Privacy5 min read
Local-first recording and opt-in cloud sync
Recording stays on this computer. Your account uses the network. Cloud sync is off until you turn it on. Exactly what leaves your computer, and when.
By TradeClip Team · Published
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A recording of your trading screen is sensitive. It can show your profit and loss, your account panel, your position sizes, and, if you record a webcam track, your face. We think a product that records that screen owes you a precise answer to one question: what leaves this computer, and when? This post is that answer. It uses the same wording as our privacy policy and the consent dialog inside the app, because the promise has to be the same everywhere it is made.
Separate choices for network use#
Older TradeClip copy said "nothing leaves this Mac". That was true before accounts existed, and it is not the right sentence any more, because it hides a distinction that matters. There are separate things the app might do with a network connection, and they have different rules.
Recording stays on this computer. Video is captured and saved locally. Nothing is uploaded from a live recording, ever, in any mode.
Your account uses the network. Signing in, checking your license and plan, and counting clips against your allowance are online operations. They send identifiers and timestamps, not video or trade details.
Cloud sync is optional. Finished clips are saved to the cloud library only when cloud sync is on, and only the clips you choose. Keeping webcam and microphone tracks in your cloud library requires a separate choice.
The sidebar badge in the app reflects which of these is in effect. With cloud sync off it reads "Recording stays on this computer". With it on, it shows a live count of what is uploading or that everything is synced. The badge is a state, not a slogan.
Cloud rendering is a separate opt-in setting on Pro and Ultra. After a trade finishes, recording segments and edit instructions upload for temporary processing. The finished video downloads to your computer. A lasting cloud library copy is saved only when Sync to Cloud is also on. Any camera and audio tracks recorded in the clip are included as original sources, even when the export mutes the audio or hides the camera. These temporary uploads are independent of your cloud-library media sync choices. Temporary render files expire; local originals stay available for editing and reupload.
What recording keeps on this computer#
The desktop app reads the pixels of the one window you select, typically a TradingView chart, and keeps footage around the trades it can see. In the default on-trade mode it starts writing video only when it detects an entry; in optional rolling mode it keeps a short buffer on disk so a clip can start before the entry.
From the screen it reads, TradeClip extracts trade facts: the ticker symbol,
the direction, the open and close times, and the profit or loss shown on the
chart. These, together with the clip video, thumbnails, your edits, layouts and
exports, are stored under ~/Movies/TradeClip/Clips/ (or the folder you choose)
and in the app's local settings folder.
If you grant the permissions, TradeClip can also record your microphone and webcam into a clip. These permissions are requested by the operating system, are off until you grant them, and can be revoked in your system settings at any time. Camera and microphone content stays on this computer unless you explicitly enable uploading it.
This footage is transmitted only when you enable cloud sync or cloud rendering. The app does not contain third-party analytics or advertising code.
What your account sends#
When you have an account, the app talks to our servers for three reasons, and the payloads are deliberately small.
- Signing in creates a session: a random session identifier, the type of client, your operating system and app version.
- License checks prove your right to use the app on the installation you chose. The license key is stored on our side only as a one-way keyed digest.
- Clip counting enforces your plan's allowance. Each record holds an opaque clip identifier, the capture time and whether the clip was finalized. No video, ticker, direction or profit and loss is included.
That last point is the one we are strictest about. The endpoint that counts your clips cannot receive trade facts, by design, so a plan's quota can be enforced without the server learning what you traded.
What cloud sync sends, and what it never sends#
Cloud sync is off when you create an account. When you turn it on, the app shows a dialog that lists exactly what is sent. This is that list.
Sent when you sync a clip
- The finished clip video (the recording of the window you chose, after the trade ended).
- A thumbnail.
- The trade facts TradeClip read from your screen: ticker, direction, open and close times, and profit or loss as shown on the chart.
- Clip length, resolution and format, and any title, notes or tags you add.
- Exports you choose to render in the cloud.
Never sent
- The live recording buffer, or anything before a clip is finished.
- Webcam or microphone tracks, unless you turn on "Include webcam and microphone tracks" or choose it for a specific clip.
- File paths, folder names, or anything else from this computer that is not part of the clip.
Your clips are never used for advertising, never shared with other users, and never used to train models. We process them only to store, search, thumbnail and, if you ask, render them.
Accepting the dialog records that you did, and which version of the wording you accepted. If the "what is sent" or "never sent" lists ever change, the app asks again; a wording tidy-up does not.
Where cloud clips live, and for how long#
Clips are stored in a private Google Cloud Storage bucket in the United States (us-east1), encrypted at rest, under an opaque account identifier. Object names contain no email address or username. Access is through short-lived signed links created only after we check that you are signed in and own the clip; there are no permanent public links.
TradeClip support can see that a clip exists, its state and its size. A support engineer can open a clip's content only when you ask for help with that specific clip, and each such access is recorded with the ticket reference.
Cloud clips are kept while your subscription or trial is active. If your subscription ends, they are kept for 30 days and then deleted; we email you before that happens. Re-subscribing inside the window cancels the deletion.
Clips on this computer are never deleted by TradeClip. Not on cancellation, not on a failed payment, not when you run out of quota, not when you delete your account. That is a product invariant, and the retention schedule spells it out.
Existing clips#
Clips recorded before you created an account stay local unless you choose to upload them. The sync settings offer an "Upload existing clips" action that shows how many clips and roughly how much data that is before you confirm. Uploading existing clips does not use your clip allowance.
Turning it off, and deleting#
Turning cloud sync off stops new uploads immediately. Clips already uploaded stay in your cloud library until you delete them, and each clip in the library shows its state: on this computer, queued, uploading, synced, or not uploaded with the reason.
Deleting has three distinct meanings in the app, and the app names them: remove from this device (moves the local folder to the system Trash), delete the cloud copy (the local clip stays), and delete everywhere. A "Delete all cloud clips" action exists in settings for the case where you want the cloud library emptied without touching anything local.
Why local-first, and not simply local#
We could have shipped a product that never touched the network. It would not have a clip library you can search from another device, cloud rendering for long exports, or a plan that pays for the work. We chose to add those things as opt-in features with a precise boundary rather than as defaults, and to write the boundary down in three places that must agree: the consent dialog, the privacy policy, and this post.
