Privacy policy

Last updated October 2, 2026.

The short version

Notchling runs on your Mac. It does not have an account system, does not send analytics, and does not upload anything you do. Your pets, stats, items and diary are saved in files inside your Mac's Application Support folder. The app only goes online to check your license and your invites, as described below.

What the app notices

To react to your day, Notchling observes system events such as the charger being plugged in, screenshots being saved, which app is in front, music playback, and whether a camera or microphone is in use. It only notices that these things happened. It never opens your screenshots, never records audio or video, and never reads what you copy.

Optional permissions

Accessibility access, if you grant it, lets Notchling count how fast you type and read the title of the frontmost browser tab during focus sessions. Keystrokes are counted, never recorded. Calendar access, if you grant it, is used only to remind you when a meeting is about to start.

Purchases

Payments are handled by our checkout provider, which receives the details needed to process your order. We receive your email address and order details so we can deliver your license and help with refunds.

Your license

When you activate Notchling, and every few days after that, the app sends our license server your license key, an id for your Mac (a one-way scramble of its hardware id, which can't be turned back into it), your Mac's name and the app version. We use these only to check that the license is valid and to show you which Macs it's on. After activating, Notchling keeps working when you're offline.

Emails

We only send a few emails, and never newsletters: your license key after you buy, your key again if you ask for it on the license page, and a short note when a friend gets Notchling with your invite link. They're sent through Resend (resend.com), which receives your email address and the message only to deliver it. That note never says who joined, and your friend never sees your email address.

Invites

To show your invite page and give you coins when friends join, the app sends your pet's name and kind along with your license key. Your invite page shows your pet's name to anyone who has your link; it never shows your email address. When someone opens an invite link, this website saves a small cookie with the invite code for 60 days, so the friend who shared it gets their coins.

This website

This site does not use advertising trackers or set cookies for marketing. The only cookie is the invite cookie described above. The site also remembers your day or night setting, and which pets you hatched on the egg demo, in your own browser.

Questions

If you have a question about privacy, reply to your purchase receipt and we'll get back to you.