Privacy Policy

1. Overview

This Privacy Policy explains how DeltaSnap and DeltaSync, macOS applications developed by ScaleNinja Software LLP ("we", "us", or "our"), handle data.

Both are local-first desktop applications. Neither collects, transmits, or stores usage data or file content from your Mac. We cannot see which files you snapshot, which versions you restore, which directories you sync, or how often you use either app.

2. What DeltaSnap sends over the network

DeltaSnap connects to exactly two hosts, for two purposes. Everything else it does is local.

• License activation and deactivation (api.polar.sh). Sent only when you click Activate or Deactivate. The request contains your license key and a one-way hash of a hardware identifier, so the store can tell your Macs apart without us or Polar receiving the identifier itself. A license is checked once, at activation, and never again: there is no periodic revalidation, no scheduled check-in, and no grace period that can run out.
• Update checks (scaleninja.com). DeltaSnap asks once a day whether a newer version exists, using Sparkle. This is an ordinary download of a signed release feed. It carries no identifier for you or your Mac beyond what any HTTPS request necessarily reveals, such as your IP address. Updates are never installed silently: DeltaSnap asks first. You can turn automatic checks off in Settings.

There is no third destination of ours. DeltaSnap sends no analytics, no crash reports, no usage pings, and no license heartbeats.

Email notifications (optional, off by default)

DeltaSnap can email you its notifications and, if you choose, its activity log. This is off until you set it up in Settings → Notifications or with dsnap email, and it works through your own mail account or mail server: the SMTP server address, port, user name, and password you enter. When it is on, DeltaSnap's background service connects to that server, and to nothing else for this purpose, whether or not the app is open. ScaleNinja receives no copy and runs no relay.

• What is sent. The text of each notification or activity entry: its title, message, time, and volume name, and for activities the snapshot name, the operation, and any file path involved, such as a restored file. Recipients are the addresses you enter.
• Where credentials live. The server, port, user name, sender, recipients, and password are stored by DeltaSnap's background service in a root-owned file on your Mac, readable only by an administrator, alongside its other settings. The app and the command-line tool can set or clear the password and are only told whether one is stored. Uninstalling DeltaSnap removes the file.
• How it is protected. SSL/TLS and STARTTLS connections verify the server's certificate and host name against macOS's trust store. Plain-text delivery is available for relays on a private network and is labelled as such in the app.

Turning email notifications off stops all of this immediately. See Notifications and email alerts for how messages are grouped and what each option sends.

Using DeltaSnap with no network at all

If you would rather DeltaSnap never contact anything, ask us for an offline license. It is a block of text we email you, verified entirely on your Mac against a signature built into the app. A Mac activated this way makes zero licensing requests, and you can confirm that by blocking DeltaSnap in a firewall such as Little Snitch. Turning off automatic update checks, and leaving email notifications off, then leaves the app with no outbound traffic whatsoever.

3. What stays on your Mac

Everything DeltaSnap is actually for. None of the following is ever transmitted:

• Snapshots. APFS snapshots live on the same volume as the data they capture. They are a filesystem feature, created and deleted through macOS. They are never copied, uploaded, or mirrored anywhere by DeltaSnap.
• File names and indexes. To let you search history and compare two points in time, DeltaSnap builds a local index of paths and metadata. It is stored in a root-owned database at /var/db/com.scaleninja.DeltaSnap/ and never leaves the machine.
• Schedules, retention rules, and exclusions. Stored locally alongside the index.
• Licensing state. Your license, or the offline license you pasted, is stored root-owned and readable only by an administrator.
• Logs. Written locally. They are never sent to us. If you choose to attach one to a support email, that is your decision and you can read it first.

4. Full Disk Access

DeltaSnap asks for Full Disk Access so it can enumerate and index protected user data, and so it can restore files you ask it to restore. This is a permission you grant to your Mac's copy of the app; it does not grant access to us. Nothing read under that permission is transmitted anywhere.

One consequence worth understanding: a mounted historical snapshot can expose older copies of protected files to anyone using that Mac. Grant Full Disk Access only on a machine you trust.

5. DeltaSync

DeltaSync is a free graphical front end for rsync, used to compare and synchronise directories. It ships with its own copy of rsync inside the app bundle.

• DeltaSync makes no network connections. It contains no analytics, no telemetry, no update checker, and no licensing code. It contacts no servers.
• It reads and writes only the paths you choose. DeltaSync operates on the source and target directories you select, and nothing else. It does not scan your Mac, and it has no interest in files outside the job you set up.
• Network volumes are your choice. DeltaSync can sync to internal, external, and mounted network drives. If you point a job at a network volume, rsync writes to that volume, because that is what you asked it to do. The connection is made by macOS to a destination you selected, not by DeltaSync to anything of ours.
• Logs stay local. DeltaSync writes a log of what it did to your Mac so you can review a sync afterwards.

DeltaSync comes with absolutely no warranty, as stated at the point of download. Synchronisation moves and overwrites real files: review a comparison before running a sync.

6. What we see when you buy

Polar.sh is our Merchant of Record. When you buy DeltaSnap, Polar shares your name and email address with us so we can deliver your license, provide support, and send product communications such as important updates and security advisories. Payment-card details are processed by Polar's payment provider and never reach our systems.

If you request an offline license, we use the order details you send us to confirm the purchase, and we keep a record of which license we issued to which customer so we can reissue it if you lose it.

7. Support communications

If you email us for support, we retain your email address and message history so we can help you and follow up. We do not ask for, and do not want, copies of your files.

8. Website analytics

The ScaleNinja website uses Umami and Google Analytics to understand basic traffic and button usage. This is separate from both apps, neither of which contains analytics code. See the main Privacy Policy for details of website analytics, cookies, data retention, and your rights.

9. Children

Neither app is directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the products change. Material changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date above. Because both apps are local-first by design, we do not expect the substance of this policy to change often.

11. Contact us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or how DeltaSnap and DeltaSync handle data, please contact us:

• General email: contact@scaleninja.com
• Support: support@scaleninja.com
• Website: scaleninja.com

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