Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 22, 2026

The short version

Thunder Kitty runs on your Mac. Your audio, your transcripts, and your notes stay on your Mac. We can't read them — we have no way to.

This page explains that in more detail, and covers the small number of things that do require a network connection.

The app

What the app collects

Nothing about your content. Your audio, transcripts, notes, and calendar data — including any data fetched from Google Calendar or Google Contacts — never leave your machine and are never uploaded to Thunder Kitty's servers. We have no cloud, no database of your recordings, no dashboard where we can see what you're doing.

Transcription runs on your Mac using Apple's SpeechAnalyzer API, part of the Speech framework in macOS 26 and later. If you use Apple Intelligence for summaries, that also runs on-device.

If you opt to use a third-party AI (by providing your own API key for Claude, OpenAI, or similar), your transcript text is sent to that provider when you ask the AI to read it — subject to their privacy policy, not ours. We never see it.

Voice enrollment (optional)

If you choose to enroll your own voice, Thunder Kitty stores a mathematical representation of it — a voice fingerprint — so transcripts correctly identify you when you speak. The fingerprint is a numerical embedding, not an audio recording: we can't reconstruct your voice from it.

Your voice fingerprint is stored in Thunder Kitty's private preferences on your Mac, not in your Notes folder. It's never transmitted anywhere — not to us, not to Apple, not to any third party. You can delete your voice enrollment at any time via Settings → Speakers .

Thunder Kitty does not fingerprint other meeting participants. Speakers other than you are labeled generically ("Speaker 2", "Speaker 3") and you can rename them manually within each transcript.

What the app does need the network for

Three things, two of which are automatic and one optional:

License validation. When you start your trial or activate a paid subscription, Thunder Kitty contacts Lemon Squeezy's servers to verify your license. This is a request containing your license key (a random string — not linked to your identity) and your app version. We use this to prevent license sharing and to let you know when your trial or subscription ends. Standard web server logs may record your IP address for security and abuse prevention purposes.

Software updates. Thunder Kitty uses Sparkle , an open-source update framework, to check for new versions. Update files are hosted on GitHub at github.com/big-truck-labs/thunder-kitty-releases . When the app checks for updates, a request is made to GitHub to read our public appcast.xml file. GitHub may log that request. We do not receive any data from these checks beyond what GitHub provides in aggregated analytics.

Google Calendar (optional). When you connect your Google account, Thunder Kitty authenticates via Google's OAuth 2.0 and periodically fetches calendar event data — event titles, times, attendees, and video call links — using the Google Calendar API. This data is used solely to display upcoming meetings and is cached only on your Mac. When connected, Thunder Kitty also accesses your Google contact information (via the People API) to resolve attendee email addresses to display names. Resolved names are stored locally on your device alongside your meeting notes. This data is never transmitted off your device. Thunder Kitty does not operate any servers that receive or store your personal data or content. You can disconnect your Google account at any time in Settings, which immediately clears all cached Google Calendar and Contacts data. Google's privacy policy governs the authentication process.

How to verify for yourself

Don't just take our word for it. You can:

• Open Activity Monitor → Network and watch what Thunder Kitty does while you record. You'll see nothing during transcription.
• Turn on Airplane Mode. Thunder Kitty will transcribe just fine. (License validation and updates will pause until you're back online, but your work won't.)
• Block Thunder Kitty in your firewall. The app still works.

The website

This website (thunderkitty.app) uses Google Analytics to understand how people find and use the site — things like which pages they visit, how they got here, and whether the site works correctly across browsers. Google Analytics collects anonymized usage data. None of this is connected to the app, and none of the app's data is ever sent to Google.

You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on or by using a browser that blocks trackers.

Permissions the app asks for

Thunder Kitty asks macOS for only the permissions it needs to function:

• Microphone — to record your audio
• Speech recognition — to transcribe your audio on-device via Apple's SpeechAnalyzer API
• System audio recording — to capture the other side of your calls (Zoom, Meet, Teams, FaceTime, phone calls, etc.)
• Calendar access (Apple Calendar) — to show your meetings for the day and associate recordings with the events they belong to. Thunder Kitty only reads from Calendar; it never writes, modifies, or deletes calendar events. Calendar data stays on your Mac. We never receive it.
• Google Calendar access (optional) — read-only access to your Google Calendar event details and calendar list via Google's Calendar API, used for meeting display and note association. No Google Calendar data is ever written, modified, or stored persistently.
• Google Contacts access (optional) — read-only access to contact display names via the People API, used solely to show attendee names instead of email addresses. Resolved names are stored locally on your device; no contact data is modified or transmitted.
• Notifications — to alert you before meetings start and when a recording begins. You can turn notifications off entirely in macOS System Settings.

You can grant or revoke any of these permissions at any time via System Settings → Privacy & Security . The app will still function for what each permission supports — e.g., if you deny calendar access, the meetings list in Thunder Kitty will be empty, but transcription still works.

Your data is yours

All of it. Your transcripts and notes live in your file system, in a directory you choose, as plain Markdown files. You can:

• Edit, rename, delete, or move them however you want
• Back them up with Time Machine, iCloud, Dropbox, or not at all
• Open them in any text editor, AI, or note-taking app
• Share them with anyone, or keep them private

If you cancel your subscription, you keep access to every transcript and note you created. You can continue to open, edit, and read them in Thunder Kitty indefinitely. Only new transcription requires an active subscription.

Using Thunder Kitty on multiple Macs

One subscription covers all the Macs you personally use — your work laptop, your home iMac, a travel Mac, etc. There's no device cap, and no extra fee for running the app on more than one machine.

Because your notes are ordinary Markdown files in a folder you choose, you can point Thunder Kitty at any synced folder (iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive) and your notes will appear on every Mac you use. We don't operate a sync service; macOS and your sync tool do that work. Thunder Kitty just reads and writes files to the folder you picked.

Two-party consent notice

Recording conversations is regulated by law. Some jurisdictions — including California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Hawaii — require all parties to consent before being recorded.

It is your responsibility to comply with applicable laws wherever you and the other parties are located. When in doubt, ask for consent.

Payments

Subscriptions are processed by Lemon Squeezy , which acts as the Merchant of Record for Thunder Kitty. When you subscribe, Lemon Squeezy handles your payment information — we never see or store your credit card details. Lemon Squeezy's privacy policy governs that data.

We receive from Lemon Squeezy only what we need: your email address (to send you your license key and billing receipts) and whether your subscription is active.

Google API Limited Use Disclosure

The use and transfer of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy , including the Limited Use requirements.

Thunder Kitty's use of Google API data is limited to the following:

• Calendar data is used solely to display your upcoming meetings within the app and associate recordings with the events they belong to
• Contacts data is used solely to resolve attendee email addresses to display names, stored locally alongside meeting notes
• Neither calendar nor contacts data is ever used to serve advertising
• Neither calendar nor contacts data is ever shared with third parties
• Neither calendar nor contacts data is ever used for any purpose unrelated to meeting transcription and note-taking

Data protection: Google Calendar and Contacts data is transmitted only over encrypted HTTPS connections. Resolved display names are stored locally on your device alongside your meeting notes and are never transmitted off your device. All cached Google data is cleared immediately when you disconnect your Google account in Settings.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in any material way, we'll update the date at the top and note the change in the Thunder Kitty changelog. Continued use after changes implies acceptance.

Questions

Email hello@thunderkitty.app . A human will reply.

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Thunder Kitty is built by Big Truck Labs.