Privacy Policy — Vesper Tales
Vesper Tales is an audiobook reader that narrates books aloud with expressive, multi-voice speech, and can clone a voice that you record. It is made by Nassef RAW LABS. This policy explains what the app does with your information.
The short version
Vesper Tales works on your phone. It has no account, no advertising and no analytics, and we run no servers that receive your data. Your books, your recordings, your cloned voices and the speech the app generates stay on your phone, and we never receive them.
The app uses the internet only for three things, all described below: downloading the speech and AI models it needs, browsing and downloading free public-domain books, and, only if you switch it on, sending text to an online AI service that you choose.
What the app uses
Your books. Books you add (for example EPUB or PDF files) are read and stored on your phone. The app turns the text into speech on your phone.
Voice recordings and cloned voices. If you clone a voice, the app uses your microphone to record a sample, cleans it up, and builds the voice on your phone. Recordings and cloned voices are stored only on your phone, and cloning runs entirely on it. Before you clone a voice, the app asks you to confirm that it is your own voice or that you have permission to use the voice. Please clone only your own voice or voices you have permission to use, and don't present generated speech as a real recording of a person.
Reading progress, library and settings. Your library, collections, reading position, character names and voice choices, and your preferences are stored on your phone. The app turns off Android's cloud backup for its data, so this information is not copied to your Google account by the app.
When the app connects to the internet
Model downloads. The speech and AI models are large, so they are downloaded when you choose them, from the sites that publish them (for example Hugging Face). Those sites can see your IP address and what you download, as with any download. The app sends them nothing about your books or voices.
Free books. The Free books tab searches and downloads public-domain books from Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org). Your searches and downloads go to Project Gutenberg, which can see your IP address and what you request, under its own privacy practices.
Online AI service (optional, off by default). To work out who speaks each line of a book, the app can use an AI model on your phone, which sends nothing anywhere, or, if you choose, an online AI service such as OpenRouter, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Microsoft Azure, Cerebras, Groq or Mistral. If you pick an online service, the app sends pieces of the book's text from the chapter being analysed to that service, together with your own account key or sign-in, and receives the speaker information back. The app tells you what is sent and where, and asks you to agree, before anything leaves your phone. That service receives the text and handles it under its own terms and privacy policy, which we do not control. Don't use an online service for text you don't want it to see. Your key or sign-in is stored encrypted on your phone, protected by Android's keystore, and is only sent to the service you chose. Signing in to OpenRouter opens your browser, and the app receives the result through a small temporary connection on your phone itself.
Apart from these, nothing is sent from the app, and we do not receive any of it.
Permissions
- Microphone: to record a voice sample for cloning, only when you ask to.
- Internet: for model downloads, free books, and the optional online AI service, as described above.
- Notifications: to show narration playback, and the progress of preparing a book or downloading a model.
- Foreground service (media playback and data sync): to keep narration playing, and to prepare books and download models, while the screen is off.
- Keep device awake: so narration and book preparation are not interrupted.
Sharing
We do not sell or share your data, because we do not receive it. The only third parties that see anything are the ones above that you or the app contact on your behalf: the sites that host models, Project Gutenberg, and an online AI service if you turn one on.
Retention and deletion
Everything the app stores is on your phone. You can delete books, cloned voices and recordings inside the app, and clearing the app's storage or uninstalling it removes all of it. Because we hold no copy, we have nothing to delete on our side. Data you sent to an online AI service is held by that service; use its own tools to manage or delete it.
Voice and biometric data
A voice recording can identify a person. That is why recordings and cloned voices never leave your phone through the app, and why the app asks for confirmation before you clone a voice.
Children
Vesper Tales is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone.
Changes
If the app changes in a way that affects your privacy, we will update this page and the date at the top.