Everything SearchOnMac Sends Over the Network (and What It Never Sends)

The Complete List

SearchOnMac goes online for three reasons, and no others:

• License activation and checks: your license key, this Mac's name and an instance ID, sent to Lemon Squeezy (our store) and our license server.
• The optional Local AI model: downloaded once from Hugging Face if you choose to install it, and checked against a known checksum.
• The optional Python runtime that model needs: downloaded once from GitHub, only after you agree.

What Never Leaves Your Mac

Your searches, file names, file contents, the text SearchOnMac extracts from PDFs and screenshots, clipboard history, browser tabs, mail details and screen text all stay on your Mac. There are no analytics or tracking SDKs in the app.

{
  "license_check": { "sends": ["license key", "Mac name", "instance id"] },
  "local_ai_model": { "from": "huggingface.co", "when": "once, if you choose" },
  "never_sent": ["searches", "file names", "file contents", "screen text", "clipboard", "usage analytics"]
}

You Choose What Is Searched

Each source can be switched off in Settings, and nothing is recorded for a source that is off. Clipboard history and Mail start switched off. 'Remember visible content' is off by default too; when on, it keeps only the text on screen and discards the image straight away.

“If a feature needs data, it should be data that stays on your Mac.”