diff --git a/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/ElevenLabsTranscriptionService.swift b/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/ElevenLabsTranscriptionService.swift
index 9a6b4dc..3cadccb 100644
--- a/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/ElevenLabsTranscriptionService.swift
+++ b/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/ElevenLabsTranscriptionService.swift
@@ -37,7 +37,9 @@ class ElevenLabsTranscriptionService {
             throw CloudTranscriptionError.missingAPIKey
         }
         
-        let apiURL = URL(string: "https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/speech-to-text")!
+        guard let apiURL = URL(string: "https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/speech-to-text") else {
+            throw NSError(domain: "ElevenLabsTranscriptionService", code: -1, userInfo: [NSLocalizedDescriptionKey: "Invalid API URL"])
+        }
         return APIConfig(url: apiURL, apiKey: apiKey, modelName: model.name)
     }
     
diff --git a/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/GroqTranscriptionService.swift b/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/GroqTranscriptionService.swift
index 3a1c90a..27b5932 100644
--- a/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/GroqTranscriptionService.swift
+++ b/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/GroqTranscriptionService.swift
@@ -40,7 +40,9 @@ class GroqTranscriptionService {
             throw CloudTranscriptionError.missingAPIKey
         }
         
-        let apiURL = URL(string: "https://api.groq.com/openai/v1/audio/transcriptions")!
+        guard let apiURL = URL(string: "https://api.groq.com/openai/v1/audio/transcriptions") else {
+            throw NSError(domain: "GroqTranscriptionService", code: -1, userInfo: [NSLocalizedDescriptionKey: "Invalid API URL"])
+        }
         return APIConfig(url: apiURL, apiKey: apiKey, modelName: model.name)
     }
     
diff --git a/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/MistralTranscriptionService.swift b/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/MistralTranscriptionService.swift
index 1d57942..f98d02d 100644
--- a/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/MistralTranscriptionService.swift
+++ b/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/MistralTranscriptionService.swift
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@ class MistralTranscriptionService {
             throw CloudTranscriptionError.missingAPIKey
         }
 
-        let url = URL(string: "https://api.mistral.ai/v1/audio/transcriptions")!
+        guard let url = URL(string: "https://api.mistral.ai/v1/audio/transcriptions") else {
+            throw NSError(domain: "MistralTranscriptionService", code: -1, userInfo: [NSLocalizedDescriptionKey: "Invalid API URL"])
+        }
         var request = URLRequest(url: url)
         request.httpMethod = "POST"
 
diff --git a/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/OpenAICompatibleTranscriptionService.swift b/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/OpenAICompatibleTranscriptionService.swift
index 90ed648..218bc5d 100644
--- a/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/OpenAICompatibleTranscriptionService.swift
+++ b/VoiceInk/Services/CloudTranscription/OpenAICompatibleTranscriptionService.swift
@@ -5,8 +5,12 @@ class OpenAICompatibleTranscriptionService {
     private let logger = Logger(subsystem: "com.prakashjoshipax.voiceink", category: "OpenAICompatibleService")
     
     func transcribe(audioURL: URL, model: CustomCloudModel) async throws -> String {
+        guard let url = URL(string: model.apiEndpoint) else {
+            throw NSError(domain: "OpenAICompatibleTranscriptionService", code: -1, userInfo: [NSLocalizedDescriptionKey: "Invalid API endpoint URL"])
+        }
+        
         let config = APIConfig(
-            url: URL(string: model.apiEndpoint)!,
+            url: url,
             apiKey: model.apiKey,
             modelName: model.modelName
         )
diff --git a/VoiceInk/VoiceInk.swift b/VoiceInk/VoiceInk.swift
index 1d6fa4c..7e76d96 100644
--- a/VoiceInk/VoiceInk.swift
+++ b/VoiceInk/VoiceInk.swift
@@ -54,13 +54,43 @@ struct VoiceInkApp: App {
             
             container = try ModelContainer(for: schema, configurations: [modelConfiguration])
             
-            // Print SwiftData storage location
+            #if DEBUG
+            // Print SwiftData storage location in debug builds only
             if let url = container.mainContext.container.configurations.first?.url {
                 print("💾 SwiftData storage location: \(url.path)")
             }
+            #endif
             
         } catch {
-            fatalError("Failed to create ModelContainer for Transcription: \(error.localizedDescription)")
+            // Graceful degradation: Use in-memory storage as fallback
+            let logger = Logger(subsystem: "com.prakashjoshipax.voiceink", category: "Initialization")
+            logger.error("Failed to create persistent ModelContainer: \(error.localizedDescription)")
+            
+            // Attempt in-memory fallback
+            do {
+                let schema = Schema([Transcription.self])
+                let configuration = ModelConfiguration(schema: schema, isStoredInMemoryOnly: true)
+                container = try ModelContainer(for: schema, configurations: [configuration])
+                
+                logger.warning("Using in-memory storage as fallback. Data will not persist between sessions.")
+                
+                // Show alert to user about storage issue
+                DispatchQueue.main.async {
+                    let alert = NSAlert()
+                    alert.messageText = "Storage Warning"
+                    alert.informativeText = "VoiceInk couldn't access its storage location. Your transcriptions will not be saved between sessions."
+                    alert.alertStyle = .warning
+                    alert.addButton(withTitle: "OK")
+                    alert.runModal()
+                }
+            } catch {
+                // Last resort: critical failure, but log and attempt to continue
+                logger.critical("Failed to create in-memory ModelContainer: \(error.localizedDescription)")
+                
+                // Create minimal container with empty schema
+                let schema = Schema([Transcription.self])
+                container = try! ModelContainer(for: schema, configurations: [ModelConfiguration(schema: schema, isStoredInMemoryOnly: true)])
+            }
         }
         
         // Initialize services with proper sharing of instances
diff --git a/VoiceInk/Whisper/WhisperPrompt.swift b/VoiceInk/Whisper/WhisperPrompt.swift
index bf62c79..1c1d24b 100644
--- a/VoiceInk/Whisper/WhisperPrompt.swift
+++ b/VoiceInk/Whisper/WhisperPrompt.swift
@@ -106,8 +106,8 @@ class WhisperPrompt: ObservableObject {
             return customPrompt
         }
         
-        // Otherwise return the default prompt
-        return languagePrompts[language] ?? languagePrompts["default"]!
+        // Otherwise return the default prompt, with safe fallback
+        return languagePrompts[language] ?? languagePrompts["default"] ?? ""
     }
     
     func setCustomPrompt(_ prompt: String, for language: String) {