FAQ
Good questions
Everything else, privacy, permissions, updates, meetings, licensing.
Pricing + licensing
Is this a subscription?
No. Dettivo is a one-time lifetime license. You pay once and own the app, including every future update we ship.
Is there a trial?
Yes. Start a 7-day no-card trial with email only from the website or inside Dettivo. First-time trial starts show the key immediately and send a backup email. Existing trial or paid emails receive recovery or upgrade guidance by email instead of exposing a key on the page.
How many devices can I activate?
Three. Switching Macs? Revoke an old device in Settings > Cloud and activate the new one.
What happens when I refund?
A full refund revokes the license and its active device slots. Dettivo stops secure updates and newly started protected actions once the app checks the license online. Already-created local dictations, meetings, transcripts, exports, and history remain available.
Macs + system
What Macs are supported?
Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) on macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.
Does it support Intel Macs?
No. Apple Silicon only at launch.
Is Dettivo on the App Store?
No. Direct download only. This lets us ship updates without a review delay and ship a real local-API surface that App Store rules don’t allow.
Does it work offline?
Yes for the core flow. Dictation and meeting transcription run locally. License activation and secure updates need internet, and hosted OpenAI/Anthropic meeting notes are optional if you enable them.
Permissions + privacy
Which permissions does Dettivo need, and why?
Microphone (to capture your voice), Accessibility (to insert text into the focused app and read its context for dictation polish), and Screen Recording (for the ScreenCaptureKit fallback used by meeting system-audio capture). Dettivo asks for them on first use and never takes them silently.
Does Dettivo send my audio to the cloud?
Not by default. Dictation and meeting transcription run locally on Apple Silicon. If you enable a cloud STT endpoint with your own key, your audio goes to that endpoint, that’s opt-in and clearly marked.
Can I use OpenAI or Anthropic for meeting notes?
Yes. You can keep meeting capture and transcription local, then optionally use your own OpenAI or Anthropic key for notes, action items, polish, and Q&A. Keys stay in Keychain; providers process transcript text, not meeting audio.
Can I bring my own local model for meeting notes?
Yes, as an advanced option. Curated local models are still recommended. Power users can choose a compatible local MLX folder or a downloaded Hugging Face MLX repo for meeting notes and polish. The model stays local, but quality and compatibility vary by model.
Are meetings bot-free?
Yes. Dettivo captures system audio and your microphone locally. Nothing joins your call and nothing gets posted to your meeting provider.
What does Dettivo’s server know about me?
Your license key, device activations, optional email, and Stripe purchase records. Nothing about your dictation or meetings.
Meetings
Will Dettivo crash or lose my meeting if the network drops?
No. There’s a live transcript checkpoint + retained audio buffer. If something fails mid-meeting, you can recover the final transcript from the retained audio.
Can Dettivo email the recap?
Yes. You can leave it as a draft, auto-compose in Mail, or connect Gmail/Graph/SMTP for direct send. Always your choice, always configurable.
Can I edit speaker names?
Yes. Dettivo has diarization with a speaker-relabel UI, and remembers your names as suggestions next time.
Updates
How do updates work?
Sparkle pulls a signed appcast gated by your license. New builds install in-place once you accept the update prompt. Your license signs every fetch, there is no anonymous update path.
Can I skip updates?
Yes. You can keep a specific build, and manually trigger Check for Updates later from the menu bar.