Privacy Policy.

What we collect

Nothing about how you use the app. ProToys has no analytics, no telemetry, no crash reporting, no usage tracking, and no advertising SDKs.

ProToys contacts a server in exactly three situations, and no others:

1. Activating or recovering your license. That exchange is between your Mac and our payment provider, Polar.sh. Polar receives the information you typed into checkout (your email and billing details) under their own privacy policy. Your Mac's device name is sent with the activation so you can see and manage your activations in the license portal.

2. Checking the free trial. The 3-day trial is verified with our server rather than trusted to the clock on your Mac, otherwise the trial would be unlimited for anyone willing to change the date. It works offline for about six hours at a stretch before it needs to check in again.

3. Sending a share link, if you use that feature. See Share links below. Nothing is uploaded unless you ask for a link.

That is the whole list. There is no analytics call, no heartbeat, no update ping carrying anything about you, and no request that describes what you do inside the app.

What's stored on your Mac

License key — the key, its activation ID, and the date it was last checked, saved to your macOS Keychain so the app remembers you've activated.

Trial record — also in the Keychain: when your 3-day trial started, when it ends, and a signature from our server so the dates can't be edited. It holds no information about how you used the app.

Your settings — module preferences, hotkeys, and saved layouts live in ~/Library/Application Support/PowerToys/. None of this leaves your Mac.

Color, OCR, and ruler results — anything you copy via Color Picker, Text Extractor, or Screen Ruler goes only to your clipboard. ProToys never sees or stores it.

Share links

The Dynamic Island's file shelf can turn a stashed file into a link you can paste anywhere. It is the one feature that sends your data off the machine, so it is worth being exact about.

It only runs when you ask. Stashing a file on the notch keeps it on your Mac. Converting a file happens on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded until you press Share link on a specific file.

Where it goes. The file is uploaded to link.protoys.app, which we run. The request is authorised with your license key, which the server re-checks against Polar each time, so the app carries no secret that could be extracted and reused by anyone else.

How long it lasts. Links expire one hour after they are created, and the file is removed with them. Anyone holding the link can download the file during that hour, so treat a share link the way you would treat any unlisted URL.

What we can see. The file you chose to upload, for as long as the link lives. We do not open it, index it, or keep a copy after it expires. If you never use share links, we never receive a file from you at all.

Working offline

Once ProToys is activated it keeps working without a network connection. The license is stored on your Mac and re-checked quietly in the background about once a week; if that check can't reach the server, the app carries on as normal rather than locking you out. An activated copy only stops working if the license is explicitly revoked, which is something we would have to do deliberately.

Every tool itself runs entirely on your Mac. Window management, OCR, colour picking, measuring, renaming, resizing, the timer, the audio mixer and file conversion all work with the Wi-Fi off. The two exceptions are the ones above: the 3-day trial checks in with the server, and share links need to upload.

Permissions ProToys asks for

macOS requires explicit permission for the kinds of things ProToys does. We only ask for what's actually needed:

Accessibility — used by window-management tools (Always On Top, FancyZones, Workspaces, Crop and Lock) to find and move windows.

Screen Recording — used by tools that read pixels on screen (Color Picker, Screen Ruler, Text Extractor, Crop and Lock, ZoomIt, Always On Top in Mirror mode).

Input Monitoring — used so global keyboard shortcuts work even when ProToys isn't the front app.

Each permission is requested only by the module that needs it, when you first use it. Granting them creates no record outside the standard macOS Privacy & Security panel.

What we don't collect

We don't collect or have access to: your name, your IP address, your location, the apps or windows you have open, the contents of your screen, what you type, what files you rename or resize, or any other activity inside ProToys.

If we ever change that, this page will say so first.

Email support

If you write to support@protoys.app, we'll have your email address and whatever you wrote in the message. We use it only to reply to you. We don't add support emails to a mailing list.

Children's privacy

ProToys is a productivity tool for adults. It's not directed at children, and we don't knowingly collect anything from anyone of any age (see above — we don't collect anything).

Changes to this policy

If we update this policy, the "Last updated" date at the top changes. Material changes will be announced on the homepage.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email support@protoys.app.