Harvestry is designed from the ground up to process your content locally. This policy describes the limited circumstances under which any data does leave your device, and what happens to it.
What we don't collect
Harvestry does not collect, store, or transmit:
- Audio from your video files
- Video frames or screenshots
- Transcripts (except as described in the Claude API section below)
- Personally identifiable information
- Usage telemetry or analytics
- Crash reports (the app fails silently without calling home)
Local processing
All core processing — transcription via WhisperKit, screenshot capture via AVFoundation, and HTML export generation — runs entirely on your device. Your audio, video, and generated documents never leave your Mac as part of these operations.
Network activity
Harvestry makes the following network requests:
- Whisper model downloads. When you request a model from the Settings panel, Harvestry downloads model weights from the public Hugging Face Hub. These requests contain no personal data. Models are cached locally after the first download.
- Model update checks. Harvestry periodically compares a local snapshot SHA against the Hugging Face Hub HEAD to check whether an update is available. No user data is included in this request.
- yt-dlp and ffmpeg binary updates. Harvestry checks for new versions of its bundled yt-dlp binary (via the GitHub Releases API) and ffmpeg (via evermeet.cx). No user data is sent.
- Video downloads. When you paste a URL, Harvestry downloads the video from that URL (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) using yt-dlp. The URL itself is sent to the third-party platform as part of this request, subject to that platform's privacy policy.
- Licensing and payment. Purchases are processed by Paddle. When you complete a purchase, your payment information is handled by Paddle according to their privacy policy. Harvestry receives only a license token to verify your purchase.
Optional: Claude API consolidation
If you choose to use the LLM consolidation feature with the Claude API, your transcript text is sent to Anthropic's servers over an encrypted HTTPS connection. This step is entirely opt-in — you must explicitly enable it and provide your own Anthropic API key. Harvestry does not send transcripts to Anthropic automatically or without your action.
Anthropic's handling of data submitted via the API is governed by Anthropic's privacy policy and API terms of service. If your lecture contains sensitive or confidential information, we recommend using the local Ollama option (Harvestry Pro) instead.
Optional: Local Ollama consolidation (Pro)
If you use the Ollama consolidation option available in Harvestry Pro, processing is entirely on-device. No data leaves your Mac through this step.
Data stored on your device
Harvestry stores the following data locally on your Mac:
- Your lecture library (metadata, transcripts, screenshot timestamps) in SwiftData at a standard macOS Application Support location
- Downloaded Whisper model weights in ~/Library/Caches
- Downloaded videos from URLs in ~/Library/Application Support/io.archetyp.Harvestry/downloads/
- Captured screenshots in ~/Library/Application Support/io.archetyp.Harvestry/screenshots/
- Exported HTML documents at a location you specify (default: ~/HarvestryLibrary)
All of this data is yours. You can delete it at any time by deleting the files directly or by using the built-in cache management in Harvestry's Settings panel.
Third-party services
- Hugging Face Hub — model distribution. Their privacy policy applies to model download requests.
- Paddle — payment processing. Their privacy policy applies to purchase transactions.
- Anthropic — optional Claude API consolidation. Their API terms and privacy policy apply if you use this feature.
- evermeet.cx — ffmpeg distribution. Their policy applies to binary download requests.
Children
Harvestry is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect any information from children.
Changes to this policy
If we make material changes to this privacy policy, we will update the date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify users through the app itself.
Contact
Questions about this privacy policy? Reach us at kevin@archetyp.io.