Privacy Policy

MistBar is a menu-bar utility for macOS. This policy explains what data the app touches and what, if anything, ever leaves your Mac. The short version: MistBar keeps your data on your Mac. It has no accounts, no analytics, no advertising, and no third-party trackers — and it does not use Screen Recording.

Data that stays on your Mac

MistBar stores your settings and content locally, in your user Library's Application Support folder and, for secrets, in the macOS Keychain. This includes your preferences, favorites and folder setup, clipboard history, custom icons, text-expansion snippets, the list of mail accounts you have added, and the recent recipients MistBar remembers so composing a message can auto-complete addresses. API keys you enter for AI providers are stored in the macOS Keychain. These never leave your Mac and are not sent to us or anyone else.

To do its job, MistBar uses macOS permissions. Everything they enable is processed on your device only — nothing captured through them is transmitted, uploaded, or stored off your Mac:

• Accessibility — used to find, hide, reveal, name, and search the items in your menu bar, and to run MistBar's global keyboard shortcuts. It is not used to read your documents or the contents of your screen.
• Automation (Apple Events) — requested only if you use the Notes feature, so MistBar can append to and read your notes in the Apple Notes app. macOS asks for your approval the first time.

MistBar does not use Screen Recording. Unlike some menu-bar utilities, it hides and manages items without capturing your screen — so there is no purple recording indicator, and nothing on your screen is ever recorded. You can grant or revoke each permission at any time in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

When MistBar connects to the internet

MistBar makes network connections only in the situations below, each of which you control:

1. Checking for updates. MistBar uses the open-source Sparkle framework to check whether a newer version is available by requesting an update feed from mistbar.app. Like loading any web page, this reveals your device's IP address and the version being checked to the server hosting the feed. MistBar does not enable Sparkle's optional system-profile reporting, and it shows a consent prompt on first run before checking automatically. You can turn automatic checks off at any time in Settings → About → Software Update.
2. Validating your license. When you enter a license key, MistBar contacts Lemon Squeezy's license service to verify your purchase and register the activation to your Mac (this is how the three-device limit is enforced). This sends your license key and your Mac's device name — the computer name from your Sharing settings, such as "Schaun's MacBook Pro" — to Lemon Squeezy, which uses it to label the activation. That name may include text you chose and is used only to identify your activations so the device limit can be managed; MistBar does not compute or send a hardware fingerprint. Your license key itself is stored in your Mac's Keychain on the device where you entered it and is never written to logs. Your purchase and license records are handled by Lemon Squeezy, our Merchant of Record, under Lemon Squeezy's privacy policy. We do not receive or store your payment-card details.
3. Your mail accounts. If you add a Gmail, Outlook, or IMAP account, MistBar connects directly to that provider (Google, Microsoft, or your own mail server) using your own sign-in, to fetch and send your mail. Your messages pass between your Mac and your provider; there is no MistBar server in between, and MistBar stores nothing about your mail off your Mac. Sign-in tokens and app passwords are kept in your Mac's Keychain. You can remove any account at any time in Settings → Mail, which also revokes MistBar's access at the provider.
4. AI-usage tracking. Your Claude and Codex usage is read from local files that those tools already keep on your Mac — no network connection is made for them. If you choose to connect an AI provider whose usage is only available online (for example, GitHub Copilot), MistBar contacts that provider's usage API using a token you supply, which is stored in your Keychain. You control whether any such provider is connected.

MistBar does not use analytics SDKs, advertising, tracking cookies, or crash-reporting services, and it does not require you to create an account.

Bug reports

If you use Report a Bug from the About screen, MistBar pre-fills an email to us that includes your app version, macOS version, device architecture, and whether Accessibility is granted — nothing else. The email is composed in your own mail app, and nothing is sent until you choose to send it.

Data retention and deletion

Because your data lives only on your Mac, you can remove it by deleting MistBar and its folder in your user Library's Application Support directory. If you added mail accounts, signing out of them (or removing them in Settings → Mail) revokes MistBar's access at Google or Microsoft; you can also delete MistBar's items from Keychain Access. We do not hold a copy of your data to delete on your behalf.

Children

MistBar is a productivity tool not directed to children and does not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children under 13.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app evolves. Material changes will be reflected here with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email [email protected].