Explain This privacy policy
Explain This reads text on your screen and explains it on your Mac. In App Store terms: Data Not Collected.
Last updated: October 29, 2026
The short version
- Explain This collects no data. Nothing you capture reaches us.
- It reads only what you point it at, and only when you ask.
- Screen images are never written to disk.
- The app has no network access at all. No account, no analytics, no tracking, no ads.
What it reads, and when
Explain This reads only the screen region you drag, the text you have selected, or your clipboard, and only when you press the shortcut or click Snap.
How it reads and explains
Text is recognized on your Mac by Apple's Vision framework. Explanations and answers come from Apple's on-device model (Apple Intelligence Foundation Models). Translation uses Apple's on-device Translation framework. There is no cloud AI, no API key and no server of ours involved.
No network access
Explain This is built without the macOS network permission, so it cannot make network calls. That means no analytics, no tracking, no ads, no crash-reporting SDK and no update checks. Updates come from the Mac App Store.
Screen images
Screen images are kept in memory only while they are read and shown, and are never written to disk.
What stays on your Mac
In the app's private container: answers you choose to pin (until you remove them), your settings, and a count of the free captures you have used. Deleting the app deletes them.
Purchases
Apple handles purchases through the App Store. We receive no personal or payment information.
Links to our website
Links in the app (support, privacy, the newsletter and our free AI tools) open howtoai.com in your browser, and only when you click them. The app itself sends nothing. On the website, our site-wide privacy policy applies.
Crash reports
If you choose to share crash reports with app developers in your Mac's settings, Apple may pass us anonymous crash reports. Explain This adds nothing to them.
Permissions
- Screen Recording: to read the region you drag. Without it, the app uses Apple's window picker, one window at a time.
- Accessibility (optional): lets ⌥⌘E copy the text you've selected, then put your clipboard back. While it's on the clipboard, clipboard history apps or Universal Clipboard may see it. Without this permission, the app reads the clipboard instead.
Questions
Use our contact form; it opens with App support and Explain This chosen. Explain This is a HOW TO // AI app, sold on the Mac App Store as "Image to Text: Explain This" by Blue Ocean Water Inc.