In short
- Everything stays on your Mac. We have no server that receives your notes, meetings or files.
- Audio is never saved. The meeting becomes text on the Mac itself, and the sound is thrown away.
- AI only gets text if you connect one. And before each request the app hides emails, phone numbers, passwords and other sensitive data.
- No account, no ads, no tracking and no selling of data.
- You delete whenever you want. One meeting or everything, from the app's Settings.
What stays on your Mac
- Your things. Notes, attachments, transcripts, assistant answers, its memory, skills, meeting types and settings.
- Encrypted. All of it is encrypted on disk, with a key kept in the Mac's Keychain. A copy of the folder can't be read outside the app.
- API keys. Kept in the Keychain, apart from everything else.
- PIN or password. Optional, to lock the app. A forgotten PIN can't be recovered.
- Files. The app only opens the files you pick or drag into it.
Sensitive data masked before the AI
Before any text goes to the AI provider, Aparte looks, on the Mac itself, for data that shouldn't leave, and swaps each item for a placeholder, like EMAIL_1. The AI works with the placeholder, and when the answer comes back the app puts the real value back in, only on your Mac.
- What gets hidden. Emails, phone numbers, addresses, ID documents, passwords, keys, tokens and bank details.
- Your own terms. You can pick other words to always hide, like a client's or a project's name.
- Any passage. Mark part of the text as hidden, and it doesn't leave the Mac.
- People's names. With "Hide people's names" on, in Settings › Privacy and Data, names become placeholders too.
- Not stored. The memory, assistants and skills don't keep these values.
The search is automatic and may miss a case. If a passage is very sensitive, mark it as hidden.
What can leave your Mac, and to whom
Each one has a reason and a setting. As with any internet connection, whoever receives a request sees the Mac's IP address.
The AI provider you connect
Optional
- Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI or a compatible server you point to, with your own API key.
- Only after you connect it and accept the screen that shows what goes, when and to whom.
- Only the text each request needs: the meeting or note at hand, the passages search found for a question, the text of attachments and, if on, the memory. Already masked.
- The summary at the end of each recording and memory learning run on their own, and are on by default. Each automatic feature has its own setting to turn it off.
- Audio and voices never go.
- The text goes straight from the Mac to the provider, never through us. After that, the provider's rules apply.
- Each request is kept in the Sharing Log, in Settings › Privacy and Data.
Usage data
Optional
- Only with "Share usage data" on. The app asks on first use.
- Sent: screens and buttons used, recording length in ranges, failures, the app and system versions, the language and a random number for this install.
- Never sent: the content of notes and meetings, names, titles, AI requests or answers, keys and file paths.
- It goes to Google Analytics, through Firebase. If you decline, the app sends a single event with no identifier, just to count refusals, and nothing else.
Remotely switched features
Always
On launch and every 12 hours, the app asks Google's Firebase which features are on, so we can turn off something that broke without waiting for a new version. Only technical data goes: an install number, the app version, the platform and the language. Nothing from your notes or meetings.
iCloud
Optional
- Only with "Sync with iCloud" on. It starts off.
- Notes, meetings and what you created go to your iCloud account, with end-to-end encryption. Neither Apple nor we can read them.
- API keys, settings and the Sharing Log don't go.
Other
- Speech models. The app may download a transcription model, once. Downloading sends none of your data.
- Apple reports. If you let macOS share data with developers, Apple shows us crash reports.
- Emails. If you write to us, we keep the message to reply.
Not yet in the Mac App Store version
Coming
- Google and Microsoft calendars. If you connect an account, the app only reads events from the calendars you pick, keeps everything encrypted on this Mac and doesn't send it to the AI, to iCloud or to us. Aparte's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs follow the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
- Recognize voices. If you turn it on, the app keeps a voice print of the people you name, encrypted and only on this Mac, to recognize them in later meetings. It's biometric data: let those people know.
What we never do
- Show ads.
- Track you across other companies' apps and websites.
- Sell, rent or hand over your data.
- Ask for an account, name, email or phone number for the app to work.
- Record without you knowing: each recording starts with your click, and the app shows when it's recording.
How to delete
- One meeting. Right-click the meeting in the list and choose "Delete…".
- Automatically. "Delete meetings automatically", in Settings › Privacy and Data, deletes each meeting after 24 hours, 7, 30 or 90 days.
- Everything. "Erase All Data…", in the same place, deletes everything from the Mac and, if you tick the box, the iCloud copy too. It can't be undone.
- Just iCloud. "Delete iCloud Copy…" clears the cloud and keeps the Mac.
- The AI. Removing the connection deletes the key. What was already sent follows the provider's rules.
- Usage data. Turning the switch off deletes the install number.
Your rights
Under the GDPR in Europe and the LGPD in Brazil, you can ask for access, correction, deletion and portability of your data, learn who it's shared with, and withdraw consent at any time. You can also complain to your country's data protection authority.
Since almost everything stays on your Mac, you see, export and delete it yourself in the app. For the little that reaches us, write to [email protected]. Usage and feature data may be processed by Google outside your country, including in the United States.
Other people in your meetings
The transcript keeps what other people said. Tell participants before you record: in many places the law requires it, and Aparte doesn't tell them for you.
Aparte is not made for children, and we don't knowingly collect children's data.