Privacy & permissions
What it sees stays on your Mac.
An app that watches your Mac and can remove files has to earn its place. This page says exactly what l/Activity reads, what it connects to, and what it asks for.
No telemetry
l/Activity does not report how you use it, and there is no account.
One folder
Settings, history, recordings, scans and receipts live in the app’s own data folder. Settings → About & Privacy opens it.
No helper
Nothing is installed in the background. No system extension, no network extension.
You can look
Every export is a plain file you can read before you share it.
01Connections
What l/Activity connects to
l/Activityon your MacThe app makes two kinds of connection by itself, both to lslash.app:
lslash.appBy itself
The version check. At launch, on wake and every few hours it asks for a signed statement of which builds are current. The request contains a random number and nothing else.
lslash.appBy itself
Updates. The signed update feed and, when there is one, the update itself. No description of your Mac is sent with it.
A few features go elsewhere, and only when you click their button:
HomebrewOnly when you click
Apps → Updates runs Homebrew, which contacts Homebrew's own servers, when you choose Check for Updates.
OpenAI or AnthropicOnly when you click
Organization API usage, an optional developer extra, calls OpenAI or Anthropic with a key you type in. The key is held in memory only.
Links in the app open your browser or your mail app like any other link.
02What it reads
What it reads to do its job
Counters from macOS: processor, graphics, memory, disk and network activity, and power where the Mac reports it.
The list of running processes, with their names, owners and program paths.
Open connections: protocol, addresses and state. Not the data that flows through them. No packet capture, no host name lookups.
File and folder names and sizes, when you scan in Storage. Not file contents. Contents are read only when you ask Duplicates to verify files or compare photos, and that happens on your Mac.
Your Mac's protection settings, when you open Mac Care, by running Apple's own tools.
All of it stays in the app's folder.
03Permissions
Permissions, and what each is for
macOS asks at the moment a feature first needs something. You can see and review them all in Settings → Permissions, or with Help → Setup on This Mac….
| Permission | Needed for | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing at all | Watching CPU, GPU, memory, disk, network and processes. History, recordings and diagnostics. Keep Awake. Mac Care. | This is most of the app. It needs no permission, no password and no extra software. |
| Files and Folders | Scanning Desktop, Documents, Downloads, external and network volumes. | macOS asks the first time a scan reaches one of them. |
| Full Disk Access | Including the places macOS guards (Mail, Messages, Safari data and similar) in a scan. | Optional. Without it the scan runs and is marked Partial coverage. |
| Finder automation | Moving items to the Trash. | Asked the first time you confirm Move to Trash. Finder does the moving, which is why items can be put back. |
| App Management | Removing an app. | Asked by macOS when an uninstall touches another app. |
| System audio | App Volume. | Used to pass one app’s sound through at a lower level. Nothing is recorded. The microphone is not used. |
| Notifications | Alerts. | Only if you turn notifications on. |
| Accessibility | Optional lists that name other apps’ menu bar icons or browser tasks. | Hiding and revealing menu bar icons does not need it. |
| Administrator password | Trashing a protected item, replacing an app installed for all users during an update, and two optional actions on the Hardware page. | Always the system’s own prompt, and always for one action. |
This is how the app shows itSettings · Permissions
Finder Automation and Accessibility refresh automatically when you open this page or return to l/Activity. Folder access is checked when requested. Ordinary monitoring needs none of these permissions.
Allows Storage to inspect protected locations and find more related app data. A fan controller working from a protected folder such as Desktop may also require this access.
/Users/sam/Desktopl/Activity could read this folder's directory listing. This does not check its children, file contents, removal rights, or Full Disk Access.
Checked 13 Oct 2026 at 10:38:07/Users/sam/Documents/Users/sam/Downloads/Users/sam/Library/Application Support/app.activity.desktopTemporary per-app volume control needs access to that app’s audio. macOS does not provide a reliable public audio-only permission status check.
Lets l/Activity ask Finder to move your confirmed selections to recoverable Trash. Finder can ask for an administrator password when necessary.
Finder automation needs your consent. Request Access to let macOS ask; no files will be moved.
Status refreshes automatically when this page opens or l/Activity becomes active. If access was denied, enable l/Activity → Finder in Automation. Requesting access does not remove any files.
Checked 13 Oct 2026 at 10:41:52macOS may require this permission when changing or removing other applications.
macOS does not provide a public status query for App Management. Review l/Activity in System Settings → Privacy & Security → App Management. Access is checked again when you confirm an app removal.
An administrator password is authorization for a particular operation, not a permanent permission switch.
Move to Trash lets Finder request authorization when needed. Delete Permanently uses your current permissions. Full Disk Access does not override file ownership, system protection or a read-only volume.
l/Activity runs as your user. The optional power capture in Hardware separately asks for one read-only administrator-authorized sample.
04Exports
What is in a file you export
Exports happen only when you ask, and they are ordinary files.
A process snapshot or a recording contains process names, program paths, owners and readings.
A connections export contains remote addresses and the programs that own them.
A visual snapshot hides app names unless you tick the box to include them.
A cleanup receipt contains the paths that were removed.
Read a file before you send it to someone.
05Other tools
Letting other tools read l/Activity
Settings → General → Read-only automation has one checkbox, off by default. When you tick it, a command-line tool or an MCP client running as you, on the same Mac, can read current readings, process names and the titles of recent observations.
It cannot control anything. It does not see program paths, command arguments or network addresses. It works only while l/Activity is running, and stops when you untick the box or quit.
This is how the app shows itSettings · General
None of these animate continuously. Motion plays once on entry or when a reading changes; a hidden or minimised window draws nothing.
Hover the preview for sample times. Readings, the Activity icon and the sun open the same popup. Click its current icon again to close it.
Updates replace the app only. Your settings, scans and recordings stay in their current data folder.
Shares current resource readings, process names and recent diagnostic titles with tools you choose to run as your user. Off by default. No control commands, network listener, paths, arguments or environment values.
Updates at most every 5 seconds while monitoring runs; pause, disable or quit revokes the snapshot. The CLI refuses data older than 20 seconds.
'/Applications/Activity.app/Contents/MacOS/lactivity' --root '/Users/sam/Library/Application Support/app.activity.desktop' snapshot06Cleanup
What cleanup can and cannot touch
Removal is the one thing l/Activity does that changes your Mac, so it is fenced in:
Nothing is selected for you, and nothing is removed without the review that lists exact paths.
Move to Trash is the default, done through Finder. l/Activity never empties the Trash.
System folders, your home folder and the main folders inside it, running apps and l/Activity itself are refused, whatever permissions it has.
Each item is checked again just before it is moved. If it changed since you reviewed it, it is skipped.
Every attempt leaves a receipt.
Questions about any of this? Write to support@lslash.app.
Version 2.3411.9 MB
Get l/Activity
A native app for Apple silicon Macs. No account, nothing to set up.
macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon11.9 MB