FAQ - Hawser

Is my data stored on your servers?

Mostly no. Almost everything Hawser knows about you stays on your own computer in plain JSON files you can open and read in any text editor. We only store the minimum needed to run your subscription: your email, a hashed password, your active session token, and your Stripe customer ID. Your activity history and mission notes stay on your machine. Nothing you say to the companion is kept on our servers: a chat message, or a screenshot while screen analysis is on, goes to Anthropic for an answer, through our backend, which keeps none of it. The one exception is optional: if you switch on sync across devices, the work you write in Hawser is uploaded so your other devices can see it. That means your captures, notes, daily missions, tasks, Roadmap goals, reminders and flashcards. What Hawser observed about you never syncs: your activity history, window titles and screenshots are never uploaded by sync, and neither are your settings or your chats. Sync is off until you turn it on, Hawser lists exactly what goes up and asks first, and you can delete the uploaded copy at any time. See the full Privacy Policy for the exact list.

Are screenshots uploaded to the cloud?

For a moment, and never kept. When Hawser cannot tell what you are doing from the app and window title alone, it takes a screenshot and sends it to Anthropic for the AI to look at. It is processed and thrown away, never saved on your computer or on our servers. This is on by default, and you can switch it off any time in Settings with "Send screenshots to Claude". In Fully Local AI mode Hawser sends no screenshot on its own. One you take yourself to ask a question about is still sent in the current version, and stops being sent in that mode from 0.5.0. Sensitive contexts (banking apps, password fields) are auto-detected and monitoring is silently limited there regardless of your settings.

Can Hawser see which websites I'm on?

Only if you install the browser extension, and only the site name. On its own, Hawser can see that your browser is in front of you but not which tab, so eight hours of work and eight hours of drift look the same to it. The optional Hawser browser extension tells them apart: it reports the name of the site you are on and how long you were on it, such as youtube.com, 12 minutes, and never the address of a page. The path and the search terms are dropped inside the extension before anything is sent, so Hawser is never told which video, which document or which search. It all goes to the Hawser app on your own PC over a connection that cannot leave the machine: nothing reaches our servers, and nothing about your browsing is given to an AI. Connecting it is a card Hawser shows you on your own screen, which you can turn down, and you can disconnect any browser on its own afterwards. You can switch the reporting off in the extension, and Hawser can forget the lot with one button. See the privacy policy for the full detail.

Why does the browser extension want access to every website?

Only so it can show you a nudge on the page you are reading, and only if you ask it to. Installing the extension grants access to no website at all: that permission is optional, and your browser only asks for it at the moment you tick "Show Hawser's nudges on the page I am on". Untick it and the access goes straight back, which you can check in your browser's extensions page under Site access. Leave it off and everything still works: nudges arrive on the toolbar icon instead. The card is the only thing the extension ever puts in a page, and only when Hawser has something to say. It cannot read the page, not the address, not the text, not what you type, and the page cannot read it either. It does not block anything: it cannot stop a page loading or send you somewhere else. See the privacy policy for the full detail.

Does Hawser slow down my computer?

Not noticeably for most users. Hawser runs as a lightweight background process - typically 60-120 MB of RAM at idle and well under 1% CPU. Active screen analysis (vision mode) briefly bumps CPU when it's actually capturing, then drops back to idle. If you're running on a battery-constrained laptop or older hardware, you can lower the analysis frequency in Settings → Privacy → Monitoring.

Can I disable monitoring entirely?

Yes, anytime. There's a one-click pause from the system tray, the dashboard, and inside chat ("take a break for an hour"). You can also turn off individual monitoring features in Settings → Privacy: screen analysis, window tracking, idle detection, and the chat companion are each independent toggles. The whole app keeps running but stops observing.

Can I pause tracking for a break?

Yes - and it's the recommended way to take breaks. Tell the chat companion something like "taking lunch for an hour" or "playing games for a bit," and Hawser pauses all monitoring and nudges for that duration, then auto-resumes. You can also right-click the tray icon → Pause Monitoring for a manual pause. Hawser is built to respect breaks - it doesn't guilt-trip you for taking them.

How do refunds work?

14-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. Cancel within 14 days of your first paid charge and we refund the full amount. After day 14, cancel anytime via Account → Manage Subscription; you keep access until the end of your current billing period (no proration on partial months). Full details, including how to request a refund and what happens to your data afterward, are in our Refund Policy.

Does Hawser work offline?

Partially. Local monitoring, the activity feed, warnings, hard blocks, daily missions, and the on-device chat companion (in Fully Local mode) all work without internet. The cloud AI features - hosted chat, vision analysis, cloud transcription - need a connection. If your connection drops mid-session, Hawser gracefully falls back to local features without crashing.

Does Hawser work on Mac or Linux?

Not yet. Today Hawser runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11 (64-bit). macOS support is on the roadmap - it'll come once Windows is humming and we have a critical mass of paying users. Linux is further out. Want to be notified? Sign up for the waitlist on the homepage.

Is there a phone app?

Yes, a web one, in beta. Open gethawser.com/app in your phone's browser, sign in with the same account, and add it to your home screen. There is nothing to install and no app store, and it comes with your account. It carries the half of Hawser you write: brain dump capture, your notes, timers and reminders, in step with the desktop. It works with no signal and sends what you wrote once you are back. It needs sync switched on in the desktop app, and while it is a beta there is no day view, a note cannot be edited or deleted from the phone, and your computer is still what fires a reminder.

Why does website blocking need administrator privileges?

Website blocking works by editing the system hosts file, which Windows protects. Apps that aren't elevated can't modify it. When you install Hawser, choose "Run as administrator" (or launch via run.bat) to enable site blocking. App blocking and time-based moderation work fine without admin - only DNS-level site blocking requires elevation.

Can I bring my own AI key instead of using your hosted service?

Yes. Settings → AI Mode → "BYOK" lets you paste your own Anthropic API key. Hawser talks directly to Anthropic with your key - we never see it. You pay Anthropic directly for usage, but you don't pay our subscription. Useful for developers who already have Anthropic credit, or anyone who wants to keep their AI usage entirely under their own control.

What if I want to delete my account and all data?

From inside the app: Settings → Privacy & data → "Delete all Hawser data" removes your settings, mission history, stats, activity logs, conversation, downloaded local models, and your Anthropic API key from Credential Manager. Uninstalling Hawser does not delete them. For your account record on our backend (email + subscription), press "Delete my account" on the Account tab, or email support@gethawser.com and we'll delete it within 30 days. We retain only what we're legally required to (e.g. tax records for completed payments).

Frequently Asked Questions