Privacy Policy
The app keeps your notes, reminders and shelf on your Mac and sends them nowhere. It has no account, no analytics and no crash reporting. The only thing it does online is look for updates. This website uses no cookies, no analytics and no third-party scripts or fonts.
Who is responsible
SideNotch is made and maintained by poolmoot, an individual developer. In privacy law terms, poolmoot is the controller for the personal data described here.
To reach me, write to tboy46156@gmail.com. If you have a privacy request, say so in the subject line.
The app
SideNotch runs on your Mac. Everything you put into it stays there.
| What | Where it lives | Does it leave your Mac? |
|---|---|---|
| Notes and their checklists | SideNotch's own folder in Application Support | No |
| Reminders | The same folder. The alert itself is scheduled with macOS notifications. | No |
| Shelf | A bookmark, which is a pointer, to each file you drop. The files are not copied or uploaded. | No |
| What is playing, in the next update: title, artist and cover, read from macOS to show the Now Playing card | Only in memory while the card is on screen. Not stored. | No |
| Previews of shelf files | Made on your Mac with Quick Look, only while the notch is open | No |
| Settings (side, size, colour, shortcuts) | Your macOS preferences | No |
| The date and version of the first time this Mac opened SideNotch | Your macOS preferences. Written once and never changed. | No |
The first-launch note exists so that a later, paid version can tell people who were here during the free early-access period from new downloads. Nothing reads it today, and it is not sent anywhere.
SideNotch has no account, no login, no analytics, no advertising and no crash reporting, and it does not read your clipboard, screen or contacts in the background. I never receive your notes, reminders or file names, because the app has no way to send them to me.
Because the data is only on your Mac, I cannot recover it for you. You can export all notes as Markdown files from Settings, and Time Machine backs up the app's folder like any other.
Update checks
The only network connection the app makes is to look for new versions. It uses the Sparkle updater.
- When: automatically about once a day while the app is running, and whenever you choose Check for Updates…
- Where to: a small file at
sidenotch-mac.vercel.app/appcast.xml, hosted by Vercel. When there is a new version, the update file is downloaded in the background from GitHub, where the releases are published. - What the servers can see: your IP address, the time, and a user agent that names SideNotch and Sparkle with their version numbers. Sparkle's optional system profile, which would add details such as your Mac model and macOS version, is switched off. Nothing about you or your content is added to the request.
- Why: so a fix or a new version reaches you without a reinstall. This is the basis I rely on (legitimate interests, Article 6(1)(f) GDPR) because the check is needed to deliver updates, and it takes only what the connection itself exposes.
- Safety: every update is signed. The app refuses anything not signed with the project's key.
The app does not yet have a switch to stop the automatic checks. If you want to stop them, block the app's network access in a firewall such as Little Snitch or LuLu. Updates are then something you do yourself, by downloading the new version from this site.
This website
The site is a set of static pages. It uses no cookies, no local storage, no analytics, no advertising, no tracking pixels and no embedded content from other sites. Fonts are served from the site itself, so a visit does not contact a font host. That is why there is no cookie banner: there is nothing to ask you about.
Server logs
Like any website, the host records each request in a server log. A log entry has your IP address, the time, the page requested, the browser's user agent, the referring page if there is one, and your approximate location derived from the IP address.
- Purpose: delivering the pages, keeping the site secure and finding errors.
- Legal basis: legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR), meaning running a website that works and is safe.
- Who holds it: Vercel Inc., the hosting provider, which acts as my processor. Vercel is in the United States. It transfers data under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the standard contractual clauses in its data processing addendum.
- How long: Vercel keeps logs for a limited period set by its own retention rules. I do not export the logs, analyse them or combine them with anything else.
I do not get a list of visitors, and I cannot tell who you are from a log entry.
GitHub
The Download buttons on this site, and update downloads from inside the app, fetch SideNotch from the public releases page on GitHub. GitHub then sees your IP address and your request, and handles them under the GitHub Privacy Statement. I do not receive that data.
Your rights
Under the GDPR and similar laws you can ask what personal data is held about you, ask for it to be corrected or erased, ask for processing to be limited, ask for a copy in a portable format, and object to processing that rests on legitimate interests. You can also complain to the data protection authority in your country. A list for the EU and EEA is at edpb.europa.eu.
In practice I hold no personal data of my own about app users or visitors. What exists is in Vercel's and GitHub's logs. I will pass on or help with any request that concerns it. Nothing here asks you to give personal data to use the app or read the site, and there is no automated decision-making.
Changes to this policy
SideNotch is free during early access, and future versions will be paid. Nothing is charged today and nothing here collects payment details. Before any payment is taken, I will update this policy to say who handles it and what is collected, and I will change the date at the top.
If the app or the site starts handling data differently in any other way, I will do the same before the change ships.