A tiny, superfast macOS app that finds and redacts PII (Personally Identifiable Information) in files, images and the clipboard; before you share / upload it.
No data can leave your device; the app has no network access, and no third party dependencies or libraries.
Lightning fast (screenshot taken on Macbook Pro M5)
- Drop files or folders onto the window, or use Add Files.
- Paste text with ⌘V — PII highlights as you type.
- Use Clipboard Cleaner from the optional menu-bar item or global ⌃⌥⌘V shortcut. Useful for checking copied text before pasting it into AI tools, or sharing. Password (concealed) and non-text clipboard content won't be processed.
- Right-click in Finder and choose "Find PII" to send files straight to the app.
| Type | Scan | Redact |
|---|---|---|
| Text based: txt, md, csv, json and log or similar | Yes | Yes |
| Word (docx), Excel (xlsx) and PowerPoint (pptx) | Yes | Yes |
| RTF (Rich Text Format) | Yes | Yes |
| Yes (text layer) | No | |
| Images: PNG, JPEG, HEIC and TIFF | Yes | Yes (black rectangle) |
| Images: GIF, WebP and BMP | Yes | No |
Office redaction covers document body, headers, footers, comments, charts, text boxes, document properties and embedded Office files. Genuinely damaged or suspicious Office files are refused, instead of producing a partial or falsely clean result.
Image OCR is best effort using on-device Apple Vision OCR; and can miss text. Find PII shows a banner whenever images are included; review important images manually in Preview or another trusted image editor before sharing. Multi-frame images scan only the first frame and can't be redacted. Redacted image copies are rotated upright, HDR is converted to SDR (8-bit), and stripped of metadata such as EXIF, GPS, IPTC or XMP. Note: if no PII is found in an image; redaction won't work and metadata won't be removed. I'll work on that sometime; it's unexpectedly tricky.
| Detector | Details |
|---|---|
| Structured PII (customisable) | Email, phone (AU + international), credit card (13–19 digits with Luhn and card-family checks, including UnionPay, Diners Club and Maestro), SSN, AU TFN/ABN/ACN/Medicare, UUIDs, IP addresses, plus custom regex filters. Filters can be exported and imported (via JSON). |
| Contextual PII (customisable prompt) | Uses Apple's on-device Foundation Models. Not the most accurate right now, but expecting better performance with Apple Intelligence updates in September 2026. No integration with third-party AI models via API. |
| Custom word lists | Wildcards like * and ? supported. Use this to detect and redact staff names, usernames, code words. |
- Nothing leaves your device. No network access; OS-enforced (the kernel blocks all outbound connections).
- No third party libraries or dependencies used. And I don't plan to.
- The app can't check for updates itself. When a build reaches 30 days old, it shows a tiny dismissible reminder linking to GitHub.
- Automated-test report in
Settings>Aboutshows it passed all 805 tests.
WCAG 2.1 AA (according to me and a rigorous Claude test) with VoiceOver labels, contrast-safe colours, full keyboard navigation, Dynamic Type, reduce-motion support. I'm not used to using a screen reader/voiceover, so please report issues.
- Download
Find PII.dmgfrom the latest release below. - Open the DMG and drag Find PII onto the Applications shortcut.
- No admin rights on your Mac? Drag it into a folder named
Applicationsinside your/Users/<username>/Applicationsfolder instead (create one, if it doesn't exist).
- No admin rights on your Mac? Drag it into a folder named
Find PII is not notarised by Apple (that requires a 99 USD/year Apple Developer account), so the first time you open it, macOS will block it. This is expected for any app distributed outside the App Store without Apple notarisation. ℹ️ Source code coming soon (July 2026), once I'm able to clean up.
If you are an administrator on your Mac:
- Double-click Find PII. You'll see a message that it can't be verified. Click Done.
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.
- Scroll to Security. Next to "Find PII.app was blocked…", click Open Anyway.
- Confirm with Touch ID or your password. Find PII opens, and you won't be asked again.
If you are NOT an administrator (e.g. a managed work MacBook) — click to expand
The "Open Anyway" button asks for an admin password you may not have. Do this instead — it needs no admin rights:
-
Drag Find PII.app into your
/Users/<username>/Applicationsfolder (you own that folder, no admin permission required). -
Open Terminal (Applications → Utilities → Terminal), paste and run the command below.
⚠️ If you are unsure, search for what "xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine" does, or ask AI if this command is safe.
If the app is installed to /Users//Applications
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Applications/Find\ PII.app
If the app is installed to default /Applications
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Find\ PII.app
- After running that, double-click Find PII; it should now open normally.
Still blocked? If your Mac is managed by an IT department, security policy may block unsigned apps entirely, and no user-side step will help. Ask IT to allow it, or use a personal Mac 🙂
Verify your download (optional)
Each release publishes a SHA-256 checksum (Find PII.dmg.sha256). To confirm your download wasn't corrupted or tampered with, run this from the same folder as the .dmg file:
shasum -a 256 "Find PII.dmg"
Compare the output to the value on the release page or the sha256 file.
Note: because the checksum is hosted on the same release as the file, it mainly protects against a corrupted download.
Find PII is released under the MIT License.
No warranty. Find PII is provided "as is". It detects structured PII (emails, card numbers, IDs, phone numbers, and similar) using patterns and heuristics — it is not a guarantee. By design it doesn't detect names out of the box (a custom word list is needed), and no detector catches everything. Always review the output yourself before sharing a file. You are responsible for confirming that a redacted file is actually safe to share.