The best privacy apps for Mac: what to look for
The best privacy apps for Mac do their job on the Mac itself: what you type, say or capture never goes to a server, there’s no account to create, and they keep working with Wi-Fi off. Our free picks below work exactly that way: Volna for dictation, SimpleShot for screenshots and Kalila for translation. A VPN or an encrypted mail service protects data while it travels; an app that never sends your data has nothing to protect in transit.
Two kinds of privacy app
Lists of “privacy apps” usually mix up two different things.
- Apps that guard the connection: a VPN, a browser that blocks trackers, encrypted e-mail, a password manager. They matter when your data has to go online anyway.
- Apps that keep the work on your Mac: dictation, translation, screenshot and photo-search apps that do everything locally. The wording of a contract you translate or the face in a photo you search for never leaves the machine, so there is no copy anywhere to leak.
The second kind is easy to overlook, because a cloud app and a local one can look exactly alike on screen. What differs is where the work happens.
How to tell if an app is private
- It works offline. Turn off Wi-Fi and use it. If it still dictates, translates or searches, it isn’t sending your data anywhere to do that.
- It needs no account. An app that doesn’t know who you are can’t build a profile of you.
- It says plainly what leaves the device. On the App Store, look for “Data Not Collected” on the app’s page; for apps from elsewhere, look for a privacy policy that lists what is sent, not one that only makes promises.
- It asks only for what it needs, and says why. A dictation app needs the microphone; it doesn’t need your contacts.
- Its history is off, or stays on the Mac. Find out where your old recordings, translations and captures are kept.
- You can verify it. In Activity Monitor › Network, an app that works on the device sends next to nothing while you use it.
Free privacy apps for everyday work
We make these five apps, and each one passes the checklist above.
And two for particular jobs. Seekframe finds photos and videos when you describe them (“whiteboard with a diagram”), using a model on your Mac; it’s free for one folder. Textbound turns a Messages conversation into a PDF without uploading it, free for the newest 100 messages.
What macOS already covers
- Passwords, Apple’s password manager, with codes for two-factor sign-in.
- FileVault disk encryption, in System Settings › Privacy & Security.
- Safari, which blocks cross-site trackers by default.
- Mail’s Protect Mail Activity, which hides your IP address from senders and loads remote images privately.
- With a paid iCloud+ plan, Private Relay for Safari and Hide My Email addresses.
For everything else in System Settings, follow our step-by-step guide to Mac privacy settings.
Questions
Are free privacy apps safe to use?
A free app has to be paid for somehow, so ask how. If it shows ads or needs an account, your data may be the price. An app that runs entirely on your Mac costs its maker almost nothing per user, which is why it can be free without selling anything about you.
How can I tell whether a Mac app collects data?
Read its App Store privacy label or its privacy policy, then test it: turn off Wi-Fi and see whether it still works, and watch its Sent Bytes in Activity Monitor’s Network tab while you use it.
Do I need a VPN on a Mac?
A VPN hides which sites you visit from your network and your provider, which helps on public Wi-Fi. It doesn’t stop a website or an app from receiving what you send it. For that, you need apps that don’t send it in the first place.
Do these apps run on an older Mac?
Volna, SimpleShot, Kalila and Seekframe need a Mac with Apple silicon, because their on-device work relies on it. Textbound needs macOS 14 or later; its site lists the details.