---
title: What stays on your computer
description: "What stays on your computer: the desktop app sends no telemetry. A pasted link never goes through our servers. This website follows different rules."
url: https://keepcopy.app/blog/what-stays-on-your-computer
updated: 2026-08-13T00:00:00.000Z
---

You pasted a link. You need to know where it goes. **The desktop app sends no telemetry.** A pasted URL travels from your computer to the video host — never through our servers.

Privacy pages often blur the product and the marketing site. This one should not. The app is **local-first**. This website is how people find it. They follow different rules.

## In the app

**KeepCopy** is local-first:

- **No accounts.**
- **No telemetry.**
- **No crash reporting.**
- A pasted URL travels from your computer to the video host. That is the path. There is **no converter in the middle**.

For the complete local workflow, see how to [save web video without a web converter](/blog/save-web-video-without-web-converter).

On first launch the app downloads the official **yt-dlp** release and installs a bundled **ffmpeg** on this computer. After that, looking up a newer yt-dlp release is optional and you can turn it off. Those calls never include the URLs you paste.

Gumroad is the one purchase channel. When the listing is live, checkout happens there and a checksum is published with the download. The app does not send telemetry, crash reports, or the URLs you paste.

The policy page is [Privacy](/privacy). This post is the short network story. If you want the steps without the terminal, see [yt-dlp without the terminal](/blog/yt-dlp-without-the-terminal).

## On this website

This site is how people find the app. It can load Google Analytics so we can see which pages are read. That tag, when it is present, measures the website. It does not run inside the desktop app, and it cannot see the links you paste there.

## How to check a download

Every app artifact publishes a **SHA-256 checksum**. Compare the file you received to the published hash before you run it. Windows signing status — and any SmartScreen step on a brand-new publisher — will be spelled out next to the build, not hidden in a FAQ.

If you want the short version: the app does not watch you. The website, if analytics are on, only knows that you visited the website.

KeepCopy is a desktop video downloader. Paste a link, pick quality, and save the file to a folder on this computer.

[Coming soon](https://keepcopy.app/#download)