ZeptapPrivacy and security
What Zeptap stores, what it sends, who can reach the MCP server, and how the passcode is protected.
Zeptap runs entirely on your Mac. There is no Zeptap account and no Zeptap cloud.
| Topic | How it works |
|---|---|
| iPhone | Nothing is installed on it. Zeptap uses the USB connection and a Bluetooth pairing |
| Screen | Captured over USB and processed on the Mac. OCR runs on-device with Apple's Vision framework |
| MCP server | Listens on 127.0.0.1:47801 only, so other machines on the network can't connect. Any process on this Mac can |
| Agents | Screenshots and OCR text go to the agent you connect, and from there to that agent's model provider under your agreement with them |
| Passcode | In the login Keychain, non-synchronizable (never in iCloud). Read only while unlocking; never logged, never given to agents, never sent over the network |
| Agent unlock | Allowed or blocked per iPhone with Let agents unlock this iPhone |
| Config files | Before its first edit, Zeptap backs up each agent config as <file>.zeptap-backup |
| Updates | Checked once a day against a signed feed on GitHub; updates are EdDSA-signed and the app is notarized by Apple |
USB access
Over USB Zeptap talks to the iPhone's lockdown service through Apple's MobileDevice.framework, the same framework Finder uses. It uses it to ask for Trust, read the device name, model and Bluetooth address, turn AssistiveTouch on, and lock the screen.
Troubleshooting
Symptoms, tool error messages and their fixes - blank screen, Bluetooth not connecting, agent can't reach Zeptap, typing and open_app failures.
Debug console
A plain-text command port on 127.0.0.1:47800 for inspecting connection state, logs and raw input while developing or debugging Zeptap.