Privacy & Your Data
Where your data lives, what leaves your Mac, and how to control it.
Where your data lives
Everything Focusmo tracks — sessions, tasks, activity timelines, achievements, records — is stored in a local database on your Mac. Your app and website usage is never uploaded to Focusmo's servers.
iCloud sync across devices is currently disabled ("Coming Soon" under Settings → Account). If you sign in, Settings → Account also shows a Cross-Device Sync section: its Enable Sync switch syncs sessions, tasks and settings with Focusmo on iOS. It's opt-in and off by default — until you turn it on, your data stays on your Mac.
What leaves your Mac
Product analytics (optional). Focusmo sends anonymous product-usage events (session started, screen opened, setting changed, badge unlocked) to PostHog to help improve the app. These are behavioral telemetry events — they do not include your tracked app usage, website URLs, task names, or window titles.
Opt out: Settings → Account → About → Share Usage Data (the same switch appears as Analytics under Sync & Data on the Account page). When it's off, nothing is sent. Turning it off is a Pro option. It also switches off the Insights summary and the day wrap and weekly recap, which are built from the same data.
Permissions and what they're for
| macOS permission | Used for |
|---|---|
| Accessibility | Reading text you select for the capture shortcuts; reading the active app/window for activity tracking; arranging windows for Project launch layouts |
| Automation (per app) | Reading the active tab URL for website blocking and browser activity tracking; talking to Things 3 and your music app |
| Notifications | Session alerts, "app was closed" notices, update alerts, recap notifications |
| Calendar | Only if you enable "DND during meetings" or calendar features |
| Reminders | Only if you connect the Apple Reminders integration |
Focusmo only asks for a permission when you turn on the feature that needs it.
The Claude / MCP integration
If you enable the MCP server, Claude reads your focus data locally on your Mac — the server runs on your machine and no data is sent to external servers by Focusmo. What Claude then does with data in your conversation is governed by your Claude account settings.
Deleting data
- Delete a focus session (and its activity) from the session's detail view.
- Clear activity tracked outside sessions from the App Usage section.
- Right-click any individual activity entry to delete it.