Chatter — Privacy

Effective September 13, 2026

The short version

Chatter runs entirely on your Mac. It has no account, no analytics, no ads, and no server that ever receives your data. There is nothing to delete on our side because nothing is sent to our side.

What it reads

Two files on your Mac, both opened read-only and never copied anywhere: your Messages database (~/Library/Messages/chat.db) and your Contacts databases (under ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook), the latter only to turn phone numbers into names. Reading them requires the Full Disk Access permission, which you grant in System Settings and can revoke there at any time.

What it computes

Counts and dates: messages per person, per hour, per day, per month; streaks; the gaps between a text and its reply; how many emoji, tapbacks, and attachments; and word frequencies for your own sent messages. It never stores or displays the text of any message. The only words it keeps are your own 25 most-used words and your top emoji, as counts.

What it stores

One JSON summary in ~/Library/Application Support/Chatter/ so the report opens instantly next time. It contains numbers, dates, contact names, emoji, and word counts. Settings › Delete cached results removes it. Deleting the app folder removes everything.

What it sends

Nothing about you. The app's only network request is the standard Sparkle update check to focased.com, which fetches a small XML file listing the latest version. That request carries the app version and your macOS version, like any download, and we count those requests as an anonymous total. No identifiers, no IP logging on our side beyond what the hosting provider keeps for a short period for abuse prevention.

Share cards

Share cards are rendered on your Mac and go to your clipboard or your Desktop. Whether and where you post them is up to you. They default to first names, and you can switch to initials.

Other people in your messages

Your conversations are half someone else's words. That is the reason Chatter is built the way it is: the analysis never leaves your machine, and we never see, collect, license, or train anything on it.

Revoking access

System Settings › Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access: switch Chatter off or remove it with the − button. Chatter will simply ask again the next time you run it.

Contact

Questions: cristo7005@gmail.com

Chatter is made by Catterfly LLC and is not affiliated with Apple. iMessage is a trademark of Apple Inc.