The normal flow
The local analysis sorts content and actions. A provider request starts only after your action. Apple Foundation Models processes input on supported devices with the local system model and needs no cloud disclosure. For cloud providers AYVI shows a notice with provider information before the first transfer and asks for confirmation. There is no silent switch from local to cloud.
What can go to the chosen provider
With a selection, the prompt can contain the full selected text, content type, detected language, source app name, action/system instructions, answer language and configured learning/explanation options. Rewriting also sends your chosen style, length, output language and optional instruction. Follow-up questions can include earlier questions and answers of the same conversation. AYVI has no fixed character limit and does not truncate the prompt silently. The whole file and other windows are not captured. Large selections show a byte and rough token estimate and an extra confirmation before sending.
Optional screen OCR
Off by default and started only by your click after an explanation. macOS asks for Screen Recording access only then. Only the rectangle you drag is captured with ScreenCaptureKit, AYVI’ own windows are excluded and Vision recognizes text locally. The image is not stored, logged or sent to a provider and is discarded after recognition. The OCR text first appears in an editable preview and becomes the selection only after you confirm it. OCR text cannot be replaced.
Optional voice input
Off by default; no permission is requested at launch. After enabling it, an explanation appears on first use before macOS asks for microphone and speech recognition access. The microphone runs only while you hold the shortcut, local recognition is enforced and audio is not stored. The editable transcript is handed to the AI provider only after a separate action of yours.
Services menu “Explain with AYVI”
When you choose this entry in another app’s Services menu, macOS hands over exactly the text you selected on a private pasteboard created for this one request. AYVI does not read or write the general clipboard. The service is send-only: AYVI cannot write anything back into the other app, and the selection cannot be replaced. The text then follows the same rules as any selection: provider choice, “Only local models”, cloud notice, secret scanner, privacy preview and conversation settings.
Direct Improve: a deliberately limited exception
The default rule for all normal replacement actions is a visible diff and explicit confirmation. Direct Improve is the only exception to this rule. With “Direct Improve without confirmation” enabled (default), clicking exactly this action authorizes replacing the current selection without the second diff step. Its optional global shortcut is off by default. AYVI re-checks process, app, focused element, text/fingerprint and the available range before writing. With the setting off, the normal diff with explicit confirmation appears. Empty or failed answers change nothing; undo is offered after success.
Direct Improve does not authorize the clipboard. If Accessibility cannot write directly, AYVI separately asks for consent to the clipboard method.
Clipboard
Reading from or pasting via the clipboard is never a silent fallback; you have to confirm a visible action. AYVI saves and, as far as possible, restores the previous clipboard content. Before pasting, the current selection is copied again and compared; before undo, AYVI checks that the same replaced selection is still there. If an app does not expose enough information for a safe check, AYVI refuses to write.
What stays local
- Content detection and recommendations, settings, provider configuration, pinned actions and plain action counters.
- API credentials in the macOS keychain.
- Conversations are stored locally by default after a clear first-launch notice, including selected text, questions and answers. Conversation storage and selected-text storage can be switched off separately under Settings → Privacy. These defaults, and the separately labelled Direct Improve exception, are on by default at the user’s explicit request; stored user values are never overwritten.
- The optional Java learning path stores only concept IDs, status, timestamps and exercise counters.
- Undo originals stay only in the memory of the running app.
- Diagnostic logs are limited to fixed messages; selection, questions, full prompts, compiler output and keys are not logged.
- The website demo uses static sample data. The website only stores the optional color scheme in your browser; no analytics, no forms, no cookies.
Encrypted history
Conversations are stored encrypted (ChaCha20-Poly1305). The random 256-bit key lives only in this Mac’s keychain and is not synced. That protects a copied file or a backup, but not against malware running as your user on an unlocked Mac. Older plain-text history is converted once and then overwritten and deleted; on APFS, remnants can remain in snapshots or backups.
Secrets before sending
Before every cloud request AYVI looks locally for private keys, API keys, tokens, passwords and credentials in URLs. Matches are shown masked; the default is “Mask all” with neutral placeholders such as [API_KEY_1]. Placeholders are never written into your original text. Detection is heuristic and can miss secrets or flag harmless text.
What AYVI does not do
AYVI does not execute suggested or selected code. Optional compile check instead of execution: with “Check compilation” enabled in the settings (default: off), AYVI runs javac -proc:none, swiftc -typecheck or python3 -I -S -m py_compile only after your click, without a shell, with a cleaned environment, a time limit, an output cap and its own temporary folder that is deleted afterwards. Only syntax and types are checked; the code itself is never run. Compiles does not mean correct. Real execution stays blocked until a supported isolation exists. Compiler output is neither stored nor logged and is only sent when you move it into the question field with “Return errors to AI” and send it yourself. AYVI has no telemetry and no automatic cloud switching. Before you send code to a cloud service, check yourself whether the selection or metadata is confidential.
Details are also in the security model and the feature status.