Privacy Policy

Last updated October 30, 2026

Ember is a notebook of plain files on your Mac. The AI you sign in with reads the notes you hand it, and writes there.

Your notes stay in a folder on your Mac. Your notes reach an AI only when you ask for something, or when Ember suggests your next words as you type. Ember has no ads and does not track you.

Your notes

Your notes are plain Markdown files on your Mac, and so is every chat. Open them in any editor, back them up, or read them ten years from now. What Ember's chat is told about you is one note, About You, that you can read and change.

The AI you sign in with

Sign in with Claude, ChatGPT, or Google. No keys, no setup. Switch your AI any time in Settings. Or stay on your own Mac with the free Ollama app, even with the Wi-Fi off.
Drag a note into the chat and ask about it. Ember sends that note with your question.
Notes the AI reads go to that AI over the internet. With the free Ollama app, no note leaves your Mac.
Each sign-in is kept by that AI's own tool on your Mac. Those tools come from their own companies and run under their own privacy policies, which Ember does not control. A key you paste in Settings is kept in a file only you can read.
After a new chat's first answer, Ember also asks an AI to name that chat, once: the AI set for chat in Settings, which can be a different one from the AI you were chatting with. That request carries the first question and answer, your About You note, and any notes or canvas cards they bring up. With the free Ollama app as that AI, it stays on your Mac. There is no switch for it in this version.
With an API key in Settings, Ember also sends that AI the text before your cursor as you type, up to 2,000 characters, and parts of up to three related notes, to suggest your next few words. With a signed-in account and no key, that happens only when you ask for a suggestion yourself, for example with Control and Space. With the free Ollama app it stays on your Mac. You can turn it off in Settings, under Writing, Ghost suggestions.

Updates

When Ember opens, and at most once a day after that, it checks one small file on this website to learn whether a newer version exists. The check sends nothing about you, but like any web request it carries your IP address. You can turn it off in Settings, under Updates.

What else reaches the internet

Ember has no analytics or tracking. Besides the AI you sign in with and the update check above, it reaches the internet only when you ask it to: to download an update, to install the AI's own app when you sign in, or to read a web page after you turn on web search.

Coming next

Ember will plug into the apps you already use through connectors, built on MCP, the open standard other AI apps use.

When Ember connects to Google Calendar, Gmail or any other Google service, Ember's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Children

Ember is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new date at the top.

Contact

Questions about privacy: embernotebook@outlook.com.