Chatwire Privacy Policy¶

Last updated: May 2025

Chatwire is self-hosted software. It runs entirely on your Mac. There is no Chatwire cloud, no Chatwire account, and no Chatwire server that your data ever touches.

Data Accessed Locally¶

What	Where	How
iMessage database	`~/Library/Messages/chat.db`	Read-only. Never modified.
Configuration	`~/.chatwire/config.json`	Read/write. Stored with `600` permissions.
Attachment files	`~/Library/Messages/Attachments/`	Read-only. Only fetched when relaying a specific attachment you received.

Chatwire does not read your Contacts database, your Photos library, your Mail, your Calendar, or any other system data store.

Data Transmitted¶

Chatwire relays messages to the integration destinations you configure — for example, a Telegram bot you own, or an ntfy server you run. No message content, metadata, or any other data is sent to the Chatwire project or any third party.

What leaves your Mac, and where it goes, is entirely determined by the integrations you enable in your own config.

Telemetry¶

None. Chatwire collects no analytics, no crash reports, no usage statistics, and no metrics of any kind. There is no telemetry code in the project. You can verify this yourself — the source is fully open.

macOS Permissions Required¶

Chatwire requests exactly two macOS TCC permissions:

Full Disk Access Required to read chat.db. macOS does not provide a narrower TCC scope for files under ~/Library/Messages/ — Full Disk Access is the only mechanism available. The grant is tied to the specific Python binary chatwire runs under (the one in its pipx venv), not to Python globally on your system.

Automation → Messages Required to send iMessages via AppleScript. This permission is scoped by macOS to Messages.app only — it does not grant chatwire control over any other application.

Chatwire does not request and does not use:

Contacts
Camera or Microphone
Location Services
Photos
Calendar or Reminders
Any accessibility or input-monitoring permission

Data at Rest¶

Your config file (~/.chatwire/config.json) contains your integration credentials (e.g. a Telegram bot token). Chatwire enforces 600 permissions on this file at startup and will refuse to run if the file is world- or group-readable. The file never leaves your machine.

Logs are written to ~/Library/Logs/chatwire/ and contain bridge activity (message routing events, errors). They do not contain message body content by default. Logs are never uploaded anywhere.

Third-Party Dependencies¶

Chatwire's Python dependencies are listed in pyproject.toml. None of them phone home or collect data as part of normal operation. The web UI loads no external fonts, scripts, or resources — it is fully self-contained.

Open Source¶

Chatwire is MIT-licensed and fully open source. Every claim in this document can be verified by reading the code: https://github.com/allenbina/chatwire