What leaves your Mac, and when

Storage Studio connects to its own servers for a handful of reasons: your licence, updates, a few usage and health numbers, and things you choose to send. Your files don't go to Storage Studio's servers unless you keep them in Storage Studio's own online storage. Every connection to Storage Studio's servers is encrypted.

Sent automatically

The anonymous code is a scrambled, one-way code made on your Mac. It lets our servers count Macs and stop a free trial restarting over and over. Like any website, our servers also see the internet address your connection comes from; for the usage totals, they keep only the country and region it points to.

The storage profile summary

This is a distilled picture of how the Mac uses its space, built from your Storage Profile. It includes:

• the kind of user the profile describes you as, and the rough mix of file types, as percentages;
• how your space splits between your Mac, your external drive and the cloud;
• which Storage Studio features you use, such as backups or an external drive;
• the type of each connected cloud account, how much space it uses and, if you've analysed it, how many files of each kind it holds — the account's own name, which is often an email address, is replaced with its type;
• how much memory, processor time and disk space Storage Studio itself uses.

It doesn't include your file names or email addresses. Folders your cloud apps keep in sync are listed by the label Storage Studio shows for them, such as the provider's name, with any email address taken out.

Sent only when you ask

• Registering or activating — your email, name and country, and the codes you type in. See Activating your licence.
• Support tickets, feedback and offer requests — what you write, plus anything you tick to include. See Getting help.
• Diagnostic log sharing — off unless you turn it on, and it turns itself off after a day. Logs can contain file and folder names. Email addresses, and anything that looks like a password or key, are removed before anything is sent. See Sharing diagnostic logs with support.
• Data-erasure request — after a reset, the code that lets us erase our records for this Mac, and an email address only if you want a confirmation.
• A link you ask Tuhi to download — Storage Studio fetches it into your Downloads folder.

Your own data, going where you send it

• Cloud accounts — you connect each one by signing in on the account's own page or by typing its details into Storage Studio. Transfers, syncs and backups go between your Mac and that account. See Cloud accounts.
• Bridge — our servers help your devices find each other. What you send is encrypted end-to-end between your devices, so our servers can't read it, even when it has to pass through them. See Bridge.
• Another AI assistant — if you turn on AI access, apps on this Mac can read your storage status. Storage Studio doesn't send that anywhere itself, but the assistant you connect may send what it reads to its own online service.

What isn't sent

Your questions to Tuhi, your Junk Yard and the passwords and keys for your storage accounts aren't sent to Storage Studio's servers, and neither are your files unless you keep them in Storage Studio's own online storage. Anything Bridge passes through our servers is encrypted so they can't read it.

See also: Privacy: what stays on your Mac · How your settings are protected · Legal documents and your consent choices