Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal data [[LEGAL NAME]], [[ADDRESS]], [[COUNTRY]] (“we”, “us”) handles for the Tidlark app and the websites tidlark.com and licenses.tidlark.com, and why. We are the controller of this data, except for payment data, which Paddle controls (see below).

1. The Tidlark app

What stays on your Mac

Everything Tidlark scans and finds stays on your Mac: file lists, sizes, app inventories, threat scan results, the History of what you removed, your settings and exclusions. We never receive it. Tidlark contains no analytics, advertising or tracking code.

Connections the app makes

When	Where to	What is sent
You activate, check or deactivate a license; Tidlark re-checks it occasionally	licenses.tidlark.com (our license server)	Your license key and an anonymous device ID. The device ID is a one-way hash of your Mac’s hardware identifier; the identifier itself never leaves your Mac and can’t be recovered from the hash.
You use Restore Purchase	licenses.tidlark.com	The email address you enter. If it matches a purchase, we email the license to that address.
You open Purchases & Invoices	licenses.tidlark.com, then Paddle	Your license key and device ID, to open your Paddle customer page.
Tidlark checks for its own updates	tidlark.com (update feed) and downloads.tidlark.com (update files)	A normal web request. Like any web request it includes your IP address and the app version. No system profile is sent.
You check your apps for updates (App Updates)	Each app’s own update feed, Homebrew, and Apple’s App Store lookup service	Requests for the update information of the apps you have installed (for the App Store: their app identifiers). Those services see your IP address.
You connect an email account (Email Cleanup)	Your own mail server (IMAP)	Your sign-in, sent directly to your mail provider. Tidlark reads message headers, and a message body only when you open a preview. Your password is stored in your Mac’s Keychain. Nothing passes through us.
You unsubscribe from a newsletter	The sender’s unsubscribe address	The unsubscribe request the sender provided, without cookies or credentials.
You run a network speed test in Pulse	Apple’s networkQuality service	Test traffic, handled by macOS.

Scanning, cleaning, Threat Check, Storage Map and the other tools work without any network connection.

Diagnostics

Tidlark has no telemetry. If you turn on Settings › Privacy › Keep macOS crash and hang reports for support bundles (off by default), Tidlark keeps the crash and hang reports that macOS delivers to it (MetricKit) in its own folder on your Mac. They are never uploaded. They are only included in a support bundle that you export yourself, after previewing it; personal details are removed from it automatically. We only see a support bundle if you send it to us.

Separately, macOS may share crash data with app developers if you’ve allowed that in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements. That is Apple’s setting and Apple’s service.

2. Buying a license

Paddle.com is our reseller and Merchant of Record. Paddle collects and processes your payment details, billing address and tax information under its own privacy policy. We never see your full card details.

From Paddle we receive what we need to deliver and support your license: your email address, Paddle’s customer and transaction IDs, the country and amount of the purchase, and refund or chargeback events. On our license server we store:

• your license (including your email address, which is shown in the app as the licensee), the Paddle transaction and customer IDs, and when it was issued or revoked;
• the anonymous device IDs of the Macs where it is activated, with activation and last-check dates;
• Restore Purchase requests (email address and time), to prevent abuse.

We email your license using our email delivery provider (Resend). We use your email address only for your purchase, your license and support, never for marketing unless you separately ask to hear from us.

3. The websites

tidlark.com uses no cookies, no analytics and no third-party trackers. The checkout page licenses.tidlark.com loads Paddle’s checkout, which uses the cookies and data Paddle needs to process a payment and prevent fraud. Our sites are hosted on Cloudflare, which processes technical data such as IP addresses to deliver the pages and protect them from attacks.

4. Support

When you email support@tidlark.com, we receive your email address and whatever you include, such as a support bundle. We use it only to help you.

5. Legal bases (EU, EEA and UK)

• Contract: issuing, activating, restoring and supporting your license.
• Legitimate interests: preventing license misuse and abuse of Restore Purchase, and keeping our services secure.
• Legal obligation: keeping records required by tax and accounting law (mostly handled by Paddle).

6. Who processes data for us

• Paddle (reseller and Merchant of Record): payments, tax, invoices, refunds.
• Cloudflare: hosting of our websites, the license server and its database, and downloads.
• Resend: delivery of license emails.

These providers may process data outside your country, including in the United States, under safeguards such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. We don’t sell or share personal data for advertising.

7. How long we keep it

License records are kept for as long as the license exists, so you can restore and re-activate it, plus the period required by law. A device ID is removed when you deactivate that Mac. Restore Purchase request records are kept for a short period for rate limiting. Support emails are kept for up to [[RETENTION PERIOD, e.g. 2 years]] after the conversation ends. You can ask us to delete your data sooner; we will, except where we must keep it by law (deleting your license record means it can no longer be restored).

8. Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR, UK GDPR or California law), you can ask to access, correct, delete or export your personal data, object to or restrict its use, and complain to your data protection authority. Email privacy@tidlark.com. We don’t sell personal data and don’t use it for automated decisions with legal effects.

9. Children

Tidlark is not directed at children under 16, and we don’t knowingly collect their data.

10. Changes

If we change this policy, we will post the new version here with a new date, and tell you in the app or by email for significant changes. If Tidlark ever starts sending any new kind of data, we will say so here first.

11. Contact

[[LEGAL NAME]], [[ADDRESS]], [[COUNTRY]]. Privacy questions: privacy@tidlark.com. Everything else: support@tidlark.com.