Privacy

Private by architecture,
not by promise.

A focus app that watches you is only acceptable if it can be trusted completely. Here's plainly what Focal does and doesn't do with your data.

Last updated 21 Jun 2026 · this is a plain-language summary · read the privacy policy for the official copy

The short version: your camera feed never leaves your device. It's analyzed on-device, frame by frame, and discarded — never written to disk, never uploaded. And nothing Focal sees, on camera or screen, is ever stored, sold, or used to train AI models.

Your camera

Focal uses your webcam to understand your attention — whether your eyes are on the work, whether you've reached for your phone, whether you've stepped away. This is the heart of the product, and it's the thing we handle most carefully.

  • Processed on-device. Every frame is analyzed locally on your Mac, in real time, using on-device models.
  • Never stored. Frames are held in memory only long enough to read them, then discarded. Nothing is written to disk.
  • Never uploaded. No image or video ever leaves your machine. There is no server that receives it.
  • Yours to revoke. Camera access is a standard macOS permission you can turn off anytime in System Settings.
What Focal keeps from a session is the conclusion, not the footage — e.g. “on task 87% of the time,” not the pixels it looked at to decide that.

Your screen

To know whether the thing in front of you is the work or a detour, Focal reads what's on your screen. The screen is something Focal understands in the moment to make that call — never something it keeps.

  • Used in the moment. Your screen is read in real time to judge whether the current window is the work or a detour.
  • Never stored permanently. Screen content is used only to make that judgment, then discarded. We never keep it, and no screenshots are saved to your focus history.
  • Never sold or used for training. Whatever Focal reads from your screen is never sold and never used to train AI models.
  • Yours to revoke. Screen access is a standard macOS Screen Recording permission you can turn off anytime in System Settings.
What Focal keeps from your screen is the conclusion, not the capture — e.g. “this window is on-task,” never a saved image of what you were reading or writing.

What we store, and where

Focal is local-first about your raw data: the camera and screen frames it reads are never stored, anywhere. Here's the full picture of what is kept, and where.

Data
What it is
Where it lives
Camera frames
Live video used for detection
Never stored
Screen frames
What's on screen, read for on-task detection
Never stored
Focal stats
Sessions, setup, record & streak — never raw frames
Focal servers
Billing info
Subscription status, payment
Stripe (if you buy Pro)

The raw frames behind all of this, from your camera and your screen, are never stored. What's kept is the focus data they produce.

Accounts & billing

You don't need an account to use Focal. If you upgrade to Pro:

  • Payments run through Stripe. We never see or store your full card details — Stripe handles that, under their own strict security and privacy standards.
  • We keep the minimum. Just what's needed to know your subscription is active — not your focus data, which stays on your Mac.
  • Email, only if you give it. If you contact us or opt into updates, we'll have your email address. We never sell it, and you can ask us to delete it.

Sharing & third parties

We don't sell your data. We don't run third-party advertising or analytics SDKs that profile you. Focal is funded by Pro subscriptions, not by monetizing your attention — which would rather defeat the point.

  • No ad networks. None, anywhere in the app.
  • No data brokers. We never share or sell personal data.
  • Billing via Stripe.Payment processing is handled by Stripe; that's the extent of how your billing data is shared.

Your controls

Because your data is on your machine, you're in control of it directly.

  • Export. Export your full focus history anytime by emailing us at getfocal@gmail.com.
  • Delete. Clear individual sessions or wipe everything — it's removed from your Mac immediately.
  • Revoke. Turn off camera access in macOS and Focal simply stops using it.
  • Cancel. End a Pro subscription anytime; your local data is untouched.

Security

Keeping your raw camera data on-device removes the biggest risk most apps carry: a central server full of sensitive information to breach. There's no pile of camera data to steal, because it never leaves your Mac and is never stored. For Pro billing, we rely on Stripe's industry-standard, PCI-compliant infrastructure.

Changes & contact

If we ever change how Focal handles data, we'll update the privacy-policy page and, for anything material, tell you in the app.

Questions about privacy? Email getfocal@gmail.com or reach us from the Support page. A real person will answer.