Your clippings. Your choices.

ClipSnapper Privacy Policy

Last updated: 13 October 2026

Who is responsible for ClipSnapper?

ClipSnapper is published by Michael Sibley, based in the United Kingdom. This policy explains how the Mac, iPhone and iPad apps handle information, including clipboard history, screenshots and optional iCloud synchronization. It also explains information I may receive when you contact me or use an Apple-distributed beta.

For privacy questions or requests, email michael@siblify.com.

The main points

• ClipSnapper saves content on your device so you can find and reuse it.
• On a Mac, clipboard capture begins after you complete the welcome screen. On iPhone and iPad, ClipSnapper does not automatically monitor your clipboard; you add items through the Share menu or receive them through iCloud sync.
• iCloud sync is optional and starts switched off in the welcome screen for new installations. Earlier installations retain their existing sync preference.
• Enabling sync uploads saved clippings, clip groups and associated information to your private iCloud database, for use on devices signed into the same iCloud account.
• The app has no embedded advertising or tracking SDKs. Apple services, including TestFlight diagnostics, are described separately below.
• Clipboard content can be sensitive. App exclusions and sensitive-content flags help, but they cannot identify every password or confidential item.

What the app stores and why

ClipSnapper stores the content you copy, capture, share into the app or restore from a backup so you can search, organise, edit and reuse it. Depending on the item, this can include:

• Text, formatting, web addresses, images and screenshots, including image edits and annotations you save.
• File names, file paths or references, access bookmarks and available previews. A file clipping is not necessarily a complete portable copy of the original file.
• Titles, content previews, timestamps, item types, sizes, content fingerprints and identifiers used to organise history and synchronize changes.
• The name and identifier of the source application when available. Items added through the iOS Share extension can also carry the device name as source information.
• Clip-group names, colours, ordering and membership.
• App preferences, recently picked colours and technical state needed to keep the app and synchronization working.

On a Mac, text recognition in images uses Apple's on-device Vision framework. Recognised text is stored in a local search index. This search index is not itself uploaded by ClipSnapper's iCloud sync, although the underlying image may be synced if you enable that feature.

Text produced by other apps, including dictation apps, may be captured when supplied through the clipboard. ClipSnapper does not itself record microphone audio or send that text to a speech or AI service.

Clipboard capture and sensitive content

On a Mac, ClipSnapper watches for clipboard changes while it is running. You can exclude applications in Settings → Privacy. Exclusions apply to future captures; they do not erase content already saved. Quit ClipSnapper to stop its clipboard capture.

ClipSnapper skips clipboard content marked by the source application as concealed, transient or automatically generated. This relies on the source application providing those markers. It is not a guarantee that all passwords, financial information or other sensitive material will be excluded. Review your saved history and delete items you do not want to retain.

ClipSnapper does not automatically read your clipboard on iPhone or iPad. Copying an item from ClipSnapper places it on the system clipboard, where the operating system and apps you paste into handle it under their own rules.

Optional iCloud synchronization

You can use ClipSnapper without enabling its iCloud sync. If you enable it in the welcome screen or Settings, the app connects to Apple's CloudKit service and uploads saved clippings, associated content and metadata, and clip groups to your private iCloud database. Existing locally saved items can be uploaded when you first enable sync. The app uses account-specific and synchronization identifiers to associate changes with the correct history.

Your other devices running ClipSnapper with the same iCloud account and sync enabled can download that history. The app uses background change notifications to help keep it up to date. These are synchronization notifications, not marketing notifications.

I do not operate a separate server that receives your clipboard history. Your private CloudKit history is not an app-wide public database. I do not routinely receive or read its contents; information you deliberately send me for support is handled separately below.

Turning sync off stops further synchronization by that installation. It does not delete items already uploaded to iCloud, erase the device's local history or turn sync off on your other devices. To remove synced items, delete them in the app while sync is enabled and allow those deletions to reach your other devices.

Apple provides iCloud and processes service information under its own terms and privacy policy. Its services may process information in different countries. See Apple's Privacy Policy: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/.

The app's sync switch does not control operating-system backups, Time Machine, iCloud device backups or files you export to an iCloud Drive folder. Those are separate services governed by your device and service settings.

Permissions and optional features

Screen capture on Mac: ClipSnapper requests macOS screen-recording access when you use screenshot capture. It reads display images during the capture you request and saves the chosen image or scrolling capture. Scrolling captures are manually scrolled. Screen capture does not record system audio or microphone audio.

Direct paste on Mac: optional Accessibility access lets ClipSnapper send the paste command to the application you were using. This permission supports direct pasting. Copying an item and pasting it yourself remains available without that access.

Files and folders: ClipSnapper uses files you copy or choose through system file dialogs for previews, exports, backups and restores. A chosen save folder can be remembered using a local permission bookmark.

Colour picking: the Mac colour picker uses the system colour sampler. Picked colour values can be kept in a local recent-colour history; a colour value you copy can also become a normal clipping.

Launch at login: on Mac you can choose whether ClipSnapper starts when you sign in.

The app does not request microphone, camera, location, Contacts or Photos-library access. System sharing and file selection do not give the app blanket access to those libraries. You can review or revoke applicable permissions in the operating system's Privacy & Security settings; the affected feature may then stop working.

Retention, deletion and backups

On Mac, Settings → History lets you choose how long ordinary clipboard-history items are kept: one day, one week, one month, six months, one year or forever. The default is one month, implemented as 31 days. Cleanup runs while the Mac app is running; it is not an exact-time deletion guarantee. Automatic retention cleanup is not independently run by the iPhone or iPad app. Items saved to clip groups are excluded from automatic history cleanup.

You can delete individual clippings. Clear clipboard history on Mac removes ordinary history but keeps clip-group items. To remove those items too, delete the clippings inside the groups. Deleting only a clip group moves its clippings back into ordinary history; it does not delete their contents.

If sync is enabled, deletions are queued for your iCloud history and other synced devices. Offline devices may retain their copies until synchronization completes. Limited deletion identifiers and synchronization metadata can remain to prevent deleted items returning.

Exported files, backups, copies sent to other apps and history-preservation archives are separate copies. Deleting an item from active history does not delete those copies. ClipSnapper may preserve verified local history archives during a history migration. You are responsible for removing exported or backup copies you no longer need. Contact me if you need help locating ClipSnapper's local data or preserved archives.

Removing the app does not guarantee removal of its iCloud data or all local files and backups. Review your local storage and Apple account's storage/backup controls separately. Neither an in-app deletion nor this policy promises immediate secure erasure from every storage layer or backup.

Diagnostics, beta testing and support

ClipSnapper contains no advertising, cross-app tracking or third-party analytics SDK. It does not sell clipboard history or use it for targeted advertising. It can write operational errors and technical information to the operating system's local logs. Diagnostic material may include device details, file paths or other information associated with a problem, so review it before sharing it.

Apple may make crash or diagnostic information available under the applicable platform settings and terms. CloudKit also provides service-operation metrics and logs.

If you install a beta through TestFlight, Apple automatically collects crash and usage information and makes beta-testing information available to the developer. This TestFlight collection is separate from ClipSnapper's iCloud switch and cannot be disabled by turning that switch off. Feedback you submit, including screenshots, may contain personal information. See Apple's TestFlight Terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/testflight/.

If you email me or submit feedback, I receive the contact information and material you choose to send, such as your email address, message, screenshots or diagnostic files. I use it to respond, investigate issues and improve reliability. Please avoid sending passwords, confidential clipboard histories or unrelated personal information. Email and support material are also handled by the service providers involved in delivering and storing the correspondence.

I retain support correspondence and diagnostic material for as long as reasonably needed to handle the enquiry, investigate the issue, maintain necessary support records or meet legal obligations, then delete it or remove identifying details when it is no longer needed. Information held by Apple is subject to Apple's own retention rules.

Your choices and rights

Where data protection law applies to processing for which I am responsible, the purposes and bases are:

• Providing the app functionality and support you request, where necessary to perform a contract with you.
• Optional processing based on your consent where consent is the applicable basis. You can withdraw it for future processing; for example, you can turn off optional sync or revoke feature permissions.
• My legitimate interests in responding to enquiries, diagnosing faults and maintaining a reliable and secure app, balanced against your rights.
• Complying with legal obligations where information must be retained or disclosed for that purpose.

There is no requirement to enable iCloud sync, grant optional feature permissions or send support material to use local history. The features or support that need that information may be unavailable if you choose not to provide it. ClipSnapper does not make automated decisions about you with legal or similarly significant effects.

Depending on the law and circumstances, you may have rights to access, correct, erase or receive a portable copy of personal information, restrict processing, object to processing based on legitimate interests, or withdraw consent. Email michael@siblify.com to exercise rights concerning information I hold. I cannot retrieve or erase your device-only history remotely; the app's own controls and your Apple account controls manage that information. I can help explain those controls.

You may complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ or to your local data-protection authority. You can also contact me first so I can try to resolve your concern.

Security and external services

ClipSnapper uses Apple's platform storage, permissions and CloudKit services. Protect your devices and Apple account, and choose protected locations for exports and backups: those copies may contain sensitive content. No storage or transmission system can be guaranteed completely secure.

This policy does not promise end-to-end encryption for all app data or that only you can ever access data held by a service provider. Apple's protections and account settings are described in Apple's own documentation.

When you share, paste or export content to another application, or open an external link, the destination handles that content under its own practices. Visiting the Siblify website is also subject to the website's separate privacy and cookie information; the absence of advertising SDKs in the app is not a claim about every website script.

Changes and contact

I may update this policy as the app or its data practices change. The date above identifies the latest revision. Material changes will be explained through an appropriate app or website notice.

Privacy contact: Michael Sibley, michael@siblify.com.