NoteHand{Security and data handling}
Understand where your meeting data goes.
NoteHand transcribes meeting audio on your Mac. The AI provider you choose determines where Coach suggestions and meeting notes are generated. Here is how processing, storage and permissions work.
Where processing happens
Transcription always runs on your Mac. One setting decides where Coach and notes are generated, and it is the only thing on this page that changes what leaves the machine.
Local model through Ollama
Transcription, Coach and notes all run on this Mac. During a meeting the app talks to nothing but Ollama on your own machine.
Your OpenAI or Anthropic account
Transcript text is sent to the provider or custom endpoint you chose: the text Coach and notes are written from, Coach's own previous update, plus any agenda or notes you typed, under your own account and their terms. The request is authenticated with your API key. Audio is not sent.
Does it stay on your Mac?
- Audio from the meeting and your microphone. Stays on the Mac in every setting. Audio is not sent to an AI provider.
- Usage data, analytics and crash reports. Not collected, so there is nothing to send.
- Your API key. Stored in the macOS Keychain and sent only to the provider it belongs to, to authenticate requests. Requests do not pass through BITSUMMIT.
- Transcript text, only if you pick a cloud provider. Text only, to the provider you chose, under your key.
- The licence record, in the direct build only. Device hash, the Mac's name, app version, first-activated and last-seen times, to the BITSUMMIT licensing service.
What goes where
| Data | Local model (default) | Your OpenAI or Anthropic account |
|---|---|---|
| Audio from the meeting and your microphone | Stays on the Mac in every setting | |
| Transcript | Stays on the Mac. Whisper runs on the device | Text only, to the provider you chose, under your key |
| Notes | Written on the Mac | Written where the transcript went |
| Your API key | Stored in the macOS Keychain; sent only to the provider it belongs to, to authenticate requests | |
| Exported Markdown files | Your export folder. If that folder is synced by iCloud Drive, Dropbox or a company service, that service handles the copies | |
| Usage data, analytics, crash reports | Not collected | |
| Licence record, direct build only: device hash, the Mac's name, app version, first-activated and last-seen times | BITSUMMIT licensing service | |
| Speech model download | Downloaded from Hugging Face when you choose a model; local language models are pulled through Ollama on the Mac | |
| Purchase | App Store: handled by Apple. Direct: handled by Stripe, which passes BITSUMMIT the email address on the receipt so the licence key can be sent. No card details reach us either way | |
| A message to BITSUMMIT | Only when you send the in-app feedback form (your message and, for bug reports, the app and macOS versions, provider names and recent logs if you opt in) or write to us | |
Permissions support the features you turn on
For each one: what the permission is, why NoteHand requests it, and how the app uses it. macOS asks the first time a feature needs it.
| Permission | App Store build | Direct download | Prompted by macOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microphone | Used | Used | Yes, the first time you record or dictate |
| Screen Recording | Used | Used | Yes, the first time you record a call |
| System audio capture, macOS 14.2 and later | Alternative path for call audio | Alternative path for call audio | Approved separately by macOS, when you turn it on in NoteHand's Settings › Recording |
| Accessibility | Not in the build | Optional, for dictation auto-insert | Never. macOS does not let an app request it, so you add it by hand |
To hear your side of the conversation
Why NoteHand asks. To record your side of a call and to hear you when you dictate.
How the app uses it. The microphone is opened only while a recording or a dictation is running. The menu bar shows when the app is capturing.
When it is asked. The first time you record or dictate. Both builds.
To hear everyone else
Why NoteHand asks. To capture the audio another app is playing, which is how the other people on a call get into the recording. On macOS 14.2 and later, Core Audio system capture in Settings › Recording is an alternative path that macOS approves separately; the app also switches to it for apps such as new Teams.
How the app uses it. NoteHand captures call audio and reads supported meeting-app window titles to detect meetings and start recording automatically. It does not capture, store or send images of your screen.
When it is asked. The first time you record a call. Both builds. After granting Screen Recording, quit and reopen the app; macOS applies it on the next launch.
Never requested, and absent from the App Store build
Why NoteHand asks. It never asks. macOS does not let an app request Accessibility, and NoteHand does not try. In the direct download you can grant it yourself, in System Settings, so that dictation types the recognised text into the app you are using. The App Store build has no use for it at all.
How the app uses it. In the direct download, and only once you have granted it: dictation places the recognised text in the field that has your cursor. Nothing else in the app uses it, and it reads no content from other apps. The App Store build carries no code that requests or uses Accessibility, because App Review Guideline 2.4.5 limits Accessibility to accessibility features. That code is excluded from the App Store build at compile time rather than switched off at runtime, so the shipped binary contains none of it.
When it is asked. Never, in either build. In the direct download it is optional and you add it by hand; until you do, and in the App Store build always, dictated text goes on the clipboard for you to paste with Command-V.
How it is built
Mac App Store version 1.0 (8), released 1 September 2026, and the direct download, which is built from the same source with the same sandbox and hardened runtime. The permissions differ: only the direct build contains the Accessibility code path, for dictation auto-insert. Documented behaviour, not a certification.
App Sandbox and hardened runtime
Both builds run sandboxed with the hardened runtime and ship a privacy manifest. The direct build is signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarised by Apple, and the download page publishes its SHA-256 so you can check the file you received. App Store review and notarisation are distribution checks by Apple, not independent security audits.
Storage
Recordings, the meetings database, the search index and downloaded models live in the app's sandboxed container. The export folder you choose is the one location outside it the app can write to, through a security-scoped bookmark. A diagnostic log with 7-day rotation lives in the container too, and an optional setting removes completed meetings' audio after a chosen period, applied when the app next starts up.
API key in the Keychain
If you add an OpenAI, Anthropic or custom-endpoint key, it is stored in the macOS Keychain on this device only, without iCloud Keychain sync, and used to authenticate requests to that provider. Requests do not pass through BITSUMMIT.
Network destinations
During a meeting with the local model: none, apart from Ollama on your own Mac, except that the direct build's licence check can fall due mid-meeting. Otherwise: your chosen AI provider or custom endpoint when you select one; Hugging Face when you download a speech model, and Ollama's registry when Ollama pulls a language model; Apple's App Store for purchase and updates; in the direct build, api.notehand.io when you activate a licence key and about once a day afterwards to check it is still valid; BITSUMMIT's feedback service on Supabase only when you send the form.
How it behaves
The things a security review usually asks about next: who is responsible for consent, whether anything is shared between people, and what deletion actually removes.
Consent is yours to get
Recording laws differ by region. During setup the app asks you to confirm that consent from the other people on a call is your responsibility. Recording starts automatically when a supported meeting is detected, and the app does not announce itself to them.
Built for one person
No team workspace and no share link. Each person has their own copy and shares exported files the way they already share files. Licensing several Macs is a matter of buying several licences.
Deletion
Deleting a meeting in the Library removes its recording, transcript, notes, search entries and the exported file from your Mac. Deleting the app does not remove its container; remove ~/Library/Containers/ca.bitsummit.CallIntelligence as well. Copies in synced or backed-up folders are governed by those services.
This website
It sets no cookies and runs no analytics. Fonts are served from notehand.io itself. The hosting provider, Microsoft Azure Static Web Apps, receives standard request data such as IP address to serve the page.
The only information the site sends to BITSUMMIT is what you type into the direct download form, or into the resend form on the support page that sends a buyer their licence key again. What each records, and for how long, is set out in the privacy policy, under the download form and the licence service.
The only thing kept in your browser is a session-storage flag the thanks page sets once it has shown a licence key, so that reloading the page knows the key was already shown.
The privacy policy covers the same handling in policy terms, and the privacy page explains the same choices in plainer language.
{Need details for an evaluation?}
Ask us about your intended setup.
We can clarify processing options, permissions and deployment requirements for your security review, and answer specific questions about the released build. Send your questions or your questionnaire and we answer from the documented behaviour above.