What stays on your Mac, and what doesn’t.
Screenshots are among the most sensitive files on a computer — banking, messages, medical results, client work. This page states precisely what SnapTree does with them, in the order that matters.
Your screenshots never leave your Mac. Text recognition runs on your own hardware using Apple’s Vision framework. There is no account, no analytics, and no tracking. The only server SnapTree ever contacts is the one that checks whether your subscription is active — and it receives none of your content.
What never leaves your Mac
None of the following is uploaded, synced, or transmitted anywhere, in any mode, at any time:
- Screenshots
- Screen recordings
- Thumbnails
- OCR text
- Filenames
- File paths
- Folder names
- Tag names
- Search queries
- Notes
- Markdown exports
- Usage counts
What does leave your Mac
Exactly three values, only for checking your trial or subscription, and only against SnapTree’s own entitlement server:
| Value | Why | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Installation ID | Ties your trial and subscription to this install | A random identifier generated on first launch. It is not a hardware fingerprint, serial number, MAC address, or account ID, and it cannot be traced back to you or your Mac. |
| Device name | So you can tell your Macs apart when deactivating one | Whatever your Mac is called in Sharing settings. |
| License key | Only when you type one in to activate | Never generated, guessed, or read from anywhere by the app. |
That is the complete list. No screenshots, no OCR text, no filenames, no paths, no folder or tag names, no search queries, no usage counts, no crash reports.
What is stored on your Mac
Your library — images, recordings, thumbnails, OCR text, tags and notes — lives in the folder you chose, in ordinary files you can open, move, or delete with Finder. SnapTree does not lock your files into a proprietary container.
Subscription material is kept in the macOS Keychain rather than in preferences, so deleting preferences or reinstalling does not consume a fresh trial: the installation ID, the signed entitlement statement, a license key and instance ID if you activated one, a trusted-time marker used to notice an obviously altered clock, and a marker that a trial was issued.
Optional AI features
SnapTree’s AI features are off by default and run under your own API key with your chosen provider. Nothing is sent to any AI provider unless you turn them on and confirm.
- A consent screen states exactly what would be sent and to whom, before anything is.
- By default SnapTree sends recognised text rather than the image, since most cataloguing needs only the words.
- You can exclude specific projects or source apps, cap monthly usage, and process items one at a time.
- Every generated field carries a badge showing its origin: on device, cloud provider, or edited by you.
- Your API key is stored in the Keychain and is never written to logs, exports, or source.
SnapTree is fully usable forever without ever enabling these. They are an enhancement, not a gate.
Permissions
Only access to the folder you pick is required, and SnapTree is useful with nothing else granted. It requests no Accessibility access and no control of other apps.
Screen recording is optional and requested only when you actually start a recording. Capture runs strictly between an explicit start and stop, with a floating indicator visible the entire time — it is never used to observe your screen in the background. Recordings are written straight into your visible SnapTree folder and are never uploaded. If you decline, macOS’s own ⌘⇧5 recorder still works as a fallback.
Deleting and exporting
- Deleted items go to Recently Deleted and are recoverable for 30 days.
- A permanent delete removes everything associated with an item — original file, thumbnail, database row, OCR result, revisions, Markdown, notes, search index entries, and project, tag and stack memberships. An automated test asserts that nothing is left orphaned.
- Settings includes “Delete all application data”, which wipes the managed library and settings.
- You can export everything as JSON metadata plus a copy of your originals folder.
Payment and billing
Purchases are handled by Lemon Squeezy as merchant of record. SnapTree never sees your card details — they do not pass through, and are not stored on, any server we operate. Our server holds only the subscription and license records Lemon Squeezy reports back, joined to your app only through the anonymous installation ID above.
If your subscription lapses
When access ends, SnapTree stops working — it does not touch your files. Nothing is deleted, moved, encrypted, or held hostage: no screenshots, no recordings, no notes, no tags, no folders, no database. Everything stays exactly where it was, readable in Finder, and returns untouched the moment access is restored.
Security
Entitlement statements are cryptographically signed by the server and verified on your Mac; the app ships only a public key and cannot mint its own. License keys and tokens are redacted from all logging. Traffic to the entitlement server is encrypted in transit. The app is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple.
No software is free of risk, and we will not claim otherwise. What we can say precisely is what is exposed to risk in the first place: not your screenshots, because they are never transmitted.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes in a way that affects what leaves your Mac, the change will be noted here and in the app’s release notes. Questions are welcome at hello@snaptree.app.