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Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 19, 2026

Overview

Top Notch is designed with privacy as a core principle. The app stores your preferences and history on your Mac. Top Notch has no developer-operated user accounts or analytics. The developer does not operate an advertising network; embedded YouTube videos may contain ads. Optional network features send the data described below directly to their providers.

Data the Developer Does Not Receive

The developer does not receive the following through the app. This does not describe third-party collection, which is explained below:

  • Personal information (name, email, phone number)
  • Usage analytics or telemetry
  • Crash reports sent to third parties
  • Advertising identifiers
  • Device GPS location (the app does not request location permission)

Data Stored Locally

The following data is stored locally on your Mac. Selected text, weather queries, and media requests are shared only as described under Network Requests:

  • Clipboard History: If you enable Clipboard History, your last 20 copied items are stored in app preferences for the Clipboard widget. You can clear this at any time in Settings → Privacy → Clear All Data.
  • App Preferences: Widget settings, accent color, weather city, and display preferences are stored in macOS UserDefaults.
  • YouTube History: Recently played YouTube video IDs (up to 5) are stored locally for quick replay.
  • Quick Notes: Notes created in the Quick Capture widget are stored locally in app preferences.
  • API Keys: If you configure an optional Google Gemini API key, it is stored in the macOS Keychain and sent to Google to authenticate your AI requests. It is not sent to the developer.

Network Requests

These feature requests go directly to each provider. Providers also receive connection information such as your IP address:

  • Weather: In the Mac App Store edition from version 1.1, Apple’s geocoding service resolves the city you enter and Apple WeatherKit receives its coordinates to fetch weather data. Earlier releases and the direct edition use Open-Meteo (open-meteo.com). The app does not request your device location.
  • Artwork: Track metadata may be used to fetch artwork from Apple’s iTunes service and Spotify-provided artwork URLs.
  • Lyrics: When lyrics are enabled, song title, artist name, and track duration are sent to LRCLIB (lrclib.net) to fetch synced lyrics.
  • YouTube: Starting with Mac App Store version 1.1, videos use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced embedded player and temporary web storage. YouTube states that these video views do not personalize your later YouTube experience or advertising outside the app; any embedded ads are non-personalized. The player can still send video and ad interactions, temporary browser identifiers, approximate location inferred from IP addresses, and technical diagnostics to Google for service operation, security, analytics, and contextual advertising. Sign-in and videos that cannot be embedded open in your browser only after you choose to open them. Top Notch does not receive your Google password. Earlier versions and the direct-download edition may use the standard YouTube player, a watch-page fallback, and persistent web storage; those services may also associate account identifiers, personalize content and ads, and use data across Google services, depending on your settings. See YouTube’s privacy-enhanced player explanation and Google’s Privacy Policy. In version 1.1, Clear All Data removes the app’s saved embedded web storage as well as the saved Gemini key.
  • AI Summarization (optional): If you configure a Google Gemini API key, enable AI Summarization, and choose to summarize an item, up to the first 800 characters of its text are sent directly to Google Gemini. This is cloud processing. Requests authenticate with your API key and may therefore be associated with your Google API project. Google may retain prompts and responses for security and, under its unpaid-service terms, use them to improve its products. Paid-service handling differs. See Gemini API terms. AI Summarization is off by default. In version 1.1, Clear All Data also removes the saved API key.

Clipboard Monitoring

Top Notch includes an optional clipboard monitoring feature that watches for YouTube URLs so you can play them directly in the notch. This feature is consent-gated: it is disabled by default and only activates after you explicitly enable it in Settings → Privacy → Clipboard Monitoring.

When enabled, the app periodically reads the macOS system pasteboard to check whether a YouTube link has been copied. Clipboard History is controlled by a separate toggle: if you enable it, Top Notch also stores up to 20 recent copied text items locally on your device. Clipboard monitoring itself does not transmit copied text. If you separately enable and request AI summarization, the selected text is sent to Google as described above. Opening a detected YouTube link also sends the video request to YouTube. You can disable either feature or clear your clipboard history at any time in Settings.

Calendar Access

Top Notch requests access to your calendar via Apple's EventKit framework to display today's events in the Calendar widget. macOS requests full calendar access so the app can read events; Top Notch does not create or modify events. Calendar data is read locally and is never transmitted over the network. You can deny calendar access and the widget will show a prompt to enable it in System Settings.

Apple Events

Top Notch uses Apple Events (AppleScript) to communicate with Apple Music and Spotify for media playback control. This is used solely to play, pause, skip tracks, and retrieve now playing information.

Third-Party Services

Top Notch does not include any third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking SDKs.

Children's Privacy

Top Notch does not knowingly collect any information from children under 13.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date.

Clipboard monitoring is on but nothing is detected. Make sure the YouTube widget is also enabled in Settings → Widgets. Some clipboard managers or browser extensions may prevent the pasteboard from being readable by third-party apps.

I didn't consent but clipboard history appears. Check Settings → Privacy. YouTube Clipboard Monitoring and Clipboard History are separate toggles. If Clipboard History is off, Top Notch should not save new copied items.

How do I remove my clipboard history? Go to Settings → Privacy → Clear All Data, or open the Clipboard widget and tap the trash icon to remove individual items.

Does the app send clipboard content to the Google Gemini API? Only if you have configured a Google Gemini API key and enabled AI Summarization in Settings → Intelligence. That toggle is off by default. When enabled, only the text of items you explicitly request to summarize is sent.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, contact us at contact@startupstartup.app.