On-device audio privacy: what stays on your Mac?

Follow the audio path

Your physical microphone captures the room. KleenMic receives that signal, performs noise removal on the Mac and exposes the result through KleenMic Microphone. A calling app uses the filtered signal when you choose that input.

KleenMic does not upload microphone audio for noise removal. Once the call app receives audio, its transmission, recording and retention behaviour is governed by that app and your meeting configuration. A local filter does not make a remote call local.

Audio processing and network access are different

KleenMic contacts a licensing service for trial and activation checks. Those requests include a product-specific device identifier and public device key; activation also uses the purchase key. They do not include microphone recordings.

App downloads and update checks use GitHub. Website hosting and checkout services also receive ordinary connection or order information as described in the privacy policy. “Local audio processing” should never be read as a promise that the app, website and payment process use no network services at all.

Understand the offline limit

The trial needs internet on first launch and each reopen. An activated paid license can work offline for up to 30 days after successful verification. Reconnecting renews that period without another purchase. If processing access expires, processing stops while microphone passthrough remains available.

These are access rules for the software, separate from where it filters audio. Plan around them if you work away from internet for an extended period. The purchase terms are the source for the current conditions.

What Test Mode does

Test Mode lets you hear the processed input live through the selected output. It does not save a recording. Use headphones to avoid sending monitored audio back into the microphone, and switch the mode off after checking.

The website’s sound demonstration is different: it plays prerecorded samples and does not request microphone access. Listening to that demo is not a test of your own room, microphone or voice. Use the installed app and a private call when checking your setup.

Ask the same questions of other tools

Check noise removal, recording, transcription and account services separately. For example, Krisp documents on-device noise cancellation; that fact should not be confused with how every adjacent meeting feature works.

For any product, ask what audio it captures, where each feature processes it, whether a recording is created, who receives it and how deletion works. Prefer a specific policy and understandable controls over a broad privacy slogan. Do not infer a complete security assessment from where one model runs.

A practical privacy check before a call

• Confirm which microphone the calling app receives.
• Check whether recording, transcription or an assistant is enabled in the meeting.
• Review the meeting app’s own sharing and retention controls.
• Use only the permissions needed for the apps you intend to run.
• Keep support messages free of unnecessary private recordings and purchase credentials.

If you need an answer about KleenMic’s data handling, use the full policy or contact support. The setup guide explains the audio route; the privacy policy explains the information handled around it.

Common questions

Does local noise removal stop the meeting app transmitting audio?

No. The call app receives the filtered microphone and handles the call under its own settings and privacy policy.

Does KleenMic need the internet even though filtering is local?

Yes, for trial launches, activation, periodic paid checks and online services such as updates. Those operations do not require uploading microphone audio for noise removal.