Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 2026

Nova is built to keep your data on your Mac. Nova has no accounts, no analytics, no tracking and no advertising. The developer does not run any server that receives your data.

Data that stays on your Mac

• Clipboard history, shelf files, timers and settings are stored locally and never uploaded.
• Calendar events are read from your Mac only after you grant permission, and are only displayed inside Nova.
• Now playing information is read from macOS to show album art and controls.
• System audio access is used only to measure the audio level so the avatar can move to the beat; audio is never recorded or stored.
• API keys you add for optional AI providers are stored in your macOS Keychain.

Data sent to third-party services

Some features need the internet. In these cases Nova talks directly to the service listed below; requests do not pass through the developer.

• Weather — your approximate location (coordinates or city name) is sent to Open-Meteo to get the forecast.
• Lyrics — the current song's title and artist are sent to LRCLIB and YouTube Music to find lyrics.
• Assistant — with Apple Intelligence, requests are handled on-device or by Apple's Private Cloud Compute, under Apple's privacy policy. If you choose to add your own key for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini or Groq, your messages are sent to that provider under its own privacy policy.
• Web search — when the assistant needs up-to-date information, the search query is sent to DuckDuckGo or Bing.
• Support link — the "Buy me a coffee" button simply opens buymeacoffee.com in your browser.

Permissions

Nova asks macOS for permissions (Calendar, Location, Automation, audio) only when a feature needs them. You can revoke any of them at any time in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

Children

Nova does not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone, including children.

Contact

Questions? Open an issue at github.com/caglarosman/nova-notch-app.