Privacy Policy

Every clip Maclip records is stored in a single encrypted file in your Mac's Application Support folder. It is encrypted with AES-GCM-256, and the key is generated on your Mac and stored in your login Keychain. We have no copy of that key and no way to read your history.

Maclip has no account system, no sync and no cloud backup. Your clips are not uploaded to us or to anyone else. The only way a clip leaves Maclip is if you approve an AI app's request to read it, described below.

Maclip records what you copy: text, links, code, colours, images and file references. Each clip is stored with the formatting it was copied with, and images are analysed on-device with Apple’s Vision framework so the text inside a screenshot is searchable.

Everything lives in two files in ~/Library/Application Support/Maclip — your history and your boards — both encrypted, plus an encrypted sidecar per clip that carries formatting. Image files and previews live in the same folder. Nothing is written anywhere else, and the files are readable only by your user account.

Maclip also notes where each clip came from: the app, and when the app shares it with macOS, the web address or document you were looking at. This is what lets Go to Source reopen it. It is read on your Mac through macOS Accessibility, stored encrypted with the clip, and never sent anywhere. Turn it off in Settings → Privacy → Remember Where Clips Come From.

Semantic search, which finds clips by meaning rather than exact words, is computed entirely on your Mac using Apple’s on-device language models. No query and no clip is sent anywhere to make it work.

Some things are never recorded at all:

• Anything copied in a password manager — 1Password, Bitwarden, Apple Passwords, KeePassXC, LastPass, Dashlane and others are matched by bundle identifier.
• Anything an app marks as concealed or transient on the clipboard, which is how password fields signal “do not store”.
• Anything copied in an app you have set to Don't save clips, in App Rules or in the ignored apps list in Privacy settings.
• Anything copied while Incognito Mode is on.

Maclip can also auto-delete clips it detects as API keys, tokens or private keys after a delay you choose, erases 2FA and verification codes a few minutes after you copy them, and can erase everything copied in a chosen app after a set time. Sensitive clips are hidden on screen until you click Show.

When you copy a link, Maclip fetches that page's public preview — its title, description and preview image — so the clip shows the same card you would see in iMessage, Slack or on X. This is on by default.

Fetching a preview is a normal web request to that site, which tells it the link was opened. Requests carry no cookies and no identifier, and links pointing at your own machine or private network are never fetched. The clip itself is never sent anywhere.

If you would rather not contact sites at all, turn off Settings → Privacy → Fetch Rich Link Previews. Previews are then built from the URL text alone, on-device.

Maclip can make your clips searchable from macOS Spotlight, but this is switched off by default. Publishing clip text to Spotlight makes it readable by the rest of the system, so it only happens if you turn it on in Settings → Privacy & Security. Even then, clips detected as API keys, tokens or private keys are held back.

To expand snippets, Maclip watches the keys you type for one of your abbreviations. It keeps only the last few characters in memory, never stores or sends what you type, and ignores password fields, password managers and apps you have excluded. Your snippets are stored encrypted on your Mac. Turn expansion off in the Snippets page at any time.

Maclip can let AI apps on your Mac, such as Claude or Cursor, search your clipboard history. This is off until you turn it on in AI Tools. It works only on your Mac, through a private local connection. Nothing goes through our servers.

Every request shows a prompt describing exactly what the app is asking for, and nothing is shared until you allow it. An app can also ask to save, pin, file or delete a clip, and deleted clips go to Trash where you can restore them. You can choose to allow an app's reading for one hour, or to always allow an app you trust so it is no longer asked; both can be revoked at any time in AI Tools. Clips detected as passwords, API keys, tokens or private keys, clips from apps you keep private, and clips in locked boards are never shared, whatever you allow. Every request, allowed or denied, is recorded in an encrypted log you can review and clear.

Once you allow a request, the clips you approved are handed to that AI app, and its own privacy policy then applies to them. It may send them to its provider to answer you.

To run the free trial and validate licences, the app contacts our licensing server. Those requests contain only:

• An anonymous installation ID — a random identifier generated on first launch. It is not derived from your hardware, name or account, and it is not linked to your identity.
• The app version, so we can support older releases.
• Your licence key, when you activate, revalidate or deactivate one.

No clipboard content of any kind is included in these requests.

If you send feedback from Settings → Send Feedback, we receive your message, your email address if you choose to add one, the Maclip and macOS versions, and the anonymous installation ID, so we can tell reports from the same Mac apart. Feedback is stored on our server, read only by us, and used only to improve Maclip and to reply to you. Your clips are never attached.

To have feedback deleted, email us with roughly when you sent it.

Write with AI uses Apple Intelligence, Translate uses Apple Translate, and QR codes are read with Apple's Vision framework. All three run on your Mac; the text and images involved are not sent to us.

Maclip provides actions to Apple's Shortcuts app, which can read your clips, save new ones and toggle Incognito Mode. These run locally, under your control, and only when a shortcut you created runs them. Anything a shortcut then does with a clip — sending it somewhere, for instance — is governed by that shortcut, not by Maclip.

Purchases are handled by Dodo Payments, who act as merchant of record. They collect and process your payment details; we never see your card information. We retain your email address, the amount paid and a one-way hash of your licence key so we can support you and verify your purchase. We do not store your licence key in readable form.

Licence audit events are kept for 90 days and then deleted automatically. Purchase records are retained as long as required for tax and accounting purposes.

You can erase everything Maclip holds locally at any time via Settings → Danger Zone → Reset All Data, which deletes your history and destroys the encryption key. To request deletion of your purchase record, email us.

Maclip checks for new versions using Sparkle, the standard macOS update framework. A check requests our release feed and reveals the usual things any web request does — your IP address and the app version you are running. It contains no clipboard data and no identifier tied to you. You can turn automatic checks off in Settings.

Maclip contains no analytics SDK, no advertising identifiers and no third-party trackers. This website counts page visits with Vercel Web Analytics, which records the page, referrer, country and device type in aggregate. It sets no cookies and does not follow you across other sites. The website sets no advertising cookies.

Questions about this policy, or a data request: hello@maclip.cc.