Trust & Security

The short version

Hush is a meeting transcription and analysis app that does its work on your Mac or Windows PC. Its local processing doesn't send your meetings to servers run by us, so a review can focus on the app and the computer it runs on. These five facts cover most questions, and each one is checkable.

• Local-only processing

  Recording, transcription, speaker labeling, analysis, and search run on your Mac or Windows PC. Local processing uploads no meeting content.

  Check it: the data-flow overview below, or run Hush with the network off.

• Optional version reporting

  No meeting-usage analytics or crash reports. Supporting builds offer beta version reporting, off by default: running version, platform, private invite identifier, and receipt time. About daily reports while running reveal coarse use timing.

  Check it: watch the app's connections with Little Snitch or Activity Monitor.

• Mac builds signed and notarized by Apple

  Every Mac release is Developer ID signed with the Hardened Runtime, notarized by Apple, and stapled. Windows beta builds are not yet code-signed.

  Check it: spctl -a -t open --context context:primary-signature Hush.dmg, or codesign --verify --deep --strict /Applications/Hush.app.

• Software bill of materials

  A CycloneDX SBOM and third-party notices ship inside every Mac and Windows build, and we send the current file to reviewers on request.

  Check it: open Hush.app/Contents/Resources/Documentation in your beta build, or ask us for the file.

• Vulnerability disclosure policy

  A named reporting channel, an acknowledgement window, and coordinated disclosure.

  Check it: the policy is on this page.

Data flow, on one page

One page, drawn from the Mac source. Inside the green boundary is everything that runs on your Mac. Network paths include model downloads, updates, optional version reports, and Authorized AI. Only Authorized AI, which is available only on Mac, can carry meeting content, and only when you turn it on and confirm each request. The Windows beta also processes meetings on the PC; its update check differs as described below.

What crosses the network

These paths keep meeting processing local, with user-approved exceptions described below.

1. Model downloads, inbound. Speech and language models are fetched over HTTPS from huggingface.co during onboarding, first use, or an explicit download command. When Ollama handles analysis (optional on Mac; the Windows beta uses it for notes), Hush asks the local Ollama process to pull its models, and Ollama fetches them from its own registry. A download is never triggered during a meeting; the pipeline runs only from models already on disk. Air-gapped machines can be set up with pre-staged models.
2. Update check, outbound. Release builds make an anonymous request to hushmeetings.com/api/version and show a download link if a newer signed build exists. The app never modifies itself and never installs anything in the background. Setting updates.policy: disabled turns the check off. The Windows beta works differently: so that only invited testers receive installers, it sends the tester's beta access code and app version to hushmeetings.com (at startup, about every six hours, and on request), downloads an update only when the tester clicks Update now, checks its size and SHA-256, and reinstalls. It never sends meeting content, and the check cannot yet be turned off.
3. Beta version reporting, outbound, off by default. In supporting builds, you can choose to send the running app version and platform (Mac or Windows) over HTTPS to hushmeetings.com. Your beta code authenticates the request; the site stores only a private invite identifier, version, platform, and server receipt time in our first-party event store. It does not store or forward the raw code in that record. The first report and reports of a new version are sent immediately, then about once a day while Hush is running. These timestamps reveal coarse use timing for each invite. No meeting content, meeting names, or device identifier is included. You can turn reporting off again. A report is evidence of the version the app says is running, not proof that an update finished or that the app works correctly.
4. Authorized AI, outbound, off by default, Mac only. In the Mac beta, you may configure an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, such as an employer-run gateway, for the final step of answering a question. Enabling it requires an acknowledgement. Every request shows its exact outbound body and needs a separate click to send. Only a question you typed with the excerpts you reviewed, or under a separate authorization one meeting's transcript, is ever sent. No recording, automatic analysis, suggestion, or error can trigger it. The credential lives in macOS Keychain, and an owner-only ledger records destination, model, meeting IDs, and byte counts, never the content.

The local model server (Ollama, optional on Mac and used for notes on Windows) is a localhost connection only. Hush sends no meeting-usage analytics or crash reports. Hosting providers may process normal request metadata, including IP addresses and request times, separately from the minimal first-party beta event records. See the Privacy Policy for storage and retention.

Where your data lives

On the Mac, everything Hush produces lives in ~/.hush/ in your home folder: sessions with audio, transcripts, analysis, and metadata; a local search index; downloaded model files; and any speaker profiles you have confirmed. Sensitive ledgers and learned voice profiles are owner-only files inside owner-only folders. Exports are explicit actions that copy a transcript, analysis, or archive to your Downloads folder. There is no cloud sync and no account. Protection of the disk itself is your Mac's job, through FileVault and your login. The Windows beta keeps the same kinds of data in folders on the PC, outside the app's install folder; protecting that disk is the job of your Windows sign-in and disk encryption.

The browser interface is served by a local process bound to 127.0.0.1 only. It is not reachable from your network, checks the host header against DNS rebinding, and carries CSRF and content security policy protections.

Build integrity

These checks describe the Mac release process.

• Every binary is signed with an Apple Developer ID and the Hardened Runtime.
• The installer image is notarized by Apple and the ticket is stapled to it.
• The exact artifact that ships is strictly verified before it is published.
• Entitlements are limited to audio input, JIT, unsigned executable memory, and disable-library-validation. The last three are required by the embedded Python runtime.
• A CycloneDX software bill of materials and third-party notices ship inside every release. We send the current file to reviewers on request rather than posting it publicly, so we know who holds each copy.
• Beta baselines are immutable. A fix produces a new build that repeats every release check; nothing is patched in place.

Windows beta builds are not yet code-signed. The Windows updater checks each installer's size and SHA-256 before installing it.

What to assess before use

Assess the beta build, your computer, and your data-handling requirements together. Local processing alone does not establish compliance with any framework or authorize use with restricted data. If you enable Authorized AI on the Mac, review the receiving service's access, storage, and retention separately. For questions this page doesn't answer, email beta@hushmeetings.com.

Honest limits

Read these before quoting anything above.

1. Local processing is an architecture, not an authorization. It does not by itself establish compliance or approve use with restricted data. You assess the build, the computer, and your data-handling requirements together.
2. The local server has no login. It assumes a single operator on a trusted machine, protected by that machine's own login and disk protection.
3. Authorized AI is available only in the Mac beta. If it is turned on, the provider you configure holds whatever you choose to send it. Its storage and retention are outside Hush's control and must be reviewed separately.
4. The Windows version is in private beta testing with a small group. Its builds are not yet code-signed and inherit none of the macOS signing or beta authorization; they must pass their own release gates before any broader release. Its update check sends the tester's beta access code and app version, never meeting content, and cannot yet be turned off.

Report a vulnerability

Email beta@hushmeetings.com with “Security” in the subject line. Include the Hush version, your operating system and version, steps to reproduce, and what you believe the impact is. Please do not include meeting audio or transcripts; a redacted example or a synthetic recording is enough.

• You will get an acknowledgement within five business days.
• Fixes ship as a new build rather than a patch in place. We will tell you when a fix is available and agree a disclosure date with you. Please give us a reasonable window before publishing details.
• In scope: the Hush app and its local ML backend, the release packaging and update check, and the code-gated download flow on this site. Out of scope: your own Authorized AI endpoint or any third-party model provider, upstream projects such as Ollama and WhisperKit (report those upstream, and tell us too), and findings that require the attacker to already control the local machine or the operator's account.
• Only the current beta build and its named rollback build receive fixes. Older builds are not patched; update to the current build.

Downloads

• Security and data-flow overview (SVG) · PNG
• Software bill of materials (CycloneDX 1.5, JSON): sent on request to beta@hushmeetings.com. Tell us who you are and which review it is for. The record copy ships inside the app at Hush.app/Contents/Resources/Documentation/sbom.json.
• Architecture illustration (WebP)

Updating these files is a step in the release checklist, so they can lag a release by a little. If a claim on this page and the shipped build ever disagree, the build is the truth and we want to hear about it.