Privacy: what Chatcove keeps on your Mac and what it sends
Your chats, your iPhone backup, the decrypted history and your exports stay on your Mac and are never uploaded. Chatcove has no cloud, no accounts and no usage tracking. It makes only three kinds of network request, listed below.
What stays on your Mac
Section titled "What stays on your Mac"- The iPhone backup, and the WhatsApp databases, search index and media cache decrypted from it.
- Every export you write.
- Your saved backup password, encrypted with the macOS secure store.
- Log files, with passwords, licence keys, device identifiers and your home folder path removed as they are written.
Chatcove reads your iPhone and its backup with tools that run on your Mac. No chat content crosses the network at any point. See Install Chatcove for exactly where each of these is stored.
Every network request Chatcove makes
Section titled "Every network request Chatcove makes"This list comes from the app's source code.
| # | When | Where it goes | What it sends |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | You activate a licence, remove it, or Chatcove re-checks it (on launch and when a connection returns). Only in the released app. | Chatcove's licence server | Your licence key, a random device id minted once for this install (not a hardware serial), a friendly name for this Mac derived from its computer name, and the app version. No chat content, no telemetry. |
| 2 | An update check: once a day by default, when you choose Check for Updates, and at launch if automatic checks are on. | The public GitHub releases repository for Chatcove | The app version, plus an anonymous random id that the updater adds to its request. The id is persistent for this install. No usage data, no chat content. If an update exists, the app downloads it from there. |
| 3 | You click Send report in the problem report dialog. Never automatic. | Chatcove's licence server (the same one as 1) | The report you reviewed. See below. |
You can turn automatic update checks off under Settings > Updates. With the toggle off, Chatcove does not contact the update feed on its own; you can still check by hand. The licence requests only happen once you have entered a licence key; there is no separate setting for them.
Everything else is local. The app window itself loads no remote content: its content security policy only allows files from the app itself. Choosing Help > Chatcove Website opens chatcove.app in your web browser, which is your browser's request, not Chatcove's.
After a licence is activated, Chatcove keeps working offline for up to 21 days between successful checks, so a Mac that stays offline is not cut off at once. See Activate and move your licence.
The problem report is opt-in
Section titled "The problem report is opt-in"Problem reports are the only way anything about your setup can leave your Mac, and only if you choose.
- Nothing is sent automatically. A report leaves your Mac only after you read it in the app and click Send report.
- The dialog shows the exact text that will be sent and a checkbox for every screenshot. Uncheck any screenshot that shows something private. A screenshot taken on a screen that shows chat content starts unchecked.
- You can add a description and an email address so Chatcove's support can reply. Both are optional.
- If sending fails, you can click Save to file... and email the file to hello@chatcove.app instead.
What a report contains
Section titled "What a report contains"The report is a JSON document with these sections:
| Section | What it holds |
|---|---|
schema, reportId, createdAt, trigger |
Format version, a random report id, the time, and whether it was opened from an error or by hand |
app |
App version, whether it is the packaged app, Electron version, language |
system |
macOS version, processor type, Mac model, CPU name, memory, free disk space, whether it runs under translation |
device |
iPhone model, iOS version and build, device class, whether the device reports password protection, the pairing check result (device id shortened) |
backupPassword |
Metadata only: whether the saved password was set by Chatcove or by you, whether it was verified, when it was saved, and whether a backup rejected it |
error |
The most relevant recent failure: code, message, stage, time |
contact |
The email address you typed, if any |
description |
The text you typed, if any |
license |
Licence state (licensed, trial, expired or unknown) and the licence id |
doctor |
Results of the app's self-checks |
timeline |
Up to 500 recent app events, such as "backup started" |
log |
The tail of the app log, redacted |
attachments |
The screenshots you left checked |
backupDebugTrace |
A short technical trace from a backup retry, when one ran |
runningTasks, liveOutput |
A backup or encryption change still running when you made the report, and the last lines of its tool output, redacted |
probeNotes |
Notes about checks that timed out or failed |
What a report never contains
Section titled "What a report never contains"- Your messages, your contacts or your media.
- Your backup password, or its encrypted form. Only the metadata above is included.
- Your licence key. Only the licence id is sent.
- Your full iPhone UDID or your home folder path. Device ids are cut to their first 8 characters and the home folder path is removed as the text is redacted.
The support page Send a problem report shows how to send one.
Why the Settings text is shorter
Section titled "Why the Settings text is shorter"Settings > Privacy says backups, chats and exports never leave your Mac and that only a problem report can leave it. The licence check and the update check above carry no chat content, but they are network requests, so this page lists them.