Mac privacy settings: what to change, and how to keep your work on your Mac
Open System Settings › Privacy & Security and work down the list: stop sharing analytics and Siri audio with Apple, limit Location Services, take the microphone, screen and file permissions away from apps you don’t use, and turn on FileVault. Settings only control what macOS itself shares. Where your words, screenshots and files end up depends on the apps you use every day, so pick ones that never need to upload them.
The settings to change, in order
- Choose Apple menu › System Settings, then click Privacy & Security in the sidebar.
- Location Services: switch it off for every app that has no reason to know where you are. Weather and Maps need it; a text editor doesn’t.
- Analytics & Improvements: turn off Share Mac Analytics and Improve Siri & Dictation. While the second one is on, Apple keeps audio of your Siri and Dictation requests and may have a sample reviewed.
- Apple Advertising: turn off Personalized Ads.
- Go through Microphone, Camera, Screen & System Audio Recording, Files & Folders and Full Disk Access. Turn off any app you don’t recognise or no longer use; if it genuinely needs the access, it will ask again.
- Scroll down to FileVault and turn it on. Your disk is then encrypted, so a lost or stolen Mac doesn’t hand anyone your files.
- In the sidebar, click Lock Screen and set Require password after screen saver begins or display is turned off to Immediately.
- In Notifications, set Show previews to When Unlocked, so messages don’t appear on a locked screen.
Two more settings are worth a minute: the Firewall in System Settings › Network, which stops other devices from connecting to your Mac, and the privacy options in Safari’s own Settings window. If your work makes you a target of sophisticated attacks, Apple’s Lockdown Mode (at the bottom of Privacy & Security) closes many of the ways in, at the cost of some features.
What settings can’t control
No setting can follow your data once an app sends it away. Dictate into a cloud service, paste a contract into an online translator or upload a screenshot to share it, and the text or image now sits on a server you don’t control, under someone else’s rules for keeping it.
So the other half of a private Mac is choosing apps that don’t need a server to do the work. Here is how the everyday jobs compare.
| Job | Built into macOS | Kept on the Mac with |
|---|---|---|
| Dictation | Runs on the device only on some Macs and in some languages; the note under Dictation in System Settings › Keyboard tells you whether yours does | Volna, in every language it offers |
| Screenshots | ⇧⌘5 and Markup; nothing points out a card number you forgot to cover | SimpleShot, which finds and hides personal details |
| Translation | Translate in the right-click menu, which stays on the Mac once you’ve downloaded the languages and turned on On-Device Mode; Safari’s page translation goes online, Apple says | Kalila, in any app with ⌃⌥T |
| Finding photos and videos | Photos searches its own library | Seekframe, in any folder or drive |
| Keeping a conversation | Messages keeps the history but can’t export it | Textbound, to a PDF on the Mac |
Five apps we make for this
Each one was built so that your data never has to leave the Mac. None of them asks you to create an account, and none has analytics or ads.
- Volna types what you say into any app. The speech model runs on the Mac, so nobody else hears a word, and it works with Wi-Fi off. Free.
- SimpleShot takes screenshots and screen recordings, and before you share one it flags any e-mail address, phone number or card number still showing; one click covers them. Free; a capture leaves the Mac only if you make a link to it.
- Kalila translates a selection, an e-mail or a contract with Apple’s on-device engine. Free. If you’d rather not install anything, kalila.app/translate does the same in a browser.
- Seekframe finds a photo, or the exact moment in a video, when you describe it, using a model that runs on the Mac. Free for one folder.
- Textbound exports a Messages conversation to PDF without changing your message history. The free version covers the newest 100 messages.
Check it yourself
The quickest test: turn off Wi-Fi and use the app. If the dictation, translation or search still works, the app wasn’t sending anything to do it. For a closer look, open Activity Monitor, click Network and watch the app’s Sent Bytes while you use it. How to see which apps use the internet walks you through it.
Questions
Does Apple hear what I dictate on a Mac?
It depends on your Mac and your language. Some combinations are processed on the Mac, others on Apple’s servers; the note under Dictation in System Settings › Keyboard says which applies to you. Apple keeps the audio only if Improve Siri & Dictation is on in Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements.
Should I turn on FileVault?
Yes, for almost everyone. It encrypts the whole disk, so without your password a lost Mac is just hardware. On a Mac with Apple silicon you won’t notice any slowdown. Keep the recovery key somewhere safe.
Do I need Lockdown Mode?
Most people don’t. Apple designed it for people who may be personally targeted, such as journalists, activists and officials. It blocks most message attachment types, web technologies and incoming invitations, and you can switch it off again.
Is private browsing enough to keep work private?
No. A private window stops your Mac from keeping a history, but the sites you visit still receive everything you type and upload. Keeping work private means doing it with tools that don’t send it anywhere.