10 / Privacy
Your notes, memory and meeting library stay on your Mac unless you switch on Cloud Sync yourself. The prompt has to reach a model, so we tell you exactly how. On Routines AI it passes through our server to Anthropic and we keep the token count, never the text. On your own key, held in the macOS Keychain, your Mac talks to the provider over HTTPS and no BinarCode server is in the path at all. We asked the same question of cloud tools in is ChatGPT private.
Privacy — How your data flows on your own key
Direct HTTPS · your key
not in this path
On your own key, no BinarCode server in the loop.
anthropic-api-key ••••••••3f2a
Stored in macOS Keychain · com.binarcode.routines
Your own key · direct HTTPS · zero intermediaries
01
Sign in and AI works without a key. The request goes from your Mac to getroutines.ai, authenticated by your device, and on to Anthropic under our key. We do not store the prompt or the answer, in the database, the logs or an error report. We record the tokens and the cost, because that is what your AI credit is drawn from.
02
Paste an Anthropic, OpenAI, or OpenRouter key and the picture changes: no BinarCode server sits in the middle of your AI calls, you control your spend directly with the provider, we bill you nothing for AI, and you can revoke access instantly.
03
When you do bring a key, Routines validates it with a test call, then stores it in the macOS Keychain. Never in config files, never in plaintext, never sent to BinarCode.
04
Scheduling, memory retrieval, connectors, and every file the app writes happen on your Mac against local storage. What leaves is the model call in the two shapes above, audio sent for transcription, and, only if you turn on Cloud Sync and Backup, the sync copy.
05
Microphone, screen recording, calendar, and AppleEvents permissions are requested only at first use, with plain-language explanations. You always know exactly why a permission is needed.
06
When Deepgram is unavailable, or if you prefer full local operation, Routines transcribes 100% locally using a Whisper model running on your Mac. Audio is never sent anywhere.
07
Every recording — title, attendees, transcript, summary, your notes — is stored in local SQLite and is fully searchable. Audio checkpoints live on disk and are not synced to your other devices.
Your knowledge sits on your Mac, in files you keep, with no subscription holding it hostage. By default the prompt is the one thing that travels, and you decide whether it goes through us or straight to your own provider. For how the tradeoffs differ across the category, see our comparison of the best personal AI assistants.
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