Speech Forward privacy.

What is stored on your phone

The following stays in Speech Forward's private storage on your phone unless you export it yourself: profile and setup choices (a name if you enter one, role, goals, communication level, language and accessibility settings); your phrases and boards, including any photos you add from your photo library; conversation plans, conversations, notes and history; practice history, the results you or a helper choose, and streaks; and partner and caregiver setup, such as assigned practice and the contact numbers you save for SOS.

Speech Forward turns off Android's automatic app backup, so this data is not copied to your Google account backup. When you move to a new phone, some phones may still copy app data directly from the old phone to the new one. Uninstalling the app deletes it. To keep it, make a backup first (Profile › Your Data). A backup is a file you control.

Microphone

Speech Forward uses the microphone only for Record & compare in practice, and only after you choose Record and allow microphone access. Your recording stays in the app's private storage so you can play it back. It is not uploaded and is not included in backups. Leaving practice, cancelling, or putting the app in the background stops recording.

Speech Assist, which checks spoken attempts automatically, is not available in the Android version. Speech Forward for Android does not send your voice to any speech-recognition service.

Text to speech

Speech Forward speaks when you ask it to. That means choosing Speak, Repeat or Hear, or tapping a phrase, a board tile, Yes or No while Speak when I tap is on (the default). It also speaks when you open SOS, and it reads practice prompts aloud while Read hints aloud is on. Each time, it passes those words to the text-to-speech engine on your phone (for example, Speech Services by Google), which turns them into speech. Speech Forward does not send them anywhere else. Opening the app sends nothing to the engine, and neither does the Show button on the Speak screen.

Depending on the engine and the voice you choose, the engine may create the speech on your phone or through its provider's online service, under that provider's terms. To speak without a connection, choose a voice that your engine has installed for offline use (Settings › Accessibility › Text-to-speech output on most phones).

Network use and symbols

Speech Forward has no server, and it does not contact any service to work. It works without an internet connection for communication, plans, conversations and practice.

There is one exception: if you import a board or restore a backup that contains web image links (addresses starting https://), Speech Forward loads those pictures from those addresses, as a web browser would. The websites in question see an ordinary request from your phone, including its IP address. Nothing else is sent to them. Pictures you add from your own photo library never use the network.

Boards use your phone's emoji and text, plus any photos you add. This version does not search for, download, store or show pictograms or artwork from ARASAAC or any other symbol service. If a future version adds an online service, we will update this policy before releasing it.

The Privacy policy link in the app opens this page in your browser.

Sharing and exports

You can create reports, home-practice sheets, conversation exports and backups to share with a caregiver or clinician. Speech Forward uses your phone's share sheet, print screen or folder picker, and you choose where the file goes. The optional weekly automatic backup saves to a folder you pick; if that folder is synced to a cloud service, that service's terms apply. Exported files contain personal content such as your phrases and practice history, so share them as you would any personal document.

SOS

SOS can show or speak an urgent message. To call or text a saved contact, Speech Forward opens your phone's dialer or messages app with the number or message filled in. If a call cannot start and a caregiver number is saved, the messages app opens by itself after a short countdown. You confirm the call or send the message there. Speech Forward never places a call or sends a text by itself, and it is not an emergency service.

Notifications

Practice and backup reminders are scheduled on your phone. Speech Forward does not use push-notification servers and does not register your phone for push messages.

Crash reports

If you turn on Save crash reports on this device in Profile, Speech Forward saves details of an unexpected app error on your phone. You or a helper can share them with us if you choose. Saved crash reports are included in backups you make. They are never sent automatically, and Clear crash log removes them.

What we do not do

No accounts or sign-in. No analytics, crash-reporting, tracking or advertising services. No sale or sharing of personal data. We never have it. No AI training on your data.

Children

Speech Forward is designed for adults working on speech and language and for the people who support them. It is not directed at children under 13.

Health disclaimer

Speech Forward is a practice and communication-support tool. It is not a medical device, and it does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition. It does not replace a speech-language pathologist or other healthcare professional; consult one about your care. Practice results are the choices you or a helper make, for tracking practice, not clinical assessment.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes, we will post the updated version here with a new date. Because the app has no accounts, we cannot notify you individually. We will mention material changes in the app's release notes.

This policy is linked in the app (Profile › About › Privacy policy) and from the Google Play listing. Questions or requests: hello@trailmarkstudios.com. For help using the app, see Speech Forward support.

This policy covers the Speech Forward app. The Trailmark Studios website has its own Privacy Policy.