olace

[ sync & privacy ]

Privacy modes

Olace is private by default. Local and paired conversations never reach Olace, paired connections are always end-to-end encrypted, and anything that syncs is encrypted with keys only you hold. On top of that default, each chat runs in one of two modes.

Standard Mode

The normal mode. Your model choice decides where inference happens:

  • On a local or paired model, the conversation stays on your devices.
  • On an Olace Cloud model, the turn runs on a zero-data-retention provider.
  • Tools you turn on, like Web Access or Research on a cloud route, use the network to do their job, and the cost is shown before anything metered runs.

Direct Mode

Direct Mode is the strictest setting, for conversations that must not touch anything beyond your own hardware:

Direct Mode processes chats only with AI models on your devices. Olace is private by default, and paired connections are always end-to-end encrypted. Web access and tools are off in this mode.

Points worth knowing:

  • Direct Mode is chosen per chat and fixed once the chat starts. To leave it, start a new standard chat.
  • Web Access, Research, and Create Image are unavailable in Direct Mode chats.
  • It needs a local or paired model, so it is not available in the web app. A Direct Mode chat opened on the web is view-only.
  • Voice dictation in a Direct Mode chat is transcribed on your device. On Android this uses the system speech service's offline mode, so accuracy may dip slightly compared with standard chats.
  • Direct Mode chats still sync across your devices, always encrypted.

Toggle it from the composer's tool row or the chat header icon.

Your data controls

Under Settings › Privacy & Data:

  • Clear chat history, with a clear choice between deleting from the cloud and all devices or only from this device.
  • Date and time. Gives the AI your local date and time as context for answers. Turn it off if you prefer.
  • Help improve Olace. Sends anonymous reliability metrics, like crashes and connection health. Never conversation content, never identifiers. On by default; turn it off here any time.

Where data rests

  • On desktop and mobile, your conversations are stored on your device, protected by your device's own security.
  • In the web app, conversations are kept encrypted in the browser database, and your key stays in memory for the session. See Encrypted sync.
  • Anything stored in Olace's cloud (synced conversations and files) is zero-knowledge encrypted before it leaves your device.

For the cryptography details, see Security & open source.