Manual · Reference

Anonymous usage counts

What A9 Voice counts, what it is, what never leaves your PC, and how to turn it off, reset it or find your ID.

Last updated for A9 Voice 0.7.6

A9 Voice counts installs so we know whether anyone is using it, which version they are on, and whether people get through setup and use it. The count is anonymous: there is no account to tie it to, and it carries nothing you said, wrote or recorded. It is on by default and you can turn it off in Settings › Privacy.

What is counted#

When A9 Voice checks for an update, the request to a9voice.com carries a random ID, the app version, your update channel (Stable or Dev), your Windows version (for example "Windows 11, build 26200") and your PC's processor type. a9voice.com adds your country, worked out from the request. The ID is a random number made on your PC the first time A9 Voice ran. It is not made from your name, your PC or your account, and it cannot be turned back into any of them. A brand-new install also sends one extra message the first time it starts, so we can tell a real install from a download that was never opened. Installers downloaded from a9voice.com carry a random code in the file name. The app sends it once with the first-launch count so we know which link the download came from. It isn't tied to you.

Five more messages are sent once each, with the same ID and the same fields and nothing else: when you finish setup with a way to transcribe that works, when you make your first dictation, when you record your first note, when you start the Notes trial and when you buy Notes (a complimentary key sends nothing). They tell us whether people get through setup and use the app: never what you said or recorded. An install that was already past one of these steps when it updated to the version that counts it does not send it, and with the switch off none of them is sent.

We do not store your IP address, and the website sets no cookies. The site counts three things so we can see which places bring people: a visit (one anonymous message per browser tab, with the website the visitor came from, the first page and the kind of device, such as Windows or phone), a view of the download page, and a click on its download button, each with the link it came from (a post, a profile, a listing) and the button that was used. Nothing is kept on your device beyond that tab's memory, and nothing identifies you. On a phone, Send yourself the link counts one more message when you tap it. The pages themselves are also counted by Cloudflare's cookieless Web Analytics: page views and where visitors came from, with no cookie and no profile of you.

The Notes trial and license are separate#

The count above has a switch. The Notes trial and license checks do not, because Notes cannot tell whether your 30 days are used up without asking. They are not part of the usage count and use a different request to a9voice.com. The count only learns, once each, that a trial started or a license was bought, and that message follows the switch.

  • Your PC's code. When you open Notes, A9 Voice sends a code made from your PC, so a reinstall finds the trial you already have; nothing is stored until you press Try Notes free, which starts the 30 days, and the code is kept with them. If you buy, the same code is what lets this PC unlock itself once the payment goes through; it never carries your key to anyone else. The code is a one-way hash of the Windows machine ID with a fixed value mixed in. The machine ID itself never leaves your PC, and the code cannot be turned back into it or into you. It is what lets a reinstall on the same PC keep the same 30 days. Dictating with Transcribe never sends it.
  • Your email, only if you ask for 14 more days. We keep it with that PC's code, to send you the 6-digit code and to answer you. Product updates only if you tick the box.
  • A purchase. Checkout is Stripe's page in your browser. A9 Voice and a9voice.com never see your card. We keep the order record (email, amount, date), your key and which PCs use it. A license key is checked with a9voice.com about once a day.
  • What never goes with it. Audio, text, names, notes, file names, your keys and your settings.

What never leaves your PC#

Audio, dictated or transcribed text, notes, names, voiceprints, file names and paths, your API keys and your settings never go with the count. Audio and text go only to the speech and language services you set up yourself; see Privacy and data for every place.

Turn it off#

  1. Open Settings › Privacy.
  2. Switch Send anonymous usage counts off.

With the switch off, the update check sends no ID and nothing about your PC, and neither the first-start message (with its download code, which is then deleted) nor the five milestones are sent. a9voice.com records nothing at all for those requests. Updates work the same.

The switch is for the app. It does not affect what the website counts about a visit to a9voice.com, which has no ID and no cookie.

Find or reset the ID#

Settings › Privacy shows the first 8 characters of this PC's ID. Copy ID puts the whole ID on the clipboard, which is what you give whoever reads the counts if you want this PC left out of them.

Reset ID makes a new random ID. The old one is forgotten on this PC, and nothing links the old and the new. An exported settings file never contains the ID or the milestones, so importing it on another PC does not copy them.

Something missing or wrong? Report an issue, or use Copy diagnostics in Settings › General when asking for help.