ClipBob Privacy Policy

Last updated: 26 October 2026

This policy covers ClipBob for Mac, from the Mac App Store, including ClipBob Pro. ClipBob is made by Jagmeet Chawla · CloudCraft AI Labs.

What ClipBob keeps, and where

On your Mac. ClipBob saves what you copy (text, rich text, images, and references to files) in its own storage on that Mac, inside the space macOS gives it. It also keeps a search index of the words in your clips (including words it reads in pictures and screenshots), so the panel can find them. The index never leaves the Mac.

In your iCloud, if sync is on. Your clips and their details are kept in ClipBob's container in your iCloud account's private database, so your other Macs signed into the same Apple Account show them too. Apple stores this data under its own terms; ClipBob's developer can't see it, and runs no server that could. Your settings are kept there too, each Mac's own, so a new Mac can start with them and a Mac you reinstall gets its own back; the storage and sync limits are shared by all your Macs. With sync off, ClipBob works the same on one Mac and nothing goes to iCloud, settings included.

What never goes to iCloud:

• File clips. Copying a file records where it is, not what's in it, and that reference stays on the Mac it was copied on.
• Clips too large to sync. They stay on the Mac they were copied on.
• Clips holding personal details or keys, if you switch their syncing off (see below).
• The search index.

What ClipBob never saves

• Passwords. Anything a password manager (or any app) marks as confidential is skipped before it's read.
• Temporary clips. Apps that mark a copy as transient are passing data between themselves, not to you.
• Copies from apps you tell it to ignore (Settings → Privacy).
• Anything you copy while ClipBob is paused.

Personal details and keys

ClipBob recognises common formats of card numbers, IBANs and US Social Security numbers, and of API keys, tokens, private keys and passwords in configuration text, on your Mac; nothing is sent anywhere to check. Recognised details are masked on screen (switches in Settings → Privacy; keys with Pro), and pasting one as it is asks for Touch ID or your Mac's password first. That check is done by macOS; ClipBob never sees your fingerprint or your password. Each kind has a switch that keeps such clips off iCloud. ClipBob recognises the common formats, not every one. A password manager is still the place for secrets.

Pictures, files and screenshots

• Location data is stripped from copied pictures in the copy that goes to iCloud: it carries no GPS position. (The Mac you copied a picture on keeps it as it was.) A picture inside a document (rich text with images, a web archive, a Pages file) travels as part of that document.
• ClipBob never reads a file you copy. Copying a file records where it is, not what's in it; the list shows the file's type icon (an app shows its own icon).
• Screenshots are saved to your history only from folders you choose in Settings → History. ClipBob reads the screenshots in those folders to add them, and reads their text and recognises what's in them on your Mac.

Apple Intelligence

On Macs where Apple Intelligence is available and turned on, ClipBob uses only Apple's on-device model to write the short summary under its list and to read questions you start with "?". It never uses Apple's Private Cloud Compute: this runs entirely on your Mac, and ClipBob doesn't send your clips anywhere to do it.

Telling your Macs apart

To show which of your Macs a clip came from, ClipBob reads your Mac's hardware identifier and keeps only a salted, one-way hash of it in your iCloud records. The identifier itself never leaves your Mac, the hash isn't shared with anyone, and it isn't used for advertising or tracking.

ClipBob Pro

ClipBob Pro is sold by Apple through the App Store: a monthly or yearly subscription that renews automatically, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Apple handles your payment; ClipBob only learns, on your Mac and from Apple, whether your Apple Account has Pro. Manage or cancel a subscription in the App Store under your account's Subscriptions.

Release notes

ClipBob reads a public list of release notes from its iCloud container to tell you about updates. Nothing about you is written there.

Crash reports

If you've chosen to share analytics with app developers (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements), Apple may send us crash reports. We use them only to fix crashes.

Your choices

• Delete a clip: select it and press ⌘⌫ twice. It's removed from every Mac, and kept in ClipBob's Bin on the Mac you deleted it on for 30 days (type ?bin to bring it back), then removed for good. A clip holding a key or a card number isn't kept.
• Keep less: Settings → History sets how long clips are kept.
• Remove a Mac and its clips: Settings → iCloud.
• Turn sync off: Settings → iCloud → Sync across your Macs.
• Delete everything ClipBob keeps in iCloud: in System Settings, open your Apple Account → iCloud, manage your storage, choose ClipBob and delete its data.
• Remove ClipBob: quit it and move it to the Trash.

Children

ClipBob isn't directed at children and collects nothing from anyone, children included.

Changes

If this policy changes, this page will say so and carry a new date.

Contact

Questions about privacy: support@clipbob.app.