On-Device Shooting Video Editor: What Stays Local and What Uses the Network

Local and network data flow

Core media work runs on your device

Shooting Cut performs timer-beep and gunshot analysis, video trimming, sequential merging, two-view synchronization, multi-camera editing, subtitle composition, export, and person tracking on your Apple device. It does not upload original video, original audio, or extracted PCM audio to a Shooting Cut media-processing server for those operations.

Your selected source and destination still matter. A cloud-only item in iCloud Photos may be downloaded by Apple before editing, and an export saved to Photos or iCloud Drive may synchronize according to Apple services and your settings.

Photos, iCloud Photos, and iCloud Drive follow Apple settings

On iPhone and iPad, Shooting Cut uses Apple Photos interfaces to select video and save an export. If selected media exists only in iCloud Photos, Apple may download it on demand. On Mac, Shooting Cut reads and saves the files you select, including files in iCloud Drive folders.

Apple controls those uploads, downloads, caches, and cross-device transfers under your Apple ID, permissions, and iCloud settings. They are separate from Shooting Cut's on-device media analysis.

What can sync through iCloud KVS

Shooting Cut can use your iCloud key-value store (KVS) to sync lightweight metadata across your Apple devices. That metadata can include media aliases, camera perspectives, gun type, score associations, imported match records, shooter and match fields contained in those records, and an existing non-anonymous custom RevenueCat App User ID.

RevenueCat IDs beginning with $RCAnonymousID: are not backed up to KVS. Original media, extracted PCM audio, and person-tracking paths or keyframes are not placed in KVS.

RevenueCat and cross-device entitlement recovery

RevenueCat receives app or subscription identifiers, App Store transaction identifiers, and entitlement status to verify purchases and synchronize access. It does not receive your payment-card details from Shooting Cut.

If KVS contains an existing saved non-anonymous custom RevenueCat App User ID, Shooting Cut can read that saved ID on another Apple device and use it to log in to RevenueCat. This helps recover the same entitlement identity across the subscriber's Apple devices. Anonymous RevenueCat IDs beginning with $RCAnonymousID: are excluded from that KVS backup.

Detection-improvement reports

“Help Improve Gunshot Detection” is user-controlled and is currently enabled by default. When enabled, Shooting Cut can send limited pseudonymous derived detection, timing, count, and spectral summary fields, random session and analysis identifiers, and correction events to Apple CloudKit.

These reports do not contain original audio, original video, extracted PCM samples, or the media file itself. The random identifiers make the reports pseudonymous; pseudonymous does not mean identifier-free.

In the inline editor, turn off the control labeled “Improve Detection” or “Improve,” depending on platform and layout. Export settings use the full label “Help Improve Gunshot Detection.” While disabled, Shooting Cut does not create new reports or retry the local pending queue. Disabling does not erase reports already submitted to CloudKit and does not clear the local retry queue already on the device. Re-enabling can allow queued reports to retry.

Score import and uploads use the network

Importing results from supported sources such as PractiScore, ESS, and HDP/IDPA uses the network. The selected source receives an ordinary request, and Shooting Cut receives the match, stage, shooter, score, and available timing fields needed for the import.

Shooting Cut also supports uploads you initiate to YouTube or Facebook. Only after you choose a destination, authorize it, select an export, and confirm the upload does Shooting Cut send the selected exported video, an access token, and the account or video metadata required by that destination. Platform passwords are not provided to Shooting Cut.

Security without absolute promises

Shooting Cut uses Apple platform controls appropriate to these workflows, including system permissions and Keychain storage for platform tokens. You can manage Photos and iCloud access in system settings, turn off detection improvement in the app, disconnect a platform account, and manage subscriptions through Apple.

No security measure can guarantee absolute security. Review the Privacy Policy and contact support if you have questions about a particular workflow.

Frequently asked questions