your local network: the images or text go directly from your device to the other device. They do not pass through us, and we have no servers involved.
- Stopping Loupe stops the server and invalidates the password, so the old link no longer works.
5Recognition and translation
Text recognition uses Apple’s on-device Vision framework, speech recognition uses Apple’s on-device Speech framework, and translation uses Apple’s on-device Translation framework. Translation language packs are downloaded by iOS from Apple; that download is handled by Apple under Apple’s Privacy Policy. After a language pack is downloaded, translation works offline.
Translation services you connect (optional, off by default)
In Settings you can connect an outside translation service with your own account and API key, such as an AI model provider, DeepL, Google Translate or your own server. Nothing is sent to any of them unless you connect one and select it. Loupe asks you to confirm before sending anything to a new address.
- Screen translation and Translate Image: the text recognized on screen is sent directly from your device to the service you selected. Images of your screen are never sent. With an AI model, the last few lines translated in this session are sent along so names and tone stay consistent, and so are your story background and the glossary terms that appear in the text, if you wrote them.
- Speech captions: if you select a service for Speech, the audio is sent directly from your device to that service for recognition and translation. With on-device speech, it is not.
- That service receives the data under its own terms and privacy policy, and bills you directly. We do not operate these services and receive nothing from them.
- Your API keys are stored in the iOS Keychain on your device and sent only to the service they belong to. Select on-device translation or delete the connection to stop.
Apple Cloud (optional, off by default)
If you select “Apple Cloud” as the translation engine, the text recognized on screen, plus your story background and glossary terms if you wrote them, is sent to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute for translation. Images of your screen are never sent. Apple handles it under the Apple Privacy Policy and states that Private Cloud Compute does not store it or make it accessible to Apple. We receive nothing. The “Apple Intelligence” engine runs on your device and sends nothing.
6Information stored on your device
Loupe keeps a small amount of information on your device so the app works. None of it is sent to us.
- App Group storage (shared only between the Loupe app and its screen sharing extension): your settings (interface language, translation languages, mode, reading scope and the fixed area you mark, display style and Show original, the audio source, spoken language, caption style and Save Transcripts for Speech captions, when each speech model was last used, appearance), the current session state, your daily free usage counter, and a cached copy of your Loupe Pro status so the app opens quickly.
- Keychain: the date and the number of free seconds used that day, so the daily free limit is not reset by reinstalling. iOS may keep this Keychain item after the app is deleted; it contains no personal information.
- Transcripts (the app’s private Application Support folder, not shared with the extension, excluded from iCloud and computer backups): the text of your Speech captions sessions and their key points, up to the latest 200 sessions (section 2). Save Transcripts, your choice to keep them, is stored with your other settings.
- Translation services you connect (private to the app): the service addresses and models you chose, your story background and glossary, and token counts for the usage record. Translated text is not recorded. API keys are in the Keychain.
- The app’s own settings storage (UserDefaults, private to the app): your interface language for iOS, and for the App Store rating request a count of sessions in which Loupe translated, a “ready to ask” flag and the app version last asked. The rating prompt and any review you write are handled by Apple.
7Purchases
Loupe Pro subscriptions and the lifetime purchase are processed by Apple through the App Store. We do not receive your name, Apple Account, or payment details. The app uses Apple’s StoreKit on your device to check whether you have Loupe Pro.
8No tracking, analytics, or advertising
- No account or sign-in.
- No third-party SDKs, analytics, crash-reporting services, or advertising.
- No tracking across apps or websites, and no data sold or shared.
- The app does not send data to servers operated by us.
9Children
Loupe is suitable for all ages and does not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children.
10Your choices
You can delete a transcript by swiping it left in Transcripts or from its page, and delete all of them with Clear All Transcripts in Settings. Deleting Loupe from your device deletes its settings, transcripts, session state, rating request counter and cached Loupe Pro status. The only exception is the small Keychain item described in section 6 (today’s date and free seconds used), which the system may keep after the app is deleted; it contains no personal information and only affects the daily free limit. Speech models belong to iOS and are shared with other apps, so iOS manages them. Subscriptions can be managed or canceled in your Apple Account settings.
11Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, we will update this page and the effective date above.
12Contact
Questions about privacy: zezn@foxmail.com