Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 20, 2026

The short version

DriveSync connects your Mac to Google Drive and to nothing else. It uses your own Google OAuth client, so there is no ScaleNinja account, no ScaleNinja server, and no shared credential in the middle. The app contains no analytics, no telemetry, and no crash reporting. Your files move directly between your Mac and your Drive; we never see them, and we could not if we wanted to.

1. Overview

This Privacy Policy explains how DriveSync, a macOS application developed by ScaleNinja Software LLP ("we", "us", or "our"), handles data. It also covers dsync, the open-source command-line tool that DriveSync bundles and drives.

DriveSync is a local-first desktop application. It runs on your Mac, moves files between a folder you choose and a Google Drive folder you choose, and reports what it did. It sends no usage telemetry or file content to ScaleNinja. File content is read, transferred to or from Google, and stored locally as needed for syncing. We receive no automatic reports of which folders you sync or how often you use the app.

2. What DriveSync sends over the network

DriveSync talks to Google, on your behalf, and to no one else. Every transfer is a direct connection between your Mac and Google's servers.

  • Google Drive API (googleapis.com, oauth2.googleapis.com). The bundled dsync tool lists, uploads, downloads, and trashes files in the Drive folder you paired, using the OAuth client you created. This happens when you run a push, pull, or compare, and when the app checks a folder's setup.
  • Google's sign-in page, once per folder, when you authorize it. dsync starts a temporary listener on localhost to receive the authorization code your browser returns, and shuts it down afterwards.

There is no ScaleNinja destination at all. The DriveSync app itself performs no network requests: it has no networking code of its own, sends no analytics, no crash reports, no usage pings, and no license checks. Links you click in the app, such as the product page, the setup guide or a file on Drive, are handed to your default browser, which makes the connection.

3. Your Google credentials

DriveSync ships with no Google credentials of its own. You (or your Workspace administrator) create an OAuth desktop client in your own Google Cloud project and hand its JSON file to the setup wizard. That design is deliberate: it means no shared secret is baked into the app, your API quota is yours alone, and the access you grant is between you and Google.

  • The client JSON is read once, when you select it, to check that it is a Desktop-app client and to pass the client ID and secret to dsync init through environment variables. The original JSON file is not copied. dsync stores its client ID and secret in .gd/config.json and sends them to Google during authorization and token refresh. Deleting the download does not break an existing pairing; keep it privately if you plan to authorize more folders.
  • The access and refresh tokens Google issues are written by dsync into a .gd directory inside the folder you are syncing, with file permissions 0600 on macOS and other Unix platforms. The app delegates authentication to dsync, which sends tokens to Google as required. Tokens are not sent to ScaleNinja.
  • Revoking access is done at myaccount.google.com/permissions, without involving ScaleNinja. Deleting .gd removes the local credentials and configuration for that folder; it does not revoke Google's grant or any copies of the credentials elsewhere.

Your use of Google Drive is governed by Google's Privacy Policy and the terms of your own Google Cloud project.

4. What DriveSync stores on your Mac

DriveSync keeps a small amount of state so it can show you your folders and what happened last time. All of it lives in the app's sandbox container (~/Library/Containers/com.scaleninja.DriveSync/) and none of it is transmitted:

  • Your folders: the path of each synced folder and a macOS security-scoped bookmark, which is how a sandboxed app remembers that you granted it access to that folder.
  • The Google account for each folder: the email address and storage figures reported by dsync status, so the menu can show which account a folder belongs to without contacting Google every time.
  • Sync defaults: how files are compared and how many transfers run in parallel.
  • The last run for each folder: when it ran, which direction, a one-line summary, and up to fifty failures, each holding the path of the item and the explanation Google gave for refusing it. This is what lets the app still tell you why something failed after you close the window.

dsync keeps its own state in the .gd directory inside the synced folder: the client configuration and tokens described above, a SQLite index of the Drive folder, and cached checksums. DriveSync reads that index read-only to build exact links to files on Drive. Moving the app to the Trash can leave its sandbox container behind; deleting .gd removes dsync's local state. Neither action deletes your synced files.

5. Your files

Files move directly between your Mac and Google Drive. They do not pass through any ScaleNinja system, and no copy, index, thumbnail, or file name is ever sent to us.

Every run shows you a plan first, listing what would be uploaded, downloaded, overwritten or trashed, and transfers nothing until you confirm. Nothing is deleted unless you turn on the deletion option for that run, and deletions go to the Drive trash or to the macOS Trash rather than being destroyed.

6. Mac App Store distribution

DriveSync is a paid application sold through the Mac App Store.

  • Payment: Apple handles the transaction. We never receive your payment card, billing address, or Apple ID.
  • Data: Apple provides us with anonymised, aggregated sales and download reports. We do not receive your name or email address.

Your relationship with Apple is governed by the Apple Media Services Terms and Apple's Privacy Policy.

7. The dsync command-line tool

dsync is ScaleNinja's open-source command-line tool, released under the MIT License and developed in the open at github.com/scaleninja/drivesync. DriveSync bundles a copy and runs it; you can also install it on its own with Homebrew or from GitHub Releases.

Everything in sections 2 to 5 applies to dsync as well: it uses the OAuth client you create, talks only to Google, keeps its state beside your files, and reports to nobody. Because it is open source, you do not have to take our word for any of it. The source is public, and the licences of the components it links are listed in the repository.

8. Support communications

If you email us for support, we keep your email address and the message history so we can help you and follow up. If you send us a failure report copied from the app, it contains the file paths and the error text Google returned; please remove anything you would rather not share before sending it.

9. Website analytics

The DriveSync app contains no analytics, tracking SDKs, advertising frameworks, or crash reporters. The DriveSync pages on this website, like the rest of scaleninja.com, use web analytics to understand aggregate traffic:

  • Umami: privacy-focused website analytics and event measurement, designed to avoid cookies and cross-site tracking. It tells us aggregate page views, referrers, device and browser information, and which buttons get clicked.
  • Google Analytics: website traffic and usage analysis. It may use cookies or similar technologies and may process page views, approximate location, device and browser information, and interactions with the website.

These run on the website only. They are not part of the app, and the app sends no usage or file information to ScaleNinja, Umami, Google Analytics, or anyone else.

10. Third-party services

  • Apple: Mac App Store distribution, code signing, and review. The running app does not communicate with Apple servers.
  • Google: the Drive API and sign-in, reached through the OAuth client in your own Google Cloud project. This is the only service the app connects to, and it connects on your behalf.
  • Umami and Google Analytics: website analytics, as described above.

11. Security

DriveSync is signed and distributed through the Mac App Store, which means:

  • The app's code is verified as originating from ScaleNinja Software LLP.
  • Apple performs automated malware scanning on every submitted build.
  • The app runs in the macOS App Sandbox, and the bundled dsync inherits that sandbox. It can reach the folders you have explicitly granted and the network, and nothing else.
  • Access to your folders is held as a security-scoped bookmark from the folder you picked in an open panel. DriveSync has no blanket access to your disk.

Because we operate no server and receive no data, there is no ScaleNinja database that could be breached to expose your files, your folder names, or your Drive account.

12. Children's Privacy

DriveSync is a technical utility aimed at professionals and enthusiasts. It is not intended for children under 13.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

14. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or DriveSync's data practices, please contact us:

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