Privacy Policy
Last updated 9 October 2026
Clippy is a Mac app that finds the moments in your streams that could become short videos, helps you edit them, and publishes them to the accounts you connect. Your video stays on your Mac. This policy explains what Clippy collects, where it is kept, who helps us process it, and how to delete it.
Clippy is operated by Arash Joobandi ("we", "us"). Questions go to [email protected].
What stays on your Mac
The Clippy app downloads, transcribes, edits and renders video on your computer. These never leave your Mac unless you publish a clip:
- source recordings and the videos Clippy downloads for you,
- preview copies, audio tracks and still frames,
- the editor's projects and every rendered clip.
What we collect and keep on our servers
| Data | Why |
|---|---|
| Your email address | To sign you in and to contact you about your account. |
| Sign-in codes and session tokens (stored only as one-way hashes) | To keep you signed in. Codes expire after 15 minutes. |
| Each linked Mac's name, app version and when it last connected | So you can see and remove the devices on your account. |
| Your ledger: stream titles, dates and lengths, transcripts, the moments Clippy found and your notes on them, your cuts and their earlier versions, captions, on-screen text, scores, and your posting calendar | To sync your work between your Macs and to run the features below. |
| The location of each source file on each linked Mac | So that Mac can find the file again. It is shown only to the Mac that reported it. |
| Connections to the platforms you link (access tokens and your account ID on each) | To publish what you schedule, and to show which account each connection is. |
| The clips and thumbnails you schedule | To publish them. See "Publishing" below. |
| Your waitlist email, if you joined it | To tell you when there is room for you. |
We do not sell your data, and we do not use it for advertising.
AI processing
To find hooks, judge still frames, arrange stories and draft captions and thumbnails, Clippy sends the relevant transcript text, hook text and still frames to AI model providers that process it for us: Anthropic (Claude) for text and image understanding, and OpenAI for generating thumbnail images. We send only what the task needs, never your source video. These providers act as our service providers under their commercial API terms.
Publishing and connected accounts
When you connect an account, Clippy asks for these permissions and uses them only as described.
| Platform | Permissions | What Clippy does with them |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube (Google) | youtube.upload, youtube.readonly | Uploads the videos you schedule with their title, description and thumbnail; reads which channel you connected so the app can show it and link to what was published. |
| Instagram (Meta) | instagram_business_basic, instagram_business_content_publish | Reads your professional account's ID and username; publishes the Reels you schedule. |
| Threads (Meta) | threads_basic, threads_content_publish | Reads your profile; publishes the posts you schedule. |
| TikTok | user.info.basic, video.upload, video.publish | Reads your display name so you can confirm the account; sends the videos you schedule to your TikTok inbox, or posts them with the settings you choose on Clippy's posting screen. |
To publish, a clip you schedule and its thumbnail are stored in Cloudflare R2 at an unlisted address, because Instagram and Threads fetch video from a URL. We remove them when you ask, and when you delete your account.
You can revoke Clippy's access from each platform at any time, for Google at myaccount.google.com/permissions. Data deletion has the steps for every platform.
Google user data
Clippy's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use YouTube data only to provide the features above, we never use it for advertising, and people at Clippy read it only with your permission, for security, or when the law requires.
Clippy uses YouTube API Services. By connecting YouTube you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service, and Google's handling of your data is covered by the Google Privacy Policy.
Who processes data for us
| Provider | What for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| exe.dev | Hosts the server and database that hold your account and ledger | United States |
| Cloudflare | Website, sign-in email delivery, the publishing service, and clip storage for scheduled posts | Global network |
| Anthropic | AI processing of transcripts, text and still frames | United States |
| OpenAI | Thumbnail image generation | United States |
| Convex | The waitlist | United States |
| YouTube, Instagram, Threads, TikTok | Receive the posts you schedule | Their own terms apply |
We share data with anyone else only if the law requires it, or to protect our users or the service from fraud or abuse.
How long we keep it
- Your account and ledger: until you delete them.
- Platform connections: until you disconnect, or delete your account.
- Clips stored for publishing: until you ask us to remove them, or delete your account.
- Database backups: 14 days, then overwritten.
- Sign-in codes: 15 minutes.
When you ask us to delete your account, we delete it within 30 days, backups included. Here is how to ask.
Your choices and rights
You can ask us for a copy of your data, to correct it, or to delete it, by emailing [email protected] from the address on your account. Depending on where you live, you may have further rights under laws such as the GDPR or the CCPA; we honor those requests the same way.
Security
Traffic to our servers is encrypted in transit. Sign-in codes, session tokens and device tokens are stored only as one-way hashes, and each Mac uses its own token, which you can revoke. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your data, we will tell you.
Cookies
The Clippy website sets no advertising or tracking cookies. The account pages set one cookie that keeps you signed in.
Children
Clippy is not for anyone under 16, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.
Changes
If we change this policy, we will update the date above, and we will email you about any change that affects how we use your data.