Guide
A private time tracker should be able to prove it.
Most time trackers ask you to trust a privacy policy. Build Mode is built so there is nothing to trust: your hours live on your Mac, the app asks for zero macOS permissions, and it contains no networking code at all. This guide explains what privacy actually means in a time tracker, and how to check the claim yourself.
The four questions
What “private” actually means in a time tracker.
Where does the data live?
On your Mac, or in someone else’s database? Once your hours sync to a cloud account, privacy depends on that company’s storage, staff, and future decisions.
What can the app see?
A time tracker only needs to know that you are working and for how long. It does not need your screen, your keystrokes, your browser history, or your files.
What could ever leave?
Most apps could send whatever their code chooses. The strongest answer is an app with no way to send anything at all.
Can you check it?
A claim you can test on your own machine beats a claim you have to believe. Build Mode’s two core claims are checkable in minutes, by anyone.
The policy problem
“We have a privacy policy” is a promise, not a property.
A policy describes intent, and intent can change with an update, an acquisition, or a pivot. Most trackers sync your hours to their servers, a reasonable design that makes privacy something the company does for you, not something the software guarantees. If you are weighing cloud options, our notes on a RescueTime alternative and the best private time trackers compare them plainly.
The structural answer
No networking code means nothing can phone home. Ever.
Build Mode contains no networking code at all. Not a setting, an absence: there is no code in the app that can open a connection. Mac apps that talk to the internet use Apple’s networking frameworks, and the names of those functions are visible inside the app file. Search Build Mode for them and you find none. That is the whole audit, and anyone can run it.
Zero permissions
The install asks you for nothing.
Build Mode requests zero macOS permissions. No Accessibility prompt, no Screen Recording prompt, no input monitoring. A tracker that wants to watch everything has to ask first; Build Mode never asks because it never looks. To sort hours into categories it reads only the name of the frontmost app, locally, with browsers left unassigned by default. You can turn that off in Settings and pick categories yourself.
Local by default
Your record stays where you made it.
Sessions, notes, categories, totals, and the hour wall live on your Mac. No account to create, no cloud to sync. Even the license works offline: the key arrives by email, you paste it in, and it is verified on the Mac, never sent anywhere. Wrapped stays private until the moment you decide to share it.
Still a real product
Private, and pleasant to use.
Privacy is the foundation, not the whole product. Build Mode is a one-button time tracker for people building something. Press ⌘⌥B, a short full-screen ceremony starts the session, and a small clock appears in the MacBook notch while you work. Press again to stop and jot a one-line note. It counts active time only, pausing when you step away or the display sleeps, and the dashboard turns every completed active hour into a dot on your hour wall, with long-term goals at 100, 500, 1,000, and 10,000 hours. For focused sessions, the deep work tracker guide goes deeper.
The download is free, and a $9 license, paid once, unlocks it. No subscription, and the founder price rises as early batches sell out. Details are on the pricing page, and the full tour is on the product page.
The details
Questions worth asking any tracker.
How do I verify the no-networking claim myself?
Search the app for networking symbols. Apps that reach the internet use Apple’s networking frameworks, and those function names are visible inside the app file. Build Mode contains none, so there is no hidden path for data to leave.
Does Build Mode ask for any macOS permissions?
No. It requests zero permissions at install and never prompts later. There is no screen recording, no keystroke logging, no browser history access, and no website tracking.
Does Auto Mode see what I browse?
No. Auto Mode sorts hours into categories from the name of the frontmost app, processed locally, and browsers are intentionally left unassigned by default. You can turn Auto Mode off in Settings and choose categories yourself.
How does the license work without an account?
You buy once, currently $9, and a license key arrives by email. Paste it into the app and it is verified on your Mac. The key is never sent anywhere, and there is no account behind it.
What does it run on?
Any Mac on macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon or Intel. One universal app.
Private means checkable.