Privacy & Data
Does DoTally take screenshots or record keystrokes?
Exactly what the desktop app reads, how it knows you're at your computer without listening to your keyboard, and what happens before anything is logged.
No. DoTally never takes screenshots, records your screen or logs keystrokes, on any plan and behind no setting. The desktop app reads which app and window are in focus, and for how long.
What the desktop app reads
While you’re recording, the desktop app notes:
The name of the app in focus, for example Figma or Slack.
The title of the window in focus. For a browser, that’s the tab’s title, such as “Q3 roadmap · Notion”.
Start and end times, and when you’re away from your computer.
That’s the whole raw signal. Window titles are shortened to 100 characters when you log them.
What it never captures
Screenshots or screen recordings
Keystrokes, or what you type
Clipboard contents
File contents
Website addresses (URLs)
There is no screenshot feature in DoTally to switch on, misconfigure or expose. It isn’t part of the product.
How it knows you’re at your computer
DoTally needs to know whether you’re at your computer, so it can tell active time from away time. It doesn’t listen to your keyboard or mouse to find out. Instead, the desktop app asks your computer how many seconds have passed since the keyboard or mouse was last used. That number is all it gets: it never sees which key you pressed, what you typed or where the mouse went, and it doesn’t store keyboard or mouse events.
When you stop using the keyboard and mouse for your workspace’s threshold or longer (10 minutes by default), or your computer sleeps for that long, that time counts as away instead of active. See How does DoTally decide when I’m away?
Window titles can still name things
A window title can contain the name of a document, a page, an email subject or a chat channel, for example “Q3 budget.xlsx” or “Inbox (12)”. Two things limit what it reveals:
The desktop app cleans titles on your computer. Web addresses, email addresses, access tokens and your user folder name are replaced before the title is stored.
Nothing leaves your computer until you log it. You can review your pending activity and leave out anything you don’t want logged. Activity you never log is deleted from your computer after 90 days.
Even after you log, your Administrator and Managers see app names and window titles only if you turn on App Sharing. See What can my manager see?.
Why macOS asks for permissions
On a Mac, the desktop app asks for the Accessibility permission during setup. macOS requires it for any app that reads window titles. It doesn’t give DoTally access to your screen’s contents. Apart from permission to show notifications, it’s the only permission DoTally asks for. It never asks for the macOS permission that lets an app read your keyboard input, because it doesn’t need it.
Available on: every plan.
Related
Still stuck? Email awesome@dotally.app.
