# Local AI that finds sensitive files on your Mac before attackers do > Source: > Published: 2026-07-23 05:06:12+00:00 [Home](/)Guardian # Find what should be locked. Lock it. Guardian scans the folders you choose for identity documents, financial records, credentials, and medical files — entirely on your Mac. Nothing is ever uploaded. [See how it works ↓](#how-it-works) Free update for existing users · New to VaultSort? $24.99 one-time, no subscription ## Every “AI file organizer” that wants to understand your files does it by uploading them. For exactly the files Guardian looks for, that's self-defeating — you'd be handing your tax returns to a cloud API to find out they're exposed. Guardian runs entirely on your Mac instead. ### Zero uploads, zero network calls The analysis happens on-device, including reading text inside images. Nothing about your files leaves your Mac during a scan. ### Read-only by design Guardian never moves, changes, or deletes anything on its own. It reports what it finds — you decide what happens next. ### Nothing is stored The report lives only in memory. Guardian doesn’t create a persistent map of your sensitive files on disk. ## Four kinds of files Guardian watches for. A detected number pattern, a filename that says what it is, or on-device AI reading the content — Guardian looks for the files that shouldn't be sitting out in the open. ### Identity documents Passports, driver’s licenses, Social Security cards — scans and photos of the documents that prove who you are. ### Financial & payment details Bank statements, tax returns, card numbers — anything that describes or accesses your money. ### Credentials & keys Password exports, recovery codes, SSH and API keys — the files that unlock everything else. ### Medical & legal records Medical records, prescriptions, contracts, legal filings — documents that are nobody else’s business. Copy we stand behind: Guardian flags files that *likely hold sensitive information* — never “finds all sensitive files.” A strong first pass, not a guarantee. ## Find it. Review it. Lock it. From “I had no idea that was there” to locked, in about a minute. ### Choose folders Point Guardian at Desktop, Downloads, Documents — any folders you want reviewed. You decide the scope. ### Scan on-device Guardian reads file contents and metadata locally, ranks findings by severity, and flags any sitting in a cloud-synced folder. ### Encrypt in one click Select the findings you care about and hand them straight to Encrypt. Confirm with Touch ID or your YubiKey — done. ## Your files never leave your Mac. An app that finds your most sensitive files must never be a way for them to leak. There is no Guardian backend — we couldn't hand over what it finds even if asked, because it never leaves your machine to begin with. ## Also shipped alongside Guardian Guardian was the headline of VaultSort 4.4.0. Here's what else came with it. ### Smart Categorize reads images now Turn on OCR to sort screenshots and photos by the text inside them — recognition runs fully on-device. ### Smarter photo handling Images group by kind and get named from what’s actually in them, plus a new Videos group. ### Redesigned Rule Builder Cleaner panels, plain-language rule summaries, live validation, keyboard shortcuts. ### Content search in scheduled jobs Rules that match on file contents can now run automatically on a schedule or on watched folders. ## Get VaultSort. One-time purchase. Lifetime license. No subscription. ## Frequently asked questions Everything you need to know before running Guardian on your Mac. More questions? [Contact support →](/contact) ## Find out what's sitting exposed on your Mac. Read-only scan. Zero network calls. The report never touches disk. Your files never leave your Mac — that's the whole point. [Read the announcement →](/blog/meet-guardian-vaultsort-4-4-0)