Halo · Privacy
Privacy policy
Updated 24 October 2026 · Halo for Windows
Halo runs on your PC. Your notes, history, voice profile and keys stay there. This page lists everything that leaves your PC, where it goes and why.
Never sent to us: what is on your screen, what you say or type, your notes, documents or files, your e-mails or calendar, your API keys, passwords or logins. Your e-mail address is used only for your licence (below). We don't sell or share data with advertisers.
The one exception is Halo's test cloud, only if you choose it instead of your own Gemini key: then what Halo sends to the AI passes through our server on its way, without being stored there (see "Halo's test cloud" below).
What stays on your PC
Everything Halo saves is in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Halo: notes (plain Markdown), conversation history, settings, your trained voice profile and the encrypted vault that holds your Gemini key and Google sign-in. Uninstalling Halo leaves this folder in place, so nothing is lost by accident; delete it to remove everything.
Services Halo talks to for you
To do what you ask, Halo sends some data straight from your PC to these services. It uses your own key or account, and each service's own terms and privacy policy apply. Halo's test cloud is the exception: it uses our account, through our server.
| Service | What and when |
|---|---|
| Google Gemini | What you ask, your voice while the mic is on, and screenshots or text you ask Halo about. It is sent with your own Gemini API key. Hard mute (Ctrl+Alt+M) closes the voice connection. |
| Halo's test cloud (beta testers, only if you choose it) | Instead of Gemini: what you say (as short recordings), screenshots and screen text Halo looks at, and the conversation, while the mic is on. They go through our server on Cloudflare (which may run outside India) to OpenRouter, and from there to the company running the AI model (Xiaomi's MiMo). Our server checks your licence and passes them on without storing them; it keeps only your licence id, and how much test credit and how many requests you have used each day. OpenRouter's and the model company's terms and privacy policies apply. Saving your own Gemini key moves you off the test cloud. |
| Your Google account | Only if you connect it: Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Sheets, read or changed when you ask. The sign-in stays on your PC; we never see it or the data. |
| Microsoft read-aloud | Text you ask Halo to read out loud, to turn it into speech. |
| Open-Meteo, OpenStreetMap | Your town (from Windows location, or the city you type) for the morning greeting's weather. |
Your licence
Halo is invite-only. When you sign in to activate it, Google tells Halo only your e-mail address (no other part of your Google account). We keep a licence record in Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore, Mumbai region) with:
- your e-mail address and the invite code you used;
- for each PC Halo is activated on (at most two): your PC's name, a code made from its Windows ID that can't be turned back into the ID, and the date it was added;
- whether the licence is active.
Halo checks this record when it starts and every few hours, so the check also shows your IP address to Firebase. The sign-in stays on your PC, protected by Windows for your user account. We keep the record while your licence exists. To have it deleted, write to us at the address below; Halo then stops working on your PCs. See the terms of use.
Help improve Halo
This switch is in the welcome and in Settings › Halo. It is on unless you turn it off. While it is on, Halo sends:
- Crash reports: the error and the lines of Halo's code it came from. Before anything is sent, Halo removes keys, e-mail addresses, your Windows user name and your home folder from the text.
- Update reports: whether an update downloaded, installed or was taken back.
- Usage counts: events such as "Halo started", "a task of type browser ran" or "the welcome was finished", with Halo's version.
Each report carries a random id made on your PC (not linked to you, your PC's name or your Google account), Halo's version and the Windows version. Crash and update reports are stored in Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore, Mumbai region) and deleted after 12 months. Usage counts go to Google Analytics, which keeps them for up to 14 months. Turning the switch off stops all of it at once, including reports still waiting to be sent.
Updates
About once a day Halo checks halo-assistant.web.app/updates/latest.json for a newer version and downloads it in the background from GitHub, where Halo's installers are published (github.com/786yaseen/halo-releases). Every update is signed, and Halo installs nothing whose signature doesn't match. Like any web request, the check and the download show your IP address to Firebase and GitHub. Nothing about you is sent with it.
Google user data
Halo's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Sheets data is used only to do what you ask in Halo, is processed on your PC, is never sent to us, and is never used for advertising or to train AI models.
Children
Halo is not made for children under 13 and does not knowingly collect their data.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes, the date above changes, and Halo's release notes say so. Questions about privacy in Halo: halo.assistant.help@gmail.com.