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Security

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

Your videos are your work. Every step in Merceq follows one rule: never touch the original, never say “done” before checking, never delete anything for good.

Your originals don’t change

  • Merceq never changes the contents of your videos. Names, notes, tags, decisions and scenes are written to the catalog, not to the file.
  • When you import, your files stay where they are by default; Merceq doesn’t move or copy them.
  • HDR and log footage is shown in normal colour; the file itself is never touched.

From card to drive: verified copies

When you copy a card to another drive with Copy to disk first, every file goes through the same steps:

  1. The file is written to the destination under a temporary, hidden name.
  2. Merceq makes sure it has really reached the disk, not just memory.
  3. The copy is compared with the original by checksum (xxHash64).
  4. Only if the two match does the file get its real name.
  • The card is read once; copying and checking run side by side.
  • A dated folder is made at the destination, for example 2026-10-03 DCIM. The whole card is copied, with its audio and side files.
  • An ASC MHL record is written into the folder: the standard record used on film and TV sets that shows which file was copied with which checksum. If the card already has an ascmhl history, it is kept, never overwritten.
  • Videos from an iPhone are checked by comparing their size and duration. Nothing is deleted from the phone.

If something interrupts it

  • If the card is pulled, Merceq waits and carries on where it stopped when the same card comes back.
  • A card is recognised by its identity, not its name. If you put in a different card with the same name, Merceq tells you it isn’t the card the transfer started from.
  • If the app closes or crashes, it offers to finish the transfer on the next launch.
  • Your Mac stays awake while a transfer runs. If you try to quit, Merceq warns you first.

When you export

  • Every exported file is checked against the original. At the end, an ASC MHL record, a receipt and a detailed CSV record are written.
  • Also write to a backup disk makes a second, verified copy on another drive at the same time.
  • When moving to another drive, the file is copied first, the copy is checked, and only then is the original sent to the macOS Trash.
  • Before it starts, Merceq checks that there is enough space and that the destination isn’t inside the source.

Nothing is deleted for good

  • Clips you reject first go to Merceq’s own Trash. The files don’t move, and they come back with one click.
  • When you do delete, files only go to the macOS Trash, so Finder’s Put Back works. Merceq never deletes files directly.
  • Clips on a card and files in an export destination are never sent to the Trash. A file that has changed since is skipped.
  • If Recall can’t write a memory copy, the original isn’t sent to the Trash.

Your catalog is safe

  • The catalog is backed up automatically, and the last 20 backups are kept. You can make a backup any time, or back up to a file.
  • Restoring never throws away your current catalog; it is kept first.
  • A backup is taken before every reset. A reset never touches your videos.
  • Clips on drives that aren’t connected stay in the catalog, and come back with your decisions and tags when the drive is plugged in.
  • Only one copy of Merceq runs at a time, so two windows never write to the same catalog.

Plugins run in a closed space

  • External plugins run in a closed space with no internet access, where they only see the files they are given. If that space can’t be set up, the plugin doesn’t run at all.
  • Before a plugin is installed, you’re shown what it will be able to see.
  • A plugin’s last 50 runs are listed in its run history, and each one can be undone.

Everything downloaded is checked

  • Updates are signed. Before a package is installed, its signature, size and checksum are checked. Merceq won’t update while a transfer is running.
  • Sense models come from a fixed version, and every file’s size and checksum are checked.

Privacy

  • Your videos, their audio, transcripts, text on screen, location data and your catalog are processed and stored only on your Mac.
  • The AI 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.
  • The internet is only used to activate your license or start the trial, to download the Sense models, and to check for updates if you allow it.
  • After the first activation, the license works offline and is tied to a key made for this Mac.

The Privacy policy lists in detail what goes where.