Where your data lives, what leaves your phone, who receives it, and why each permission is needed. In plain words, with the limits included.
Last updated 1 October 2026 · For version 0.3.0
On your phone: the wake word and saved memory live here.
The wake word and saved memory live here.
“Hey Proto” detection runs on your phone. Notifications from the chats and apps you choose are saved in an encrypted database. Your API key, privacy choices and activity log are kept on the phone too.
Read about encryptionYour question and saved context go to Groq or Gemini.
Your question, selected saved context and API key go to Groq or Gemini. Broad questions may include recent saved history within a size limit. Phone tasks also send screen text. Your provider’s terms apply.
Read provider rulesThe request after the wake word may be processed online.
After the local wake word, Android’s speech service turns your spoken request into text. It may process audio online, depending on Android and your settings. Pocketsay does not keep the audio. Typing a question avoids this speech-recognition step.
Follow a spoken questionA draft waits for your approval.
Review the draft, then approve sending—for example, say “send” or tap Send—or cancel. Your phone must be unlocked. The message travels through WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS or Gmail to its recipient.
Follow one messageChoose a destination to explore. This explainer does not connect to your phone or send data.
We won't say everything stays on your phone, because it doesn't. This page says what leaves, and when.
Your local memory supplies selected context to your model provider. Android speech recognition may process your spoken request online.
You say: "Hey Proto, what did a friend say today?" Here is everything that happens.
A draft is shown and read back before you approve sending. Your phone must be unlocked; cancelling stops the message.
You say: "Tell a friend I'm coming at 8 on WhatsApp."
Saved memory is encrypted on your phone. Asking a question sends selected context to your provider; Android’s speech service may process voice online.
Visits to this website and early-tester signups are not part of the app. They are covered in What this website collects and in the privacy policy.
Encrypted memory stays local. Questions, context and task screen text go to your provider when you ask; approved messages travel through the app you choose.
Saved message context for a question goes to the provider you chose, so the provider's rules apply to it. We don't control those rules, and they change. As of 1 October 2026:
If you save chats you wouldn't want a person at the provider to read, don't use a free Gemini key. Read the current terms before you decide: Google's Gemini API terms and Groq's "Your Data in GroqCloud".
Pocketsay's database is encrypted with SQLCipher. Without the key, the file can't be read. The key is held by the Android Keystore, apart from the app's own files. Android backup is switched off for Pocketsay, so the database isn't copied to your Google backup.
What that does. It protects the saved database on your phone's storage.
What it doesn't do. It doesn't change what is sent to your model provider when you ask, and it isn't a substitute for your phone's own screen lock. Please use one.
This is everything the app file declares, including the ones Android grants without asking. Most of the ones you grant are set up from the Health page, where each has a Fix button, and you can turn them off again in Android's settings. Each card says what stops working.
Notification access lets Pocketsay save the chats you choose. Microphone enables voice. Phone control can see and interact with screens during tasks you start; it is optional.
Why. To learn what arrived in your chats, mail and alerts.
What it does with it. Reads notifications as they arrive and saves those from the chats and apps you've switched on. Android describes this permission as access to all notifications. Your Privacy switches decide what is saved.
If you switch it off. Pocketsay stops learning about new messages. Questions can only draw on what is already saved.
Can you skip it? No. It is how Pocketsay learns anything.
Why. To hear "Hey Proto" and your spoken requests.
What it does with it. Detects the wake word on the phone. After it, your phone's speech service turns your question into text. The audio isn't stored.
If you switch it off. No voice. You can still type your question on Home.
Can you skip it? Yes, if you'd rather type.
Why. To find "a friend" by name when you ask to send a message.
What it does with it. Looks up the contact on your phone.
If you switch it off. Pocketsay can't work out who to message.
Can you skip it? Yes, but you can't name who to message.
Why. To send a text after you say "send" or tap Send.
What it does with it. Used only to send an SMS after you say "send" or tap Send.
If you switch it off. SMS can't be sent from Pocketsay. WhatsApp, Telegram and email are unaffected.
Can you skip it? Yes. Only SMS sending is lost.
Why. To tap Send after you say "send" or tap Send in Pocketsay, and to run phone tasks you start.
What it does with it. Sees the screen of the app it is operating, then taps or types within fixed limits: designed to stop before purchase or payment actions and avoid sensitive fields; no banking, UPI, wallet or broker apps; 25 steps at most.
If you switch it off. Messages open ready to send and you tap Send yourself. Phone tasks stop working.
Can you skip it? Yes. You tap Send yourself, and phone tasks are off.
Why. To open apps when you ask by voice while Pocketsay is in the background.
What it does with it. Used to open apps by voice.
If you switch it off. Apps may not open by voice from the background. You can open them yourself.
Can you skip it? Yes.
Why. So the phone doesn't shut Pocketsay down in the background.
What it does with it. Keeps the wake word and notification capture running.
If you switch it off. On some phones Pocketsay is stopped and goes quiet.
Can you skip it? Yes, but expect Pocketsay to be stopped now and then.
Why. So Pocketsay can start itself in the background.
What it does with it. Android can't check this one, so Health always shows it amber.
If you switch it off. Pocketsay may not return after the phone clears it.
Can you skip it? Yes, with the same risk.
Why. To reach your model provider when you ask.
What it does with it. Sends your question and saved message context. Android doesn't ask you for this one.
If you switch it off. Questions can't be answered. Saved data is unaffected.
Can you skip it? No. Questions need it.
Why. To show its own notifications: the small "listening" notice while "Hey Proto" is on, and a note when something needs you.
What it does with it. Posts notifications from Pocketsay itself. Android 13 and newer asks you for this one.
If you switch it off. Pocketsay's own notices don't appear. Everything else works.
Can you skip it? Yes.
Why. To show the right name and icon for each app on the Dashboard, and to open an app when you name it.
What it does with it. Reads the list of apps on your phone to match names and icons. The list is used on the phone and never sent anywhere.
If you switch it off. App names and icons may be missing, and opening an app by voice may fail.
Can you skip it? Android doesn't ask you for this one, so you can't switch it off on its own.
Why. To keep listening for "Hey Proto" while the screen is off.
What it does with it. Runs a foreground service with microphone access, which is why the "listening" notification is always there while the wake word is on. Keeps the processor awake for the moments it is listening.
If you switch it off. Switch "Hey Proto" off on Home and the service stops; tap the mic instead.
Can you skip it? Yes, by turning the wake word off.
"Install unknown apps" belongs to the browser or Files app you install from; switch it off again afterwards. "Allow restricted settings" (Android 13 and newer) is a one-time step that lets you turn on notification access and Phone control for an app installed outside Google Play.
Pocketsay isn't on Google Play yet, so you install the app file yourself. That puts the checking in your hands, and we try to make it easy. Every file has a published SHA-256 checksum. Every release is signed with the same certificate, issued to CN=Pocketsay, O=Bhanu Avadutha, C=IN, with this SHA-256 fingerprint:
62:BC:74:3F:80:1F:35:46:BB:7E:1A:6F:D6:63:ED:C8:EC:78:BE:3B:35:E3:46:66:88:FB:B1:29:91:9B:8A:F9
The same fingerprint is published on the download page, so a lookalike can't pass quietly. Files are served from this site. The permissions are listed above. The full steps for checking a file are on the download page.
This website sets no cookies and loads nothing from third parties. Its fonts are served from the site itself.
A first-party counter adds page loads and APK download-button clicks to daily totals, with the page or version, referring site, screen-size class and country. File-download starts and guide feedback are counted separately. The homepage displays cumulative page views and download-button clicks, not unique people or completed installs. The counter stores no IP address, cookie or visitor identifier and honours Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track.
For the planned deployment, Vercel will host this website and Supabase will store the email address and optional answers you give us when joining the early testers. Tester emails will continue through Resend. This provider configuration is pending deployment verification. The privacy policy has the detail.
Pocketsay includes open-source software, including SQLCipher for the encrypted database, sherpa-onnx and ONNX Runtime for the wake word, and Android's Jetpack libraries. Each project keeps its own licence: SQLCipher for Android under its BSD-style licence, sherpa-onnx, ONNX Runtime, Jetpack and Kotlin under Apache 2.0. If you want the licence texts, email us and we'll send them.
If you find a way Pocketsay could expose data or act without approval, email avaduthabhanuprakash1@gmail.com with the subject "Security:". The details are on the Contact page.
When what Pocketsay stores or sends changes, this page and the changelog change with it.
Pocketsay is free to try while it is in early testing. You bring a free Groq or Gemini API key. Nothing is sent in your name until you say so.