Privacy and security
What Cephable processes on your device, what leaves it, the permissions it asks for, and how to limit what the assistant can reach.
Cephable runs its speech, camera, and AI models on your device. This page covers what stays there, what Cephable sends to its own services, the permissions the app asks for, and the settings that limit what the assistant can reach.
Processing happens on the device
Cephable's speech recognition, face and expression detection, and AI assistant run as local models on the device. There is no cloud inference step — which is why voice controls keep working with no network connection once the models have been downloaded.
| Data | Leaves the device? |
|---|---|
| Microphone audio | No |
| Camera video and frames | No |
| Text you dictate | No |
| Documents a workflow reads | No — unless a step you added reaches out |
| App Controls definitions | Yes — synced to your account so they follow you between devices |
| Account identity and license state | Yes |
AI History is encrypted at rest
AI History, including workflow history, is stored locally and encrypted on disk. The encryption key is held by the operating system's own secret store — the login keychain on macOS, DPAPI on Windows — rather than sitting in plaintext beside the data, and history is additionally bound to the signed-in Cephable account, so one account on a shared device cannot read another's.
On macOS you see a keychain prompt the first time Cephable opens your history. Cephable explains it beforehand; choose Always Allow. The item is named Cephable Safe Storage and contains the key only, not conversation content. Windows does not prompt, since DPAPI does not ask. If you are rolling Cephable out to others, mention the prompt in your rollout communications — an unexplained keychain prompt reads as suspicious.
Your command phrases and the actions attached to them are stored against your account so the same controls appear on your other devices. If a control types a phrase, that phrase is part of the definition. Documents a workflow reads are not synced.
What Cephable connects to
Cephable connects to its own services to sign you in, check your license, and sync your App Controls, and it downloads its AI models once on each device. If your IT team needs to allow Cephable through a firewall, the details are in Network requirements.
Permissions the app asks for
| Permission | Needed for | Optional? |
|---|---|---|
| Microphone | Voice commands and dictation | Yes |
| Camera | Head and face controls | Yes |
| Device Control and Data Access (macOS) | Sending input to other applications | No |
| Keychain (macOS) | Unlocking the encryption key for locally stored AI History | Yes |
Apple renamed that pane in macOS 27; on macOS 26 and earlier it is called Accessibility.
Cephable prompts for each at the point of first use and links directly to the relevant system settings page. See Permissions and access.
What the assistant can reach
Most of this is configurable, and it is usually what a security review focuses on.
On the device. The AI Workspace Folder setting scopes which folder the assistant's file and command tools may use. With Restrict the AI agent to this folder only turned on, it cannot read or change anything outside it. Left unset, the assistant can access the whole computer — so this is worth setting as policy for a managed deployment.
In the browser. Some workflows use Cephable's own browser for web research and for working in websites. Automation Browser Visibility controls whether you watch it work.
Which apps and sites. In a Cephable Pro organization, an admin can block or allow the assistant per app or website with automation rules, organization-wide or per member.
Which tools. Connectors are MCP servers that act with your own permissions against whatever they connect to. In a Cephable Pro organization, an admin decides whether members may add their own connectors, or only use ones the organization has published.
Organization admins set both of these in the Cephable Portal, not in the desktop or mobile apps. See Security review and controls for the full list of organization controls and where to get Cephable's security documentation.
Related
Permissions and access
Cephable hears you but nothing happens — the operating system permissions behind that, how to grant them, and what macOS 27 renamed.
Plans and licenses
What the free plan includes, what a paid plan adds, and how to tell which one you are on.
Your first App Controls
Build a set of controls for one app you use constantly, with three actions you repeat every day.