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. There is no cloud to upload it to — because Focal doesn't have one.

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. Like the camera, this is handled entirely on your Mac — the screen is something Focal understands in the moment, never something it collects.

  • Processed on-device. On-device AI models read your screen in real time to judge whether the current window is on-task — all locally, on your Mac.
  • Never stored. What's read from your screen lives in memory only long enough to be understood, then it's discarded. No screenshots are written to disk.
  • Never uploaded. The contents of your screen never leave your machine. There is no server that receives them.
  • Yours to revoke. Screen access is a standard macOS Screen Recording permission you can turn off anytime in System Settings.
Again, Focal keeps the conclusion, not the capture — e.g. “this window is on-task,” never an image of what you were reading or writing.

What we store, and where

Focal is local-first: your focus data lives in a database on your own Mac, not on our servers. Here's the full picture.

Data
What it is
Where it lives
Camera frames
Live video used for detection
On-device only
Focus sessions
Times, durations, on-task %, nudges
On-device only
Your Focal setup
Coach name, voice, goals, settings
On-device only
Focus record & streak
Your accumulated history
On-device only
Billing info
Subscription status, payment
Stripe (if you buy Pro)

If you never buy Pro, Focal can run without sending anything off your device at all.

Accounts & billing

You don't need an account to use Focal. The free plan works entirely offline. 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.
  • Limited processors. The only third party that touches your data is our payment processor (Stripe), and only for billing.

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 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 this page and, for anything material, tell you in the app. Our local-first commitment isn't a feature we plan to walk back.

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