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Privacy policy

Last updated: 5 October 2026Draft: this text will be reviewed before launch.

In short

  • Your videos, their audio, transcripts, text on screen, location data and your catalog are processed and stored only on your Mac. None of it is sent over the internet.
  • The AI (speech, picture, on-screen text and sound recognition) runs on your Mac. Place names come from a list of cities inside the app; nothing is looked up online.
  • No account, no analytics, no tracking, no ads.
  • Merceq goes online only in the cases listed below, and only for what is listed.

What stays on your Mac

Everything Merceq keeps is in your own user folder:

  • The catalog: where your files are, your decisions, tags, notes and folders, transcripts, text on screen, picture data, location (latitude and longitude) and export history. It stays until you delete it.
  • Caches: thumbnails, preview copies and the Sense models. These can be rebuilt.
  • Your license: a signed record of the license you activated (your email address, the license number and this Mac’s public key). The key you bought is not stored.
  • Keychain: a device key made for this Mac, and the trial’s clock record. They stay in the Keychain even if you delete the app; see below for how to remove them.
  • The log: a record of what the app did, at most 4 MB. File paths are shortened.
  • Written to your own drives: the ASC MHL records written when you copy to disk or export contain your Mac’s name and the Merceq version. If you hand that drive to someone, your Mac’s name goes with it. XMP files written next to exported copies contain ratings, keywords, notes and markers, but no transcripts.

Merceq never uses your Mac’s location. Location only comes from the videos’ own data.

What goes over the internet

Every request shows your IP address to the server it reaches.

When Where What is sent
When you activate or refresh your license, or release a Mac. Only when you press the button. lisans.vagastudio.io On activation, the key you bought. Each time, a random device key made for this Mac, its fingerprint and the app version. No email, Mac name, serial number or files.
When you start the trial. Only when you press the button. lisans.vagastudio.io The same as above, without a key.
When checking for updates. Only if you allowed it, at most once a day, or when you press the check button. vagastudio.io A request for the version file, nothing more. Not your version, device or license.
When you download an update. Only if you choose to. vagastudio.io A request for the package. Its signature is checked before it installs.
When you download the Sense models. Only if you choose to. Hugging Face and GitHub Requests for the files. No device data. These sites have their own privacy policies.
When you download the model of an external plugin you installed. Only if you choose to. The address the plugin names A request for the file. These addresses belong to the plugin’s maker.
When you send feedback or a crash report. Alpha and contributor licenses only, and only when you press Send. You see what will be sent first. lisans.vagastudio.io Your text, the app version, the macOS version, Mac model, processor and memory. If you choose, the last 50 log lines, where folder and file names may appear. A crash report adds the error message and where in the code it happened. No license or device data.
When you click the buy link or the download page link. Opens in your browser Merceq adds nothing to the link.

Apart from these, Merceq doesn’t go online. Speech, picture, text and sound recognition, thumbnails, iPhone import and place names all work without the internet. External plugins run in a closed space with no internet access.

What the license server keeps

The license server runs on [provider and region].

  • Licenses: the license number, a fingerprint of your key (not the key itself), what the license covers and its status, its dates, and the email address the payment provider gave us.
  • Activations: which license is active with which device key, and when. The device key isn’t your Mac’s hardware ID; it is made at random. Because it is enough to recognise the same Mac, it still counts as personal data.
  • Trials: the device key and dates, so a trial can’t be restarted on the same Mac.
  • Feedback: the contents listed above. No IP address, license or device link is kept. The newest 5,000 entries are kept; older ones are deleted.
  • Access log: the IP address, time and browser details of each request to the server. The contents of requests aren’t written. Deleted after [period] days.
  • Backups: taken every night and kept for 30 days.

This website

  • The site runs on Cloudflare. No cookies, no analytics, no tracking code.
  • The language is chosen from your browser’s language setting and isn’t stored anywhere; it lives only in the address.
  • The alpha form: your email address, your Mac’s chip and memory, what you shoot, your editing app, the cameras you use, how many clips a shoot gives you, rough archive size, the page language, and your two consents (contact and alpha tests, with the version of the tests text you agreed to). Your IP address isn’t stored. We use this only to contact you about the alpha and to choose testers, and delete it after [period].
  • Alpha tests: [What the alpha tests measure, where it is kept, what is sent and for how long; to be written once the tests text is final.]
  • Download counter: only the total number of downloads per day and version. We don’t know who you are.
  • Buying: payment goes through [payment provider]. The provider takes your payment details; we never see them. The provider shares your email address with us so we can send you your license key.

Permissions on your Mac

  • Asks for: access to cards, external and network drives, and your Desktop, Documents and Downloads folders (the first time it needs them); notifications (the first time a job finishes while the window is in the background).
  • Never asks for: Photos, location, camera, microphone, contacts, Full Disk Access, or control of other apps.

Deleting

On your Mac: quit Merceq, then delete:

  • Merceq.app
  • ~/Library/Application Support/com.vagastudio.merceq/
  • ~/Library/Logs/Merceq/
  • ~/Library/WebKit/com.vagastudio.merceq
  • ~/Library/Caches/com.vagastudio.merceq
  • If you like, the items starting with com.vagastudio.merceq in Keychain Access. If you delete them, you’ll need to activate your license again.

On the server: write to [email protected]. We delete your records within [period]; copies in backups are deleted on their own within 30 days. Deleting a license means it can’t be activated again.

Your rights

To find out what we keep about you, correct it, have it deleted or object to its use, write to [email protected]. Your rights under the GDPR and Turkey’s KVKK are unaffected.

Data controller: VagaStudio · [legal name] · [address]

Changes

If this text changes, the date above is updated.