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Privacy Policy

Core video processing is designed to stay on your Mac after model download. This page explains what stays local and when the app may contact external services.

Last updated: March 26, 2026

VideoChapter is a macOS app for generating chapters, transcripts, summaries, grounded assistant answers, translations, and exports from video files on your Mac. This Privacy Policy explains what VideoChapter processes locally, what may be sent to third parties, and what controls you have.

Summary

  • After the required model downloads are complete, VideoChapter’s core video processing is designed to run on your Mac.
  • We do not upload your source video files for core chaptering, transcript search, summaries, assistant workflows, or export workflows.
  • Some limited data may be sent to third parties for model downloads, payments or license checks, app updates, App Store purchase flows, and optional anonymous analytics.

What VideoChapter Processes Locally

During normal use, the following data can stay on your Mac:

  • source video files you open in the app
  • extracted audio used for local transcription and analysis
  • generated transcripts, chapters, summaries, search indexes, translations, and assistant outputs
  • cached processing results used to reopen previous work faster
  • downloaded model files used for local inference

VideoChapter does not require you to create a VideoChapter account to use the app.

Data Stored Locally on Your Mac

To make the app work, VideoChapter stores some data locally on your device, including:

  • app preferences, such as analytics and update settings
  • downloaded model bundles
  • cached processing results, including chaptering and search-ready data
  • direct-license state, such as validation timestamps and entitlement status
  • App Store entitlement metadata, if you use an App Store build

For direct purchases, the license key and license instance ID are stored in the macOS Keychain. Related status information, such as the last validation time, is stored locally in app preferences.

Cached results are stored locally so previously processed videos can reopen faster. You can clear cached results from the app’s Settings. Downloaded model data can also be removed locally from the app.

When VideoChapter Contacts External Services

Model downloads

Before local AI features can run, the app downloads required model files. Those downloads may use third-party model hosting infrastructure, including Hugging Face compatible repositories used by the app build.

These downloads do not require uploading your source videos, but the hosting provider may still receive standard network metadata such as your IP address, request headers, and access logs.

Direct purchases and license validation

If you buy Pro outside the Mac App Store, checkout, license activation, validation, and deactivation are handled through Lemon Squeezy. In that flow, Lemon Squeezy may receive information such as your license key, purchase metadata, and standard transaction or network data needed to process payment and validate the license.

VideoChapter stores the direct license key locally in Keychain rather than sending it to VideoChapter servers for everyday app use.

App Store purchases

If you use an App Store build, Apple handles the purchase, billing, and restore flow. VideoChapter may store local entitlement data such as the product identifier, original transaction identifier, and last sync time on your Mac.

App updates

Direct-distribution builds may check for updates and download update packages through Sparkle-based update infrastructure. App Store builds use Apple’s update mechanisms instead.

Optional anonymous analytics

VideoChapter includes a user-facing setting for anonymous usage analytics. If analytics are available in your build and you leave that setting enabled, the app may send limited anonymous event data to Aptabase.

Anonymous Analytics

If anonymous analytics are enabled, VideoChapter may collect event-level product usage data such as:

  • app version, macOS version, CPU family, and distribution channel
  • feature-surface events, such as paywall views, model-download progress, imports, exports, and translation attempts
  • coarse buckets for video duration, file size, chapter count, and segment count
  • export format, target language, failure category, and similar product telemetry fields

The app is explicitly designed not to include sensitive content fields in analytics payloads.

  • file names or file paths
  • transcript text
  • chapter text or summaries
  • assistant prompt text
  • video hashes
  • raw video or audio content
  • image frame data
  • license keys

In current builds, the analytics preference is exposed in Settings so you can turn it off at any time.

What We Do Not Upload for Core Processing

  • your source video files
  • transcript contents for chaptering and search
  • generated chapters or summaries for core processing
  • assistant prompts and answers as part of a cloud chat service
  • raw extracted audio or video frames as part of the core analysis flow

This statement does not limit data that may be sent when you deliberately interact with third-party services outside the app, such as sending us an email, visiting a checkout page, or using Apple or Lemon Squeezy purchase flows.

Translation

VideoChapter can offer transcript translation through Apple’s translation backend when the required translation resources are available on your Mac. Availability depends on Apple-supported languages and any language resources installed on the device.

Retention

Because most processing is local, most data stays on your device unless you remove it.

  • Source videos remain wherever you stored them.
  • Cached results remain until you clear them, uninstall the app, or the app removes older cache data to manage local storage.
  • Downloaded model files remain until you delete them.
  • License and entitlement records remain locally until removed, reset, or replaced by a new entitlement state.

Third-party services involved in payments, analytics, model hosting, or app updates may keep their own logs according to their own privacy terms and retention practices.

Your Choices

You can generally control the following from within the app or your device:

  • turn anonymous analytics off in Settings
  • clear the local processing cache
  • remove local model downloads
  • manage or deactivate a direct license from within the app, where supported
  • stop using the app and uninstall it

If you purchased through the Mac App Store, billing and refund controls are handled by Apple.

Children

VideoChapter is not directed to children. If you believe personal data was provided to us by a child in connection with support or payment workflows, contact us and we will review the issue.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we may update the date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, reflect the updated policy in the app or on the website.

Contact

If you have privacy questions about VideoChapter, contact support@videochapter.app.