Permissions and uninstalling: Exhibitly

Last updated: 24 October 2026

Exhibitly only reads. This page lists what macOS asks you to allow, which files Exhibitly reads, where your exports go, and how to turn access off or remove the app.

What you are asked to allow

• Opening an app from the internet. The first time you open Exhibitly, macOS may ask whether you want to open an app downloaded from the internet. Exhibitly is signed with our Apple Developer ID and notarised by Apple, so you can click Open.
• Full Disk Access. macOS keeps your Messages history and iPhone backups in protected folders. When Exhibitly can’t read them, it shows “Allow Exhibitly to read your messages” with an Open System Settings button. In System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access, turn on the switch next to Exhibitly. If Exhibitly isn’t in the list, click the + button, open Applications and choose Exhibitly. If macOS asks to quit and reopen Exhibitly, choose Quit & Reopen, then click Check Again.
• Your backup password, for encrypted backups only. When an iPhone backup is encrypted, Exhibitly asks for the password that was chosen when backup encryption was turned on in Finder or iTunes. This is not your Apple Account password or your iPhone passcode. Exhibitly uses it only to read the backup on your Mac, and does not store it.

That’s all. Exhibitly doesn’t ask for access to Contacts, Photos, the camera, the microphone or your location. Contact names come from the address book files that Full Disk Access already covers.

What Exhibitly reads

Exhibitly opens these read only. It never changes, moves or deletes them.

• iPhone backups made in Finder, in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup, and in any folder you add with Add Backup Folder, for example on an external drive.
• Messages on this Mac, in ~/Library/Messages (the Messages database and its attachments).
• Contact names, from ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook and from the contacts inside an iPhone backup.
• Call history, from ~/Library/Application Support/CallHistoryDB and from the call history inside an iPhone backup.

To read a database, Exhibitly makes a working copy in a private temporary folder that only your user account can read. The copies are deleted when you quit, or the next time Exhibitly starts if it was force quit.

Where exports go

Each export is a new folder with the PDF, the Excel file, an Attachments folder and SHA256SUMS.txt. The suggested place is “Exhibitly Exports” in your home folder, which iCloud does not sync. You can choose another folder in the export sheet. If that folder syncs to iCloud Drive, the export sheet tells you, because iCloud will then upload the export.

Nothing is uploaded

Exhibitly never uploads your messages, photos, contacts, call history, backups or exports. It only goes online to activate a licence and to check for updates, and neither sends any of your content. Details are in the privacy policy.

Turning access off

Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access and turn off the switch next to Exhibitly, or select it and click the − button to remove it. Exhibitly then can’t read your messages or backups until you turn it on again. Your exports are not affected.

Uninstalling

1. If you have a licence and want to use it on another Mac later, choose Exhibitly > Licence… and click Remove Licence from This Mac. This frees one of your 3 Macs.
2. To delete saved redactions, choose Exhibitly > Settings… and click Delete All Saved Redactions.
3. Quit Exhibitly and drag it from Applications to the Trash.
4. Remove Exhibitly from the Full Disk Access list, as described above.
5. Optional, to remove the rest of what it kept on your Mac: in Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder and delete these if they exist:
   • ~/Library/Application Support/Exhibitly (saved redactions)
   • ~/Library/Preferences/dev.kayabyte.mac.exhibitly.plist, and the files starting with dev.kayabyte.mac.exhibitly.licence in the same folder (settings and licence)
   • ~/Library/Caches/dev.kayabyte.mac.exhibitly (update downloads)

Your exports stay where you saved them, by default in “Exhibitly Exports” in your home folder. Delete them yourself when you no longer need them.

Questions: support@kayabyte.dev.