Local vs. Cloud Indexing: An Honest Guide to Choosing the Right Fenn Setup for Your Mac

When we first built Fenn, we had one non-negotiable principle: absolute user privacy. That’s why the original version was designed to be 100% local. Your files were indexed on your machine, and your data never left your Mac.

It was powerful. It was private. And for many, it was perfect.

But we also heard you loud and clear. For some users, especially those on MacBooks or with massive file libraries, local indexing was too slow and too demanding. It pushed your Mac to its limits, making it hard to do anything else. You told us you wanted the power of Fenn, but without having to tie up your machine for hours.

So, we built a solution. Today, Fenn offers two ways to index your files: Local and Cloud. This is our honest guide to help you decide which one is right for you.

First, What Is Indexing?

In simple terms, indexing is the process where Fenn “reads” your files to understand what’s inside them. It’s the magic that lets you search for “a slide with a blue chart” or “the meeting where we discussed budgets.” This process involves running powerful AI models to analyze text, images, audio and video. It is, by nature, a resource-intensive task. The choice is where that work happens: on your Mac, or on our secure servers.

The Original Path: Local Indexing

With Local Indexing, everything happens on your Mac. After an initial download of the AI models, Fenn can run completely offline.

The biggest benefit here is uncompromising privacy. Your files never, ever leave your device. For users working with highly sensitive client data, confidential research, or personal journals, this is the gold standard.

The tradeoff is performance. Local indexing uses the full power of your Mac’s processor. This means while it’s running, your Mac will be working hard. The fans may spin up, and other demanding applications might slow down.

You should choose Local Indexing if:

• 🛡️ Privacy is your absolute top priority. You want zero-compromise security and are comfortable with your files never leaving your machine.

• 🖥️ You use a desktop Mac (iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Studio). You can let Fenn run overnight or during times you’re not actively using the machine.

• ☕ You’re indexing smaller batches of files. You can run the process during a coffee break without significant interruption.

The New Choice: Cloud Indexing

Cloud Indexing was built to solve the performance problem. When you choose this option, you securely send your files to our servers, where the heavy lifting happens.

The biggest benefit is freedom. Once the upload is complete, you can close Fenn. You can close your MacBook. You can go edit a 4K video or run a complex software build. Your Mac’s resources are completely free, and the indexing happens for you in the background. When it’s done, the smart index is sent back to your Mac, and you can search your files just as you would with local.

The question, of course, is privacy. We take this extremely seriously. Here is our commitment to you:

• Your data is encrypted both in transit (as it’s uploaded) and at rest (while on our servers).

• We don’t use your data for anything else. We will never use your files to train AI models. We will never sell your data or analyze its contents. Its sole purpose is to be indexed for your benefit.

• Once the indexing is complete and the results are back on your Mac, your files are deleted from our servers after 30 days.

You should choose Cloud Indexing if:

• 🚀 You are a MacBook user. You need your machine to stay responsive and can’t afford to have it tethered to a power cord for hours.

• 🧑‍💻 You are a heavy multitasker. You need to do other resource-intensive work (video editing, 3D rendering, software development) while your files are being indexed.

• 📚 You have a very large volume of files. Cloud indexing is significantly faster for massive libraries, offloading the work to dedicated, powerful machines.

What If I Have a Massive Archive?

Some of you have "cold" archives with hundreds of thousands of files or terabytes of data that you only need to index once. This can go beyond our standard cloud plans. If this sounds like you, we’re here to help. Please contact us directly, and we can work with you on a custom solution.

The Choice Is Yours

We believe the best tools are the ones that adapt to your workflow, not the other way around. With the choice between Local and Cloud indexing, you can now configure Fenn to work exactly how you need it to.

Choose privacy and control with Local. Choose speed and convenience with Cloud. Either way, you get the most powerful search experience available for the Mac.