Questions, answered straight.

Session audio, transcripts and notes stay on your computer. They are not sent to Safeclip. The main things that go over the internet: update checks to Safeclip, plus your sign-in and a license check at launch and daily if you sign in for Founding. No account is needed to use Safeclip. Model downloads on first run, from Hugging Face and GitHub. Media from a link you paste, fetched from that site. And two things that are off until you turn them on: cloud Ask with your own API key, and the local API, which lets another app on your computer read your transcripts if you give it library access.

The app has no analytics, telemetry or crash reporting. The full list also covers avatars, feedback you send and the rare fallback downloads.

Read the full list →

The desktop app doesn’t send your audio, transcripts or notes to Safeclip. Recording, transcription and notes run on your computer, and the files are saved there.

Library content can leave only through two features you turn on yourself. Cloud Ask with your own key sends the question and the passages Ask found to the provider you chose, not to us. The local API lets another app on your computer, such as an MCP client, read your transcripts if you give it library access; what that app does next is up to it.

Not unless you choose to. Notes and Ask run on a local model (Llama 3.2 3B, about 2 GB) or on Ollama if you already use it. Founding License holders can turn on cloud Ask with their own API key. Then the question and the passages Ask found go to that provider, and only when you press Send to Cloud. A setting removes the cloud option entirely.

No. Safeclip records on your computer: your microphone, plus the call’s audio from your speakers or headphones. No bot or extra participant joins the meeting, and the call app doesn’t announce that you are recording. People on the call won’t know unless you tell them, or unless they see Safeclip on a screen you share.

No. The Safeclip app is closed source. It is built on open models and tools, including Whisper for speech, Llama 3.2 for notes and ffmpeg for media.

Because you can’t read our code, we publish exactly what the app sends, and how to check it yourself with a network monitor.

How to check it yourself →

Yes, once the models are downloaded. Recording, transcription, notes and Ask on the local model all work with no connection, on a plane or in a basement.

No account is needed. If you sign in for Founding, signing in needs a connection once; after that the license works offline too and re-checks when you reconnect. Link imports and cloud Ask need a connection.

Yes. Safeclip runs on Mac (Apple Silicon), Windows (x64) and Linux (x64). Recording, call audio, transcription, notes, Ask and clips work on all three.

A few things differ today. Transcription uses the GPU on Apple Silicon and the CPU on Windows and Linux, so it is slower there. Calendar, text from images and Apple Notes import are macOS only. Meeting detection on Windows and Linux spots Zoom only. There is no iPhone app and no Intel Mac build.

See the platform details →

English only today. The speech models Safeclip ships with (Whisper base.en, and small.en if you choose it) are English models. If your conversations are in another language, Safeclip is not the right tool yet.

In Safeclip’s data folder on your computer:

• macOS~/Library/Application Support/io.safeclip.desktop
• Windows%APPDATA%\io.safeclip.desktop
• Linux~/.local/share/io.safeclip.desktop

On Linux, if you set $XDG_DATA_HOME, the folder is there instead. Clips, audiograms and exports go to the folder you choose. Your notes are as safe as your computer, so turn on disk encryption (FileVault on a Mac, BitLocker on Windows, LUKS on Linux) and use a strong login password.

Safeclip is free: unlimited notes, voice notes, meetings, imports and Ask, plus 10 exported clips or audiograms a month.

The Founding License is $99 once, for life, and is sold until December 31, 2026 (end of day, US Pacific). It adds unlimited exports, client spaces, more custom note templates and optional cloud Ask with your own key, and includes every future update. After that, Safeclip Pro is $144 a year, or $249 once. If you already have Founding, it keeps everything.

See pricing →

There is no subscription to stop. Free stays free, and the Founding License is a single payment.

Your library is files on your computer, not an account on our servers. Settings has Export everything, which writes your notes, transcripts, client details and chats as plain Markdown. Recordings are ordinary audio files in the Safeclip data folder. The app needs our servers for sign-in and the license check; your files don’t, and they stay readable without Safeclip.

It is good practice, and in many places it is the law. Consent rules vary by country and state: some require everyone’s permission, some only one person’s. Check the law where you and the other people are.

Safeclip shows a consent reminder when a meeting is detected and on screen while you record. It is on by default if you set up Safeclip for therapy or legal work, and you can turn it on in Settings.

What is recorded, that a program on your computer turns it into a draft note, where it stays, when you delete the audio, and that they can say no without it changing their care. Illinois, Maine and Colorado now require written consent before AI records or transcribes a therapy session.

The consent kit has the words: a 30-second script, a paragraph for your consent form, a one-page client handout and an opt-out line, as a PDF or plain text. Free, no sign-up, and not legal advice.

Get the consent kit →

Safeclip does not offer a Business Associate Agreement and makes no HIPAA or other compliance claims. Session audio and notes stay on your computer and are not sent to Safeclip. Whether your practice needs a BAA depends on your setup, including any cloud features you turn on, so check with your compliance advisor.

For the app as it ships, HHS’s guidance points to no. HHS says a software vendor without access to your clients’ health information is not a business associate, and Safeclip doesn’t receive session audio, transcripts or notes.

Two caveats. Cloud Ask with your own key sends excerpts to the provider you chose, and that provider may need a BAA with you. And the sessions now live on your computer, so its security is yours. The page below quotes HHS, says what this does and doesn’t mean, and has a device checklist and a one-page PDF for IT.

Why there’s no BAA →