What leaves this Mac

Your notes stay on your Mac unless you choose a feature that sends them somewhere. Canto names every such feature in one place and gives each one a real switch: when a switch is off, Canto doesn't send it. This page is that list: what each service sends, where it goes, when, and how to turn it off.

The list below is generated from the same source in Canto that draws the list in Settings and section 3 of Canto's license agreement, so the three can't disagree.

Where to find it#

Open Settings with ⌘, and choose Memory & privacy, under Intelligence in the sidebar. What leaves this Mac is the first section: "Everything else stays here, encrypted. Each line says what is sent, where, and when."

Each line's sentence changes with its switch, so it always says what happens now. A line whose service hands your note text to someone else takes an amber tint while it's on. Some lines open their own page instead of a switch, such as iCloud sync's Set up.

The services#

In the order Canto lists them. Defaults are for a new install.

Two lines can send note text#

Everything else on the list sends search words, a page address, your license or a version number. Two lines are different: while they're on, the text of your notes can reach someone else. Both start off.

Cloud models#

When you send a chat to a cloud model, your question, the chat so far and the notes that chat reads go to the provider you connected (such as OpenRouter) and to the company that runs the model, under their terms.

• Cloud models are off until you connect a cloud provider or add a server that isn't on your Mac. Cloud models is one switch, with OpenRouter, Ollama Cloud and each server elsewhere under it, each with its own switch.
• A cloud model never gets notes for work you didn't start, such as meetings, titles, tags or search.
• Unless you change it, Canto asks OpenRouter to use only hosts that keep nothing (Settings › Models › Advanced › Cloud model hosts).
• Before the first message to a cloud model, the chat shows what will be sent, to whom and about what it costs. While a chat's model runs off your Mac, its chip carries an amber cloud and one line in the composer says so.
• You pay the provider directly. OpenRouter has a monthly limit kept on your Mac ($10 unless you change it). LonelyDuck never receives your notes, your questions or your key.

Other apps (MCP)#

Canto's server for other apps listens only on your Mac (or on your network, if you allow it) and always asks for its access key. An app you give the key can read your notes, and with Pro change them. What that app does with them next, including sending them to its own servers, is up to it. Turn it on and set up each app in Settings › Connections › Other apps.

What never leaves#

These run on your Mac, so none of them is on the list:

• Your vault: one encrypted file, with its key in your Keychain.
• Answers from models on your Mac, and from a model server you run on your Mac.
• Search by meaning: a small model inside Canto reads your notes. Nothing is fetched to start it, and it works offline.
• Dictation and meeting transcripts, made on your Mac. The audio stays there too.
• Text read from images, scans, audio and video, through macOS on your Mac.
• Background work: titles, tags, tidying suggestions and meeting notes never go to a server or a cloud model.

Free and Pro#

Most lines work the same on both. Four differ:

With Pro, Canto also reads an anonymous list of switched-off licenses, so a refunded or released license stops working. Turn these live updates off in Settings › Account › License status updates; then your Mac learns about a release or refund at its next check-in.

What usage data holds#

Usage data is off unless you turn it on (setup asks once). When it's on, it can carry:

• how often notes are created, deleted and exported, never the note,
• editor actions such as slash commands, attachment kinds and voice on or off,
• AI runs: which model, how long they took (as a range), whether they finished,
• a model that didn't load: which one, with free memory and size as ranges,
• setup milestones and license activations,
• sync setup and error codes, without paths, names or ids,
• error fingerprints, without file paths,
• memory size, CPU cores, the chip's family and tier, and Canto's and macOS's versions.

It never includes your notes, titles or files, what you search for or ask, or your name, email or license. Settings › Memory & privacy › ▸ Advanced › What usage data contains shows the same list.

Turning everything off#

1. In Settings › Memory & privacy › What leaves this Mac, turn off Web search (Site icons goes with it), Pictures from the web, Publishing and Update checks.
2. Leave Pages you link to, Cloud models, iCloud sync, Other apps (MCP) and Usage data off. A new install starts that way.
3. Model downloads and Diagnostics need no switch: nothing goes until you press Get or Send diagnostics.

A free copy then sends nothing until you press something. With Pro, the license still checks in about twice a week, and Pro keeps working for 30 days without a connection.

With Update checks off, Canto asks GitHub for a new version only when you press Check now in Settings › Updates.

Check it yourself#

• Section 3 of the license agreement is written from the same list, so the two can't disagree. Read it in Settings › About › License agreement.
• Help › Send Diagnostics… shows the whole report before anything goes, and gives you a reference to quote.
• LonelyDuck's privacy policy covers what LonelyDuck keeps from purchases, licenses and support email.