Privacy Policy

01Who we are

SideDock (“SideDock”, “we”, “us”) makes the SideDock app for macOS and runs getsidedock.com. This policy covers the app, this website and purchases of SideDock. For questions, write to support@getsidedock.com.

02What stays on your Mac

Everything SideDock keeps is stored locally, in ~/Library/Application Support/SideDock. This includes:

• your docks, widgets, layouts and preferences;
• notes, Pip’s chats, Pip’s memory, tasks and reminders you create in SideDock;
• activity history, such as recent coding sessions and downloads shown in the notch;
• crash reports macOS gives SideDock (see section 6).

API keys, tokens and sign-ins you add are stored in your macOS Keychain. We have no copy of any of it, and we can’t see, recover or restore it for you. You can open SideDock’s folder, export your settings, or delete everything at any time (see section 11).

03What SideDock reads, with your permission

macOS asks you before SideDock can use any of these. Each is used only for the features named, only on your Mac, and you can turn it off in System Settings › Privacy & Security at any time.

SideDock also reads the progress of coding agents you use on your Mac (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Antigravity and Hermes) through hooks you install, and the files they change, to show them in the notch. The camera is never used.

04Services SideDock contacts for you

Some features need the internet. SideDock then talks directly from your Mac to the service involved; nothing passes through us. Each request is sent only when you use the feature, and that service’s own privacy policy applies.

• Weather and air quality: Open-Meteo, which receives approximate coordinates of your location.
• Quran recitation: EveryAyah, which receives requests for the recitation audio you play.
• Accounts you connect to widgets: for example GitHub, Google Analytics, Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Gumroad, Plausible, Umami, Fathom, Vercel or Cloudflare. SideDock uses the credentials you provide to fetch the figures the widget shows, and keeps them on your Mac.
• Pip’s voice, if you turn it on: the voice service you choose (ElevenLabs, OpenAI, Azure Speech or Google Cloud) receives the text of Pip’s replies to speak them, using your own API key, which stays in your Mac’s Keychain. It never receives your voice.
• Links you open: websites and apps you open from a dock or the notch receive what any visit sends them.

Two connections SideDock makes by itself

• Checking you’re online: to show whether your Mac can reach the internet, SideDock loads Apple’s and Google’s connection test pages (apple.com and gstatic.com) every few minutes. The request carries nothing about you or your Mac beyond what any web request does.
• App icons in Add Apps: icons for the apps in the gallery are fetched from Google’s favicon service, which receives the web address of the app whose icon is shown.

05AI providers and Pip

Pip, SideDock’s companion, works with the AI provider you choose, such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI or OpenRouter, using your own key or account. A model running on your Mac also works. When you chat with Pip or ask it to do something, your message and the context needed to answer it go to that provider. Context can include the date, your upcoming events or what’s on your screen, but only when the task needs it.

Your provider handles that data under its own terms and privacy policy, and its fees are between you and it. We never receive your chats. Chat history is stored only on your Mac.

If you connect SideDock to AI apps on your Mac through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), those apps can use SideDock’s tools on your Mac. What they send to their own services is governed by their policies.

06Crash reports and support

When SideDock crashes or hangs, macOS hands it a diagnostic report. SideDock keeps the ten most recent on your Mac and never uploads them. They leave your Mac only if you choose to attach them to a problem report, which is sent by email from your own Mail app.

When you write to us, we receive your email address, your message and anything you attach, such as your Mac’s model, macOS version and SideDock version. We use it only to help you.

07Updates

SideDock checks getsidedock.com for new versions. The check is an ordinary web request, so it reveals your IP address and SideDock’s version to the server hosting the update feed. No other information about your Mac is sent.

08Purchases and licenses

Purchases are processed by our payment provider, which acts as the merchant of record and is named at checkout. It collects your name, email address, billing country and payment details under its own privacy policy. We never see or store your full card number.

From the payment provider we receive your name, email address, country, the plan you bought, your order details and your license key. We use them to deliver and activate your license, send receipts and important notices about your purchase, provide support, prevent fraud and meet tax and accounting obligations.

When you activate SideDock, your license key and an anonymous identifier for the Mac are checked, so the license is used on no more Macs than your plan allows. To stop fraud, the payment provider and our license service may also look at your IP address and country at checkout and activation.

Your purchase email is how we find your license again: if you lose your key, the Recover license page sends it back to that address. Emails about your purchase, license and security are part of the service and are sent while your license is active. We never send marketing emails unless you ask for them.

09Who else handles data

We don’t sell personal data and we don’t share it for advertising. A few companies process data for us, only as needed to run SideDock and only under our instructions:

• the payment provider, for checkout, receipts, taxes and refunds;
• an email delivery service, for license keys, receipts and replies to your messages;
• the hosting provider and content delivery network that serve this website and the update feed.

We may also disclose data when the law requires it, to protect the rights and safety of our customers or others, or as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of SideDock. In that case this policy keeps applying to your data, and we’ll tell you before anything changes.

These companies may process data in countries other than yours. Where the law requires it, transfers are protected by safeguards such as the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses.

10This website

getsidedock.com has no analytics, no advertising and no tracking cookies. The website’s fonts are loaded from Google Fonts, so Google receives your IP address and browser details when a page loads. The server that hosts this site keeps standard request logs (IP address, page and time) for security and to keep it running.

11Your choices and rights

• See and export your data: Settings › Privacy & Data shows SideDock’s folder and exports your setup to a file.
• Delete your data: Settings › Privacy & Data › Uninstall can move all of SideDock’s data to the Trash. Delete chats, notes or crash reports individually at any time.
• Withdraw permissions: in System Settings › Privacy & Security. Features that need them stop working; nothing else changes.
• Purchase data: write to support@getsidedock.com to ask for a copy of what we hold about you, to correct it or to delete it.

Depending on where you live, laws such as the GDPR in the European Union and the United Kingdom, or the CCPA in California, give you rights over your personal data. These include the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to its use, the right to data portability, and the right to complain to your data protection authority. We use purchase data because it is needed to perform our contract with you and to meet legal obligations. We do not sell or share personal data for advertising.

12How long we keep data

Data on your Mac stays until you delete it. We keep purchase and license records for as long as your license is active, and afterwards as long as tax and accounting laws require (usually up to seven years). Support emails are kept for up to two years after the conversation ends.

13Security

Your secrets are stored in the macOS Keychain, connections to online services are encrypted, and the app is signed so macOS can check it hasn’t been tampered with. No system is perfectly secure, so keep your Mac updated and protected with a password.

14Children

SideDock isn’t directed at children under 13, or under 16 where local law sets that age, and we don’t knowingly collect their personal data. If you believe a child has sent us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

15Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we’ll also announce it in the app or by email to customers before it takes effect.

16Contact

Questions, requests or concerns about privacy: support@getsidedock.com.