Published: June 5, 2026 · Reading time: 6 min If you use a clipboard manager, it’s a fair and important thing to ask: does Maccy see your passwords? A tool that remembers everything you copy could, in principle, remember secrets too. The short answer is reassuring — but it carries one nuance worth grasping. Here’s precisely how maccy handles passwords on macOS.

The short answer

No — Maccy does not store passwords copied from password managers or secure fields. macOS lets apps mark sensitive clipboard items as “concealed” or transient, and Maccy respects that marker by default, so those entries never enter your history. Everything Maccy does keep stays locally on your Mac and is never uploaded anywhere. The single nuance: text you copy from an ordinary, unmarked field is treated as ordinary text.

How macOS flags sensitive clipboard data

When you copy a password from a secure field or a password manager, the source app attaches a special marker to the clipboard (the system “concealed type”/transient flag). It’s a signal that says: this is sensitive, don’t keep it. Well-behaved clipboard managers read that signal and skip the item. Maccy is built to honour it, which is why secrets from your vault don’t surface in its history.

What Maccy does NOT save

• Passwords copied from password managers that set the concealed/transient flag.
• Items copied from macOS secure text fields that mark themselves as sensitive.
• Anything you’ve added to Maccy’s ignore list (more on that below).

The nuance: what it can capture

Here’s the honest part. If a password is sitting in a plain text field — say you typed it into a normal search box, a note, or a website that doesn’t mark its field as secure — and you copy it, macOS doesn’t flag it as concealed. To any clipboard manager it looks like ordinary text, so it can be captured. This isn’t unique to Maccy; it’s simply how the clipboard works. The fix is easy: copy secrets from a password manager (which flags them), not from plain fields.

Three ways to stay in control

1. Copy passwords from a password manager. 1Password, Bitwarden, and Keychain flag their items as concealed, so Maccy skips them automatically.
2. Use the ignore list. You can tell Maccy never to record from specific apps — see the ignored apps guide.
3. Clear history when needed. After handling something sensitive in a plain field, clear your clipboard history in one action.

Where your history is stored

Everything Maccy keeps lives locally on your Mac — there’s no cloud sync and nothing is uploaded to a server. Because Maccy is open source, that claim is verifiable rather than a marketing line. For the full review of its privacy model, see is maccy safe, and the official privacy policy for the formal statement.

Quick reference

You copy…	Does Maccy save it?
Password from 1Password / Bitwarden / Keychain	No — flagged as concealed
Password from a macOS secure field	No — marked sensitive
Text from an app on your ignore list	No
A password typed into a plain text box, then copied	Yes — looks like normal text
Ordinary text, links, images	Yes — into local history

The bottom line

Maccy doesn’t see passwords copied the way you should be copying them — from a password manager or a secure field — because it respects the system’s “sensitive” marker and keeps everything local. Copy secrets from your vault, use the ignore list for risky apps, and clear history when needed, and you get a full clipboard history with no meaningful password risk. To get started, download maccy, and for the wider context read the complete guide to mac clipboard management.

What about images, files, and screenshots?

Maccy can also keep images and files you copy. Those aren’t passwords, but a screenshot of a private document or a copied confidential file is still sensitive — and they aren’t flagged “concealed” the way password-field text is, so they’re stored like any other clip. If you copy something private this way, delete that entry or clear your history afterwards. The rule of thumb holds: anything genuinely secret should come from a password manager, or be cleared once you’re done with it.

Does this apply to every clipboard manager?

No — and that’s the catch. The “ignore concealed items” behaviour only works if the app actually honours the flag. Some do, some don’t, and with closed-source tools you can’t easily check. Maccy honours it and, being open source, lets you verify that it does. If password handling matters to you, that verifiability is a strong reason to prefer an open tool; the best free clipboard manager for mac guide weighs the options.

Frequently asked questions

Does Maccy store my passwords?

No. Passwords copied from password managers or secure fields carry a “concealed” marker that Maccy respects, so they’re never saved. Only ordinary, unmarked text is recorded — locally on your Mac.

Can any app read my clipboard on a Mac?

The macOS clipboard is shared, so the current item can be read by running apps. That’s why you should copy secrets from a password manager (which flags them) rather than from plain fields.

Does Maccy send my clipboard to the cloud?

No. Maccy has no cloud sync; history stays on your Mac and nothing is uploaded.

How do I remove a sensitive item from history?

Delete the individual entry, or clear the whole history. See the guide to clearing your clipboard history.

Is Maccy safe to use overall?

Yes. It’s open source, stores history locally, ignores password-manager entries by default, and has no telemetry on your content.