Support

Which languages does it transcribe?

Live transcription, as you speak, uses Apple’s on-device recognizer — so it covers the languages your iPhone itself supports for speech.

The second pass is the bundled model, NVIDIA Parakeet TDT v3, and it covers twenty-five: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Hungarian, Maltese, Greek, Russian and Ukrainian. In those, the recording is re-transcribed on the Neural Engine and the sharper text replaces the first attempt.

Outside those twenty-five the refinement pass is skipped and Apple’s transcript stands. One thing to know: Retold decides by your iPhone’s language setting, not by the language you happen to be speaking in a given entry.

Why is the download so large?

About 500 MB, because the speech model lives inside the app rather than on a server. That is the trade: a large install once, and then nothing downloads, nothing uploads, and transcription works with the phone in Airplane Mode.

Most of that is the model folder itself, roughly 483 MB of it.

Does it need an internet connection?

No, for anything. Recording, transcription, refinement, search, export, backup, observations and the weekly review all run on the device. The app has no network code at all, so there is nothing to fail when the signal does.

The one thing that touches the network is the App Store, when you buy something — and that is Apple’s connection, not ours.

My transcript changed a few seconds after I stopped. Why?

That is the refinement pass, and it is deliberate. The live transcript is saved first so nothing is ever lost, then the bundled model re-transcribes the recording properly and upgrades the text. False starts, mid-sentence turns and thinking out loud come back readable.

It only replaces the text if you have not edited it yourself in the meantime. Your edit always wins.

Can I fix a transcript, or run it again?

Yes to both. Open the entry and edit the title or the transcript directly. There is also a Re-transcribe action if you would rather have another pass at the audio.

How do the observations work, and what do they need?

After an entry is saved, a local Apple Intelligence model reads it and may write a short note about what it heard, in your own words, sometimes alongside an echo of something you said before. It is an observer: no advice, no comfort, no questions, no chat. When an entry has nothing worth noting, it says nothing, and that is a normal outcome rather than a failure.

This part needs an iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence, with Apple Intelligence turned on in iOS Settings. If the model is not available, Retold stays quiet about it and everything else keeps working: recording, transcription, typed entries, search and export never depend on it.

When does the weekly review arrive?

On the day and at the hour you choose in Settings — Sunday evening unless you change it. It is written on the device while the phone is charging, which is why it may land a little after the moment you picked rather than exactly on it.

If you do not want to wait, you can ask for one at any time from the Review tab.

What is free, and what is paid?

Recording, transcription, typed entries, search, export and encrypted backup are free, and stay free. One purchase unlocks the part that listens back: the observer, the weekly review and the observation library.

There is a lifetime purchase and, for anyone who prefers it, a monthly or yearly plan. If you have bought before — on this phone or another one signed in to the same Apple Account — Settings → Restore purchases will find it.

How do I get my writing out?

Settings → Export journal. Pick a date range and Retold produces a zip: one Markdown file per entry, plus the original recordings, handed to the iOS share sheet. Nothing is uploaded; the zip goes wherever you send it.

A single entry can also be shared on its own as Markdown from the entry itself.

How do I back up, and restore?

Settings → Encrypted backup. You type a passphrase, Retold encrypts the whole journal into one .retoldbackup file, and hands it to you — iCloud Drive, a Mac, a drive, wherever you want it. Backup and restore are free, and always will be.

To bring it back: Settings → Restore from backup, pick the file, type the passphrase. Restored entries land in your journal on the days they were originally made, and anything already on the device is left exactly as it is. Restoring cannot duplicate your journal.

If the file lives in iCloud Drive, open it once in the Files app first so it downloads properly.

I have lost my backup passphrase.

Then the backup cannot be opened, by you, by us, or by anyone. The passphrase is never stored anywhere, so there is nothing to reset and no back door to offer. That is deliberate, and it is the reason the file is safe to keep anywhere.

If your journal is still on your phone, make a fresh backup with a passphrase you will keep.

How do I delete something, or everything?

A single entry: open it and choose Delete entry and audio. The recording goes with it.

Everything: delete the app. That is the whole procedure. There is no account to close, no server to write to, and no copy anywhere else — so nothing survives it. If you have exported or backed up to somewhere else, those files are yours to delete too.

Can I keep the app itself private?

Settings → require Face ID or your passcode to open. iOS performs the check; Retold is only told yes or no.

Will it send me notifications?

Only if you ask. They are off by default. When you turn them on, reminders and ‘your review is ready’ notes are scheduled on the device by iOS — there is no push server, and nothing goes over the network.

Are there streaks, scores or a social feed?

No, and there will not be. No streaks, no scores, no gamification, no accounts, no sharing to anywhere but the share sheet you press yourself.

What does it collect about me?

Nothing. There is no analytics code and no network code in the app. The privacy policy says it at length, and the app’s own privacy screen lists the frameworks in the binary, one by one, so the claim can be checked rather than believed.