Choose Never when nothing from the conversation should reach the cloud, Ask each time when you want to decide request by request, and This session when you are comfortable allowing cloud use until that session ends. Make the choice before you share names, family details, health concerns, money matters, or anything you would regret sending farther than intended.
In January 2018, Australian student Nathan Ruser examined Strava’s public activity heat map and identified patterns around military sites in places including Syria and Afghanistan. The map used aggregated exercise activity, yet those glowing routes could reveal where people moved around sensitive locations. The BBC documented how the discovery raised security concerns about information users may not have realised could contribute to a public map.
The lesson reaches beyond fitness data. Before sharing something sensitive, you need to understand where the information may go, not only what the app promises to do with the final answer.
Decide your boundary before the personal details begin
Picture an evening conversation that starts simply. You type in English, switch into Twi because that is where the concern sits, then mention a family member’s name. A few turns later, you are discussing a medical appointment, a debt, or an argument you have not told anyone else about.
That progression feels natural. Privacy decisions rarely do.
If you wait until the personal detail has already been spoken, the useful moment for choosing has passed. Nkomo puts the cloud decision in front of the conversation through three explicit controls: never, ask each time, and this session. Each setting suits a different boundary.
This matters especially in voice mode. Holding to speak, hearing the reply, and interrupting naturally can make the exchange feel immediate. That ease can also make it easier to say more than you planned. A clear consent setting gives the conversation a boundary before momentum takes over.
Use Never for a firm cloud boundary
Select Never when your rule is simple: do not send the conversation to the cloud.
This is the right starting point when the topic contains details you do not want leaving the device, regardless of convenience. You may be discussing a child, a family dispute, account information, or a private voice note. The category matters less than your boundary.
“Never” also removes repeated decisions. You do not have to judge every request while you are already concentrating on what to say. If an action cannot proceed under that boundary, Nkomo shows the error instead of failing silently. You can then decide what to change without assuming something happened when it did not.
Cloud consent and local history are separate choices. Nkomo’s history stays on the device under your control. Turn history off and it is purged immediately. That gives you another question to answer before you begin: should this conversation remain available on the device afterward?
Use Ask each time when the conversation may change
Select Ask each time when some requests may be suitable for cloud use and others are not.
An evening chat can move between ordinary and sensitive material quickly. You might begin by asking for help phrasing a message, then add a personal name or explain why the message matters. Ask-each-time consent creates a pause at the point of sending, so you can judge the actual request rather than making one broad decision for everything that follows.
That pause is useful when you want Nkomo to handle natural Twi and Ghanaian English code-switching but still want control over individual disclosures. You can speak the way you normally speak without treating every turn as if it carries the same privacy weight.
For another practical example of separating the language in a voice note from decisions about retaining it, read AI Voice Note Privacy: How Efua Understood Twi and English, Then Purged the Chat.
The tradeoff is attention. Each cloud request requires a decision. If you are tired, distracted, or likely to tap through prompts without reading them, “Never” may better reflect your actual boundary.
Use This session for one defined conversation
Select This session when you have decided that cloud use is acceptable for the conversation you are about to have, but you do not want that choice to become an open-ended default.
This setting reduces repeated prompts during one session. It suits a defined task, such as working through a difficult message in Twi and English, while keeping the permission tied to that session rather than treating today’s decision as tomorrow’s answer.
Before selecting it, name the boundary to yourself: what topic will you discuss, which details can be included, and what should remain unsaid? When the conversation ends, review your on-device history choice. Nkomo also provides one-tap data export and account deletion when you want broader control over your information.
Ruser’s 2018 discovery showed why the destination and later use of data matter. A person can understand the immediate action, recording a run or asking a question, without seeing every consequence of where the information travels. Before your own conversation starts, take ten seconds, choose never, ask each time, or this session, then speak within the boundary you selected.
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