Privacy Policy

Effective date: February 15, 2026

Tagalong is a native macOS application for meeting recording, transcription, and AI-powered summary generation. We are committed to your privacy. This policy explains how your data is handled across the two licensing modes available in the application.

1. Product Overview

Tagalong operates in two distinct modes, each with different data handling characteristics:

Mode	Data Routing	API Keys
Private License	Direct to third-party APIs	User provides their own
Subscription	Through our proxy at api.tagalongai.com	Managed by Tagalong

2. Private License Mode

In Private License mode, Tagalong operates entirely between your Mac and the third-party AI services you configure. No data is sent to Tagalong servers.

Audio recording is captured and stored locally on your Mac.
Transcripts, summaries, infographics, and meeting notes are generated and stored in a directory you choose (default: ~/Documents/Tagalong/).
API keys (OpenAI, AssemblyAI, Google Gemini) are stored securely in the macOS Keychain using Data Protection. They are never transmitted to Tagalong.
Audio and transcript data is sent directly from your Mac to the third-party APIs (OpenAI, AssemblyAI, Google Gemini) for processing. These transmissions use the API keys you provide and are governed by the respective third-party privacy policies.

Private License Summary

Your data stays on your Mac and goes directly to the AI services you configure. Tagalong has no access to your recordings, transcripts, API keys, or any other data.

3. Subscription Mode

In Subscription mode, audio and transcript data is routed through our proxy server at api.tagalongai.com before being forwarded to the underlying AI services.

Ephemeral processing only. Audio chunks and transcript data pass through our proxy in real time and are forwarded to OpenAI, AssemblyAI, or Google Gemini for processing. We do not store audio, transcripts, summaries, or any meeting content on our servers.
Authentication is handled via JWT tokens. Your subscription credentials are used to authorize proxy requests — the underlying API keys are managed by Tagalong and are not exposed to you.
No long-term storage. Our proxy does not retain any meeting data after the request completes. Request logs may include metadata (timestamps, request sizes, endpoint called) for operational purposes but never contain meeting content.
Local storage of final outputs (transcripts, summaries, infographics, notes) remains on your Mac, identical to Private License mode.

4. Third-Party AI Services

Both licensing modes rely on the following third-party services for AI processing. Your use of Tagalong means your audio and text data will be processed by these services according to their respective privacy policies:

OpenAI — Whisper (speech-to-text transcription) and GPT (meeting summary generation). OpenAI Privacy Policy
AssemblyAI — Speaker diarization (identifying who said what). AssemblyAI Privacy Policy
Google Gemini — Infographic image generation. Google AI Terms

We encourage you to review these policies to understand how your data is handled by each provider.

5. Local Data Storage

All meeting outputs are stored locally on your Mac:

Default location: ~/Documents/Tagalong/{meeting-name}/
Transcript: Markdown file (.md) with speaker labels and timestamps
Meeting notes: Plain text file (_notes.txt), human-editable
Infographic: JPEG image (_infographic.jpg)
Audio recording: WAV file (.wav), if recording was used

You have full control over these files. You can move, copy, delete, or back them up as you see fit. Tagalong does not sync, upload, or access these files beyond the initial creation.

6. Keychain Security

API keys and license keys are stored in the macOS Keychain under the service identifier com.tagalongai.tagalong. The Keychain provides:

Hardware-backed encryption via the Secure Enclave (on supported Macs)
Data Protection class access controls
Per-application access restrictions

Keys are never written to disk in plaintext, logged, or transmitted to Tagalong servers.

7. Analytics, Tracking, and Data Collection

We do not collect any data.

Tagalong does not include analytics SDKs, tracking pixels, telemetry, or any form of usage data collection. We do not collect personally identifiable information (PII). There are no network calls to Tagalong servers in Private License mode.

Future consideration: We may introduce opt-in error reporting (e.g., via Sentry) in a future release to help diagnose crashes. This would be strictly opt-in, anonymized, and limited to crash data. This privacy policy will be updated before any such feature is shipped.

8. macOS Permissions

Tagalong requests the following macOS permissions:

Microphone Access — Required for meeting recording. The app records audio from your selected input device.
Screen Recording — Required only for Conference Mode, which captures system audio (e.g., Zoom, Teams, Google Meet) via ScreenCaptureKit. This permission is not needed for microphone-only recording. Video content is not captured or stored (the screen capture uses a minimal 2x2 pixel configuration solely to enable the audio pipeline).

You can revoke these permissions at any time in System Settings > Privacy & Security.

9. Children's Privacy

Tagalong is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via our website and, where possible, through in-app notification. The "Effective date" at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised.

11. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your data, contact us at:

support@tagalongai.com