# What leaves this Mac

> Every service Canto can send data to, what each sends, where and when, and the switch that turns it off.

Applies to Canto 1.0 beta 3 · Updated Oct 10, 2026 · https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/privacy

Generated from Canto 1.0.0-beta.4's code: `src/shared/privacy/outbound.ts`.

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.

13 services, from Canto 1.0.0-beta.4. 2 can send note text; 5 are on in a new install; 2 send only when you ask.

1. **Web search**. With it on: When a chat or research looks something up, the search words go to the search services you set up, and pages are read from their sites. With it off: chats and research can’t search the web or read pages, and links you paste into a chat are not opened.
   - Where: The search services you set up, and each page’s own site
   - When: When a chat or research looks something up, or opens a link you paste into a chat
   - Default: On. Search words go only to services you set up in Settings › Assistant › Web search.
   - Switch: Settings › Memory & privacy › What leaves this Mac › Web search
   - Plans: Free and Pro
2. **Site icons**. With it on: Web sources show their site’s icon, fetched from that site when you look at them. With it off: web sources show a plain globe, and nothing is fetched for them.
   - Where: Each web source’s own site
   - When: When a web source is shown
   - Default: Off
   - Switch: Settings › Memory & privacy › What leaves this Mac › Site icons
   - Needs: Web search on
   - Plans: Free and Pro
3. **Pictures from the web**. With it on: Pictures in your notes and chats that point at a website load from that site, so it sees that this Mac opened them. No note text is sent. With it off: Pictures that point at a website don’t load. In a note they show a placeholder with the site’s name and a Load button for that one picture.
   - Where: The picture’s own site
   - When: When a note or chat with that picture is shown
   - Default: On
   - Switch: Settings › Memory & privacy › What leaves this Mac › Pictures from the web
   - Plans: Free and Pro
4. **Pages you link to**. With it on: Canto fetches the web pages, videos and PDFs your notes link to, from their sites, and indexes them on this Mac. With it off: links in your notes are not fetched.
   - Where: The sites your notes link to
   - When: When a note links to a web page, a video or a PDF, with this on
   - Default: Off. Turning it on asks once first.
   - Switch: Settings › Memory & privacy › What leaves this Mac › Pages you link to
   - Plans: Free and Pro
5. **Cloud models** (can send note text). With it on: Only chats you send to a cloud model: the question, the chat so far and the notes it reads go to that service. Never meetings, titles, tags or other background work. With it off: Off. No model off this Mac is used, even one you set up later, until you turn this on.
   - Where: The provider you connect (such as OpenRouter) and the company that runs the model
   - When: When you send a chat to a cloud model
   - Default: Off. Off until you connect a cloud provider or add a server that isn’t on your Mac.
   - Switch: Settings › Memory & privacy › What leaves this Mac › Cloud models, then each provider’s own switch
   - Plans: Free and Pro
6. **iCloud sync**. With it on: Your notes go to your own iCloud, encrypted with a key only your Macs have. Apple can’t read them. With it off: Off. Your notes are on this Mac only.
   - Where: Your own iCloud account, encrypted on your Mac first
   - When: As you edit, while sync is on
   - Default: Off
   - Switch: Settings › Sync & storage
   - Plans: Pro · 3 Macs
7. **Other apps (MCP)** (can send note text). With it on: Apps you give Canto’s access key can read your notes, and with Pro change them. What they do with your notes is up to those apps. With it off: no other app can reach your notes through Canto.
   - Where: Apps you give Canto’s access key (on this Mac, or on your network if you allow it)
   - When: When a connected app asks
   - Default: Off. Reading is free; changing notes needs Pro.
   - Switch: Settings › Connections › Other apps
   - Plans: Free and Pro
8. **Publishing**. With it on: Only a note you publish, to shared.lonelyduck.io, when you press Publish. With it off: Publish is turned off. Pages you published stay up until you take them down.
   - Where: shared.lonelyduck.io
   - When: When you press Publish
   - Default: On. Nothing is sent until you publish a note.
   - Switch: Settings › Memory & privacy › What leaves this Mac › Publishing
   - Plans: Free and Pro
9. **License checks**. With it on: About twice a week your license checks in with LonelyDuck: your license and this Mac’s id, never notes. News that a Mac was released or the license changed arrives as it happens. With it off: About twice a week your license checks in with LonelyDuck: your license and this Mac’s id, never notes. Off: no news in between.
   - Where: lonelyduck.io
   - When: With Pro, about twice a week, and when you press Activate or Check now
   - Default: On. A free copy sends nothing about a license. With Pro, the live updates can be turned off.
   - Switch: Settings › Account › License status updates (the live updates only)
   - Plans: Pro only
10. **Update checks**. With it on: At launch and every 6 hours, Canto asks GitHub whether there is a newer version. With it off: Canto asks GitHub only when you press Check now.
    - Where: GitHub, where Canto’s releases are published
    - When: At launch and every 6 hours
    - Default: On
    - Switch: Settings › Memory & privacy › What leaves this Mac › Update checks, or Settings › Updates
    - Plans: Free and Pro
11. **Usage data**. With it on: On: counts of the features you use and anonymous errors go to LonelyDuck, never note text. With it off: nothing is sent.
    - Where: LonelyDuck
    - When: Only while it’s on
    - Default: Off. Setup asks once; nothing is sent unless you choose Share counts.
    - Switch: Settings › Memory & privacy › What leaves this Mac › Usage data
    - Plans: Free and Pro
12. **Model downloads**. With it on: Only when you press Get, from Hugging Face.
    - Where: Hugging Face
    - When: When you press Get on a model
    - Default: When you ask
    - Plans: Free and Pro
13. **Diagnostics**. With it on: Only when you press Send diagnostics, and you see what is sent first.
    - Where: LonelyDuck support
    - When: When you press Send diagnostics, after you have seen the report
    - Default: When you ask
    - Plans: Free and Pro

## 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:

| Line             | Free                                                                  | Pro                                                                                                            |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| License checks   | Nothing is sent about a license.                                      | About twice a week: your license, an id for this Mac made for that license, and your Mac's model. Never notes. |
| iCloud sync      | Not available. Free still runs on a second Mac; it just doesn't sync. | With **Pro · 3 Macs**: your own iCloud, encrypted on your Mac first.                                                        |
| Publishing       | Up to 3 published pages                                               | Up to 50, and your own domain                                                                                  |
| Other apps (MCP) | Apps can read your notes.                                             | Apps can also change them.                                                                                     |

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](https://lonelyduck.io/legal/privacy) covers what LonelyDuck keeps from purchases, licenses and support email.