Legal
Privacy Policy
The short version. Shadowtype runs entirely on your Mac. Your keystrokes, the text you write, your clipboard, and what's on your screen are processed locally and never sent anywhere. There is no account, no login, and no usage tracking. The only data that ever leaves your device is what's needed to license, update, and download the app — described in full below.
1. Who this covers
This policy explains how the Shadowtype macOS application (the “app”) and the shadowtype.app website handle information. It applies to everyone who downloads, uses, or buys Shadowtype. By using Shadowtype you agree to this policy.
2. On-device by design
Shadowtype’s text completion runs as a local language model on your Apple Silicon Mac. The inputs to that model — the text before your cursor, optional on-screen text read via local OCR, and (if you enable it) recent clipboard text — are processed only in memory on your device and are never transmitted, logged, or stored on a server. There is:
- No telemetry — the app does not phone home with usage, analytics, or crash data about how you type or what you write.
- No account — you never create a login, and we hold no profile about you.
- No network call to generate a suggestion — completions work fully offline.
Password and secure-entry fields are detected and never read. Screen OCR and clipboard reads are throttled, kept transiently in memory, never written to disk, and never sent off the device. Every context source is individually toggleable in Settings.
3. Data stored on your Mac
Some data is saved locally on your Mac so the app can function. It stays on your device and is under your control:
- License file (
license.lic) and a small activation record — see §4. - Personalization profile (a paid feature) — n-gram frequencies and recent phrasings used to bias suggestions toward your style. Stored encrypted in Application Support. You can wipe it at any time in Settings.
- Usage counters & settings — e.g. the local “words accepted today” meter and your preferences. Local only, never transmitted.
Uninstalling the app and deleting its Application Support folder removes all of this.
4. What leaves your device
To be fully transparent, here is the complete list of outbound network traffic the app makes, and what each one sends:
- License activation & seat check. When you activate a license, move it to another Mac, or during an occasional background re-check, the app contacts our licensing server and sends: (a) your license string, and (b) a hashed device identifier — a one-way SHA-256 hash of your Mac’s hardware UUID. This enforces the up-to-5-Mac limit and honors refunds. The raw hardware identifier never leaves your Mac; only the irreversible hash is sent. No keystrokes, content, or usage data are included.
- Software updates. The app periodically checks an update feed for a newer version. This is a standard version check and carries no personal content.
- Model download. The first time a model is needed, the app downloads it once from a content-delivery host. This transfers the model file to you; it sends no personal data.
That’s everything. There is no inference network call, ever.
5. Payments
Purchases are processed by Polar.sh, our Merchant of Record. When you buy a license, Polar collects and processes your payment details and billing information directly — we never see or store your card data. We receive only the order metadata needed to issue and support your license (such as an order identifier and a hashed form of your email). Polar’s handling of your data is governed by their own privacy policy. If you redeem a code from a marketplace (e.g. AppSumo), that marketplace’s terms also apply to your purchase.
6. This website
The shadowtype.app website is a static site. We may use privacy-respecting, cookieless aggregate analytics (no cross-site tracking, no advertising identifiers, no sale of data) solely to count visits and understand which pages are useful. The website does not set advertising cookies.
7. Your rights
Because the app holds no account and collects no personal usage data, there is very little information about you to access or erase. For the limited order data tied to a purchase, you may request access or deletion by contacting us (and, for payment records, Polar.sh as Merchant of Record). Depending on where you live, you may have rights under the GDPR, UK GDPR, or CCPA/CPRA; we honor valid requests under applicable law.
8. Retention & security
Licensing records (a hashed email, order id, and the set of activated device hashes for your license) are retained for as long as needed to support your perpetual license and prevent abuse. Data in transit to the licensing and update endpoints is protected with HTTPS/TLS. On-device data security relies on macOS protections and, for the personalization profile, local encryption.
9. Children
Shadowtype is a productivity tool for general audiences and is not directed to children under 13 (or the equivalent age in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.
10. Changes
We may update this policy as the product evolves. Material changes will be reflected by the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, surfaced in the app or on this page.
11. Contact
Questions about privacy? Email hello@shadowtype.app.