Privacy Policy

Patch is built to keep your information on your device, and we don't want to collect more than we need. We've written this in plain language on purpose.

The short version

• Patch does its work on your device. Your passwords, usernames, and browsing history stay on your computer.
• We don't have a server full of your data. There's nothing there for someone to steal.
• The only things that leave your device are a scrambled, partial fingerprint of a password (never the password itself), a request for a public list of known breaches, an email address if you ask us to check one, and — only when you ask — whatever you send the advisor.
• We don't sell your information. We don't show you ads.

What Patch reads, and where it stays

On Mac (the full version)

To find security problems, the Mac version reads, on your computer:

• Your saved logins from your browser — Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Firefox. This includes the website, your username, and your saved password.
• Your browsing history — which sites you visit and how often — so Patch can show you the most important problems first.
• The security flags your browser already set — the "compromised," "reused," and "weak" warnings your browser raises on its own.

All of this is read on your Mac. Patch reads your passwords in memory to check them and to find reused ones, but it never stores the password itself. When it needs to check a password again later, it reads it fresh from your browser rather than keeping a copy.

The one thing Patch does keep on your device is a small cache of password fingerprints — scrambled, one-way codes that are not your passwords and can't be turned back into them — paired with how many breaches each was found in, so it doesn't have to re-check the same password every time. Each fingerprint is scrambled again using a secret key that Patch generates on your Mac and stores in your Keychain, so even a copy of the cache file is meaningless without it. This cache lives only on your Mac. It never contains the actual password, and it's never uploaded.

Patch does not read your autofill data, saved addresses, or payment cards.

On iPhone

Apple's rules don't let apps read your saved accounts, so the iPhone version can't. Instead, you tell Patch which sites you use, and it checks those. The list of sites you add is stored on your device.

You can also check whether your email address appears in known data breaches. When you do, that check is described below.

What leaves your device, and why

We've kept this list short on purpose. These are the only times information leaves your device:

• Checking a password against known breaches (Mac). Patch scrambles your password into a one-way fingerprint on your Mac and sends only the first five characters of that fingerprint directly to the Have I Been Pwned service — not through Patch's servers. That service can't work out your password from five characters, and your password — and the rest of the fingerprint — never leave your Mac. This is a well-established privacy technique called k-anonymity.
• Getting the list of known breaches. Patch downloads a public list of known data breaches from Have I Been Pwned and compares it to your sites on your own device. This request doesn't tell anyone which sites are yours.
• Checking an email for breaches. When you ask Patch to check an email address against known breaches, that address is sent to the Have I Been Pwned service to look it up.
• Checking whether something is a scam ("Is this real?"). When you send Patch a message, link, photo, or screenshot and ask whether it looks like a scam, exactly what you sent goes to our service and on to Anthropic, whose Claude models form the verdict. We don't change or scrub it first — it goes as you sent it. Don't send anything you don't want analyzed.
• Asking the advisor. When you ask Patch's advisor a question, your question goes to our service and on to Anthropic. Along with it we send which tab you're on and, if you're looking at a specific site, that site's name — so the advisor knows what you're asking about. We never send your passwords or your list of accounts. If you type something into the advisor yourself, that's sent too, because that's the only way it can answer.

We don't attach your name or identity to these requests, and we don't use them to build a profile of you.

What happens to what you send the advisor

Patch's advisor runs on Claude, made by Anthropic. When you ask a question or send something to be checked, it passes through our service to Anthropic to be answered.

We keep nothing. Our service doesn't store your questions, log them, or write them down anywhere. It passes them along and forgets them.

Anthropic deletes it within 30 days. Under their terms, what you send is automatically deleted from their systems within 30 days. If something you send trips their automated safety systems, they may keep it for up to two years — that's their policy, not ours, and it applies to everyone using their service.

It's never used to train an AI model. That's written into Anthropic's commercial terms, not just our word for it.

We don't attach your name to any of this — there isn't one. Requests carry a random code used only to stop abuse, and even that never reaches Anthropic.

Have I Been Pwned and other outside services

Patch relies on Have I Been Pwned for breach information, on Anthropic's Claude models for the advisor and scam checks, and on Vercel to host the small service those requests pass through. Like any host, Vercel records standard access logs — the fact that a request happened, not what was in it. When information is sent to an outside service, that service's own handling of it applies. We don't control those services and don't warrant their data.

What we don't do

• We don't sell or rent your information.
• We don't show you advertising, and we don't let anyone pay to influence what Patch tells you.
• We don't track you across other apps or websites.
• We don't keep a copy of your passwords, your browsing history, or your saved logins on our servers.
• We don't let anyone train an AI model on what you send Patch.

Children

Patch is made for adults managing their own accounts and isn't directed at children. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 13.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. When we make a meaningful change, we'll update the "last updated" date above, and significant changes will be made clear in the app.

Contact

Patch is made by Plateau Labs LLC. Questions about your privacy or this policy? Email us at hello@patch-security.com.