Privacy and monitoring
Colabio captures only while a timer runs, and what it captures is a set of switches an organization manager sets per member. This page lists each switch and its default, what is always collected, what each Mac permission is for, how a member sees the rules that apply to them, and what happens when a switch changes.
Members → a member → Edit. Each switch says what is collected when it is on, and what stops when it is off.
Three things no switch changes, because time tracking is nothing without them.
Tracked time
Which task the timer ran on, when it started and stopped, and manual time a reviewer approved. This is what timesheets, reports and invoices are made of.
Activity levels
Counts of keyboard and mouse activity while the timer runs, never what was typed or clicked. Shown as a percentage next to each tracked slot.
Nothing while the timer is stopped
The desktop app captures only while a timer runs. Stopping the timer stops every kind of capture at once.
macOS asks for each of these the first time Colabio needs it. Apple's wording describes everything an app with the permission could do; here is what Colabio does with each. Screen Recording and Accessibility are needed to start a timer; Automation and Microphone are optional.
Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording
Privacy & Security → Accessibility, or Device Control and Data Access
Privacy & Security → Automation → Colabio
Privacy & Security → Microphone
The rules are not a document somewhere else: every member reads the ones that apply to them, in the product.
For each organization: every item above with On, Off or Always, how long screenshots and recordings are kept and under which rule, who besides you can open your records, and when you last acknowledged the desktop notice.
Before the first timer in an organization, the desktop app lists what will be captured. It appears again whenever a manager changes a capture switch for you, so a change is never silent.
The same list, always available, with a note that only an organization manager can change it.
The desktop app follows within a few minutes
It re-reads the member's settings regularly, so a switch turned off stops the capture at the next check; nothing needs reinstalling.
The server enforces it too
A screenshot for a member whose screenshots are off is refused, and app or website data for a member whose capture is off is dropped, even from an older desktop app that has not caught up.
The member is told
The capture notice appears again in their desktop app, and their account page shows the new rules. The change is also written to the organization's audit log with who made it.
Screenshots and apps and websites are an organization manager's decision; recording and AI analysis can also be set by a product manager.
| What | Org. manager | Product manager | Team leader | Employee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switch screenshots or apps and websites for a member | Yes | No | No | No |
| Switch screen recording or AI screen analysis for a member | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Exclude a member from the AI chat's screenshots | Yes | No | No | No |
| See what is collected about yourself | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Roles themselves are explained in Roles and permissions; the prompt side of AI capture is in AI prompts.
Some roles see material that must not be stored anywhere else: payroll, legal, support agents in customer accounts, or members in a country whose rules differ. Switching screenshots off for them keeps the rest of the organization's setup unchanged, and their tracked time and activity levels still appear in timesheets and reports.
Nothing is deleted by the switch itself: screenshots already stored stay until the retention rule removes them or a manager deletes them. From the moment the switch is off, nothing new is captured, and the server refuses anything an older desktop app still sends for that member.
A manager changed what is captured for you: screenshots, apps and websites, or screen recording. The notice comes back so you read the new rules, and the account page shows the date you acknowledged it.
Only the parts that need app data. The member still appears in time, activity and utilization reports; the work classification, the app and URL lists and AI task suggestions show nothing for them, and the reports say why.
The organization's plan sets a window, and an organization on the Enterprise plan can set a shorter policy of its own under Security & Compliance. Whichever is shorter applies, and the account page names which one it is.
No. Every capture switch belongs to the organization's managers, so the rules are the same for everyone in a role. A member can see exactly what applies to them and can raise it with their management.
Still have a question about what is captured? Email support@colabio.org.