Privacy, kept simple.

GetFerret is built to find your files without ever taking them. The short version: your data stays on your Mac.

Your file catalog

GetFerret builds a catalog of your drives so it can find files even when a drive is unplugged. That catalog lives only on your Mac, in a file set so that only your Mac user account can read it. It never leaves your machine, and we never see it. GetFerret also encrypts the catalog, with a key kept in this Mac's Keychain that is never synced to iCloud, so the file can't be read on its own. When FileVault is turned on, macOS encrypts your Mac's startup disk as well.

No accounts, no tracking

You don't sign in to use GetFerret. There are no analytics watching what you search for, and nothing about your files is ever sent to us: not their names, not their contents, not where they live, not what you searched for.

What the app does send

Here is every connection the app makes. None of them carries anything about your files.

Licence checks. When you enter a licence key, the app checks it with our licensing server, and re-checks it occasionally afterwards. That is how one licence can cover the Macs you own and be moved to a new one. Activating a Mac sends the key, an identifier for that Mac, and the Mac's name as set in System Settings. Later re-checks send the key, the same identifier, and the activation number our server gave that Mac. Moving a licence off a Mac sends the key and that activation number. Nothing else goes with them.

Update checks. Once a day the app asks getferret.app whether a newer version is out, and if you choose to install one, it downloads from getferret.app. The request carries the app's version number and nothing about you or your files. Updates are handled by Sparkle, a widely used open-source updater for Mac apps. It is the only third-party code in GetFerret.

One anonymous install count. From version 1.0.8, the first time you ever launch GetFerret it tells us that a trial started. That message contains the app's version number and nothing else. No hardware identifier, no email, no account, no identifier of any kind that could be tied back to you or your Mac, and we do not store the IP address it arrived from. We do this because otherwise we have no idea how many downloads become installs. If the message fails to send, nothing happens and nothing changes for you.

Feedback and crash reports, only when you press Send. These go to our server and on to our support inbox. They carry what you wrote, your GetFerret and macOS versions, and your email address only if you ask for a reply. A crash report also includes your Mac's model and a technical trace, which you see in full before you send it, with your user name removed from any file paths.

GetFerret for Windows

On Windows, the catalog lives only on your PC, in your own user folder. It is encrypted with a key that only your Windows user account can unlock, so a copy taken to another PC or another account can't be read. It never leaves your PC, and we never see it.

The Windows app makes the same connections as the Mac app, and nothing else. Licence checks send the key, an identifier for that PC, and the PC's name as set in Windows, then later the key, the same identifier and the activation number. Update checks ask getferret.app whether a newer version is out and download it from there. The anonymous install count carries the app's version number and the word "windows", so we can tell the two apps apart, and nothing else. Crash reports are offered only after GetFerret closed unexpectedly; you see the whole report, with your user name removed from any file paths, and nothing is sent unless you press Send.

When GetFerret for Windows moves a duplicate out of the way, it goes into a hidden GetFerret folder on the same drive, where you can put it back. It is removed for good only after the number of days you choose, or when you empty it.

This website & the waitlist

getferret.app is a simple static site with no ad trackers. Since 9 August 2026 it uses Google Analytics so we can see which pages people land on and where they came from. For visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland we tell it to store nothing on the device, so those visits are counted without a cookie and without an identifier, which is why you are not being asked to dismiss a cookie banner. This is the website only, and it is separate from the app; what the app itself sends is described above. If you join the launch waitlist, we use your email for exactly one thing: to tell you when GetFerret is available. No lists sold, no spam. The form is protected by Cloudflare Turnstile to keep out bots.

Where AI is involved

Nothing about your files is ever sent to an AI service. To make photos searchable by what is in them, such as a beach, a dog or a bicycle, GetFerret uses Apple's Vision framework, which runs entirely on your Mac. Your photos and their tags never leave it. Beyond that, AI comes in at exactly two places, and both are things you choose to send us: a review, or feedback from inside the app. Both go through Claude, made by Anthropic.

Reviews. A review you write is checked by Claude to see whether it is genuine feedback rather than spam. We send the review text, your star rating, the display name you put on it, and whether you are a verified buyer. All four of those appear publicly on the review anyway. Clear cases post straight away, anything unclear waits for a person, and if a review is turned down you are told.

In-app feedback and bug reports. Feedback you send from inside GetFerret goes to Claude with your GetFerret version and your macOS version, so it can be sorted into a bug, an idea, a question or praise and reach the right place. That is sorting, not answering. A person reads every one.

What is never sent. Your file catalog, your file names, your searches, your email address and your licence key are not sent to Claude or to any other AI service. Only what is listed above goes, and none of it is used to train anyone's model. If the check is unavailable, a review simply waits for a person instead of being refused.

Questions

GetFerret is a Keepers Code app. Reach us anytime via keeperscode.com/contact.

Last updated October 2026. Plain-language summary, not legal boilerplate.