--- title: "Privacy: what stays on your Mac" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/privacy-overview category: "Privacy & security" tags: ["privacy", "security", "licence", "tuhi"] summary: "Storage Studio does its work on your Mac, and your files stay there or go only where you send them. What it sends to its own servers is licence details, a few usage and health numbers, and anything you choose to send, such as a support ticket." updated: 2026-10-01T05:36:51.000Z --- # Privacy: what stays on your Mac Storage Studio does its work on your Mac, and your files stay there or go only where you send them. What it sends to its own servers is licence details, a few usage and health numbers, and anything you choose to send, such as a support ticket. Storage Studio does its work on your Mac. Scanning, moving, cleaning and answering your questions all happen locally, and your files stay on your Mac or go only where you send them. What Storage Studio sends to its own servers is a small set of details: what your licence needs, a few usage and health numbers, and anything you choose to send, such as a support ticket. This page is the overview. [What leaves your Mac, and when](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-leaves-your-mac) goes through every kind of connection in detail. ```mermaid %% caption: What stays on your Mac, what is sent, and what goes only where you send it mindmap root((Your Mac)) Stays on your Mac Your files and folders Your questions to Tuhi Your Junk Yard Passwords and access keys Sent to Storage Studio Licence and trial details Two usage totals Crash and performance reports A storage profile summary in numbers Only when you choose Support tickets and feedback Diagnostic log sharing Goes where you send it Your cloud accounts Your other devices ``` *Mind map — What stays on your Mac, what is sent, and what goes only where you send it. Outline:* - Your Mac - Stays on your Mac - Your files and folders - Your questions to Tuhi - Your Junk Yard - Passwords and access keys - Sent to Storage Studio - Licence and trial details - Two usage totals - Crash and performance reports - A storage profile summary in numbers - Only when you choose - Support tickets and feedback - Diagnostic log sharing - Goes where you send it - Your cloud accounts - Your other devices ## What stays on your Mac - **Your files.** Scanning, moving, cleaning, duplicate finding and backups to your own drive all run on your Mac. Storage Studio's servers don't receive your files unless you choose to keep them in Storage Studio's own online storage, Delta Drive or Delta Trust. - **Your questions to Tuhi.** [Tuhi](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/tuhi) answers on your Mac, using Apple Intelligence's on-device model where it's available. Your conversation is saved on this Mac, not sent to us, and you can clear it at any time. See [Tuhi runs on your Mac](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/tuhi-is-private). - **Your Junk Yard.** The [Junk Yard](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/junk-yard) keeps what you copy and the notes you write on this Mac. If you turn on clipboard sharing with a device paired through Bridge, what you copy is also sent to that device. - **Your passwords and keys.** Passwords and access keys you type in for a storage account stay on this Mac and are used only to connect to that account. See [how your settings are protected](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/your-settings-are-encrypted). ## What is sent to Storage Studio - **Licence and trial details** — the email, name and country you register with, an anonymous code for this Mac, and basic facts about the Mac, such as its model and macOS version. - **Two usage totals** — about twice a day, how much space Storage Studio has freed and how much data it has transferred. - **Health reports** — crash reports, occasional performance samples and a few app events, such as the app starting. - **A storage profile summary** — percentages and counts from your [Storage Profile](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/storage-profile), such as how your space splits between your Mac, your drive and the cloud. It holds no file names or email addresses. ## What goes only where you send it When you connect a cloud account and copy, sync or back up to it, your files go from your Mac to that account. When you send something to another device with [Bridge](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/bridge-devices), it's encrypted end-to-end between your devices. If you use Delta Drive or Delta Trust, see [Delta Trust, Delta Drive and My Drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/delta-trust-delta-drive-and-my-drive) for how each one stores your files. ## What you can switch on and off - **Diagnostic log sharing** is off unless you turn it on. It asks first and turns itself off after a day. Logs can include file and folder names, so only turn it on when support asks. See [Sharing diagnostic logs with support](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/sharing-diagnostic-logs). - **Apple Intelligence** for Tuhi can be switched off in **Preferences** → **Interface**. - **Letting another AI assistant read your storage** is off until you turn it on, and it only answers apps on this Mac. See [Letting another AI assistant read your storage](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/ai-access). ## Your consent and your records You can read the Privacy Policy, and withdraw your consent, in **Preferences** → **Consent & Legal** (see [Legal documents and your consent choices](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/legal-documents-and-consent)). If you reset Storage Studio, it shows **Your data-erasure code**, which you can send to ask us to erase the records we hold for this Mac. - **Does Storage Studio upload my files to the cloud?** Not unless you ask it to. Freeing space, moving apps and folders, and reclaiming snapshots all happen on your Mac and your external drive. Your files only leave your Mac when you choose to — syncing to a cloud account you connected, backing up to the cloud, or using My Drive on storage you own —… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Does Storage Studio use AI, and is it private?** Yes — Storage Studio includes Tuhi, an assistant powered by Apple Intelligence that answers your storage questions, can tell you why your Mac feels slow, hot, or low on memory, and can do things for you — download a link to the drive you name, or stop, pause, carry on or cancel a transfer, move… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **What happens to my files if I stop using Storage Studio?** Nothing — your files stay exactly where they are on both drives. Storage Studio simply stops moving new things; it never holds files hostage or makes you re-import anything to keep using them. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Why does Storage Studio check in with your servers while it's open?** So new versions, fixes and messages for you arrive within minutes instead of the next day. While the app is open it checks in every few minutes. It always sends an anonymous id for your Mac, the app version and your choice for Send usage and crash reports; with that switch on, it also sends your… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) See also: [What leaves your Mac](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-leaves-your-mac) · [The permissions Storage Studio asks for](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/permissions-storage-studio-asks-for) · [How Storage Studio deletes things](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/how-deletions-work) · [Is Storage Studio safe to install?](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/is-storage-studio-safe-to-install) ## What links here - [Bridge: connecting another device](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/bridge-devices) - [Clipboard capture, pins and how long items last](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/clipboard-capture) - [Cookies and the download link](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/cookies-and-the-download-link) - [Demo Mode](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/demo-mode) - [During meetings, calls and presentations](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/during-meetings-and-calls) - [How Storage Studio deletes things](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/how-deletions-work) - [How Storage Studio keeps every change reversible](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/how-storage-studio-keeps-you-safe) - [How Storage Studio protects your settings on this Mac](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/your-settings-are-encrypted) - [How your account sign-ins are stored](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/how-account-sign-ins-are-stored) - [Is Storage Studio safe to install?](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/is-storage-studio-safe-to-install) - [Legal documents and your consent choices](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/legal-documents-and-consent) - [Letting another AI assistant read your storage](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/ai-access) - [Meet Tuhi, your storage assistant](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/tuhi) - [Share Your Experience](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/share-your-experience) - [Sharing files from Delta Drive and My Drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/sharing-from-delta-drive) - [The permissions Storage Studio asks for](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/permissions-storage-studio-asks-for) - [Tuhi runs on your Mac](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/tuhi-is-private) - [What Storage Studio does](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-storage-studio-does) - [What leaves your Mac, and when](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-leaves-your-mac) - [Why Storage Studio asks for Full Disk Access](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/full-disk-access) - [Your Storage Profile](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/storage-profile)