Privacy

Effective date: September 30, 2026. Revision: 2026-09-30.

The short version: Backdrop keeps your workspace and project data on your Mac. There’s no account, no analytics, no ads and no tracking. Data leaves your Mac only when you buy or activate a license, check for updates, or choose to send feedback. This notice lists what is handled, why, by whom and for how long.

Who is responsible

Lukas Flyden, an independent developer in Sweden, is responsible for the personal data described here (the “controller”). Contact: backdrop.support@proton.me · Ottilia Adelborgs Gata 6C, 371 57 Karlskrona, Sweden.

Link (Sold through Link, LLC and its Stripe affiliates) is separately responsible for the payment data it collects at checkout, under the Link privacy policy.

On your Mac

• Your projects, layouts, rules, shortcuts and settings are stored only on your Mac. Nothing about your windows, apps, projects or documents is sent anywhere.
• Backdrop uses macOS Accessibility access to move and manage windows. If you turn on smoother animations, it uses Screen Recording to capture temporary window images, which stay in memory and are never saved or sent.
• Your license, your trial dates and a random device key are stored in your Mac’s Keychain. The trial runs entirely on your Mac.
• After a crash, Backdrop reads the macOS crash report on your Mac to draft a short summary. Nothing is sent unless you review it and choose to send it.

This website

The site is hosted by Cloudflare. It loads no analytics, ads, social widgets or outside fonts; everything comes from this site. Like any website, it receives your IP address and browser details when you visit, to deliver pages and protect the site.

The site sets one cookie, and only when you choose Subscribe or Buy Backdrop. It’s named “__Host-backdrop-purchase” and holds a random value that connects your browser to your checkout, so the return page can show your order status and activation code. It lasts 7 days, page scripts can’t read it, and it isn’t used for tracking. It’s needed for the purchase you asked for, so it doesn’t require consent. The server stores only a one-way hash of it.

To prevent abuse, the purchase, recovery, withdrawal, license and feedback services count requests per network address. They keep a keyed hash of your IP address (for IPv6, of its network prefix), never the address itself, and delete these counters within 2 days. Error logs record only the request method, page path and type of error, never your IP address, email address or code, and are kept for up to 7 days.

Buying a license

Checkout runs on Link. Link collects your payment details, email address, name, billing address and anything else it needs for payment, tax and fraud checks, and handles them under its own privacy policy. I never see your full card number.

Link shares order information with me: your name, email address, billing address or country, the type and last digits of your payment method, any tax ID you gave, and the order details. I can see it in my Stripe account and use it only to deliver and support your purchase, handle refunds and disputes, and keep accounts.

The purchase service stores:

• your email address, encrypted, and a keyed hash of it so you can recover your code;
• reference numbers for your checkout, payment, customer record and subscription at Link and Stripe;
• what you bought, the amount and currency (including the local-currency amount, if you paid in one), the payment, refund and dispute status and, for a subscription, its renewal status and paid-through date;
• your activation code, encrypted, and a one-way hash of it;
• an encrypted copy of the email that delivered your code, and whether it was delivered.

Delivering and recovering your code

Your activation code is emailed to your purchase address through Resend, an email delivery service. Resend keeps sent messages and delivery logs for 30 days. For a week after sending, the purchase service asks Resend whether the email was delivered or bounced.

When you use Recover purchase, the address you type is turned into a keyed hash and compared with purchases. If one matches, the code is emailed to the purchase address only. The typed address isn’t stored; its hash and a hash of your IP address are kept for up to 2 days to limit repeated requests.

When you use Withdraw from contract here, the name, email address and receipt number you enter are stored encrypted, with the time they were received, as a record of your withdrawal. A keyed hash of the email address is stored with it and compared with purchases; if one matches, the record also notes which purchase it is. A confirmation is emailed through Resend to the address you gave, with a copy to support; it repeats the name and receipt number only if the address matches a purchase, and an encrypted copy of that email and whether it was delivered are kept with the record. To limit repeated requests, the hash of the address, alone and together with a hash of your IP address, is kept for up to 2 days.

Activation and license checks

When you activate, Backdrop sends your activation code and a random device key created on your Mac. The license service stores only a one-way hash of the device key, which tells it which Mac holds the license, and whether that activation is active. The key isn’t based on your Mac’s serial number or hardware.

While a license is active and your Mac is online, Backdrop checks in with the license service about once a day, and when your Mac wakes or its network changes. Each check sends the activation ID and device key and nothing about your windows, apps or projects. Deactivating sends the same two values.

Feedback and crash reports

Feedback from Backdrop Settings sends your message, its category and, if you tick the box, your Backdrop and macOS versions. A crash summary is sent the same way, only if you choose to: it contains the versions, processor type, the error and the code locations involved, with your home folder name removed, and you can edit it first.

Feedback isn’t linked to your purchase, email address or license, and I can’t reply to it. If you’d like an answer, email support instead. Feedback is kept until I delete it and is included in backups. To have a message deleted, email me roughly when you sent it and what it said.

Update checks and downloads

Backdrop uses Sparkle to check for updates. A check fetches the list of versions from downloads.backdrop-app.com, which is stored and served by Cloudflare (R2). Like any web request, it reveals your IP address and Backdrop’s version to Cloudflare. I don’t keep a log of these requests. Backdrop doesn’t send a system profile. You can turn automatic checks off in Settings → General. Downloading Backdrop works the same way.

Support email

If you email support, I receive your email address and whatever you write. My mailbox is hosted by Proton in Switzerland.

Why I use your data

• To provide what you asked for (performing our contract): delivering, activating, checking, recovering and moving your license, handling refunds, and answering support requests.
• Legitimate interests: preventing abuse and fraud, keeping the services secure and working (error logs and backups), offering updates, and improving Backdrop from feedback you choose to send.
• Legal obligations: keeping accounting records and meeting tax and consumer-law requirements.

You can object to processing based on legitimate interests at any time by emailing me.

Who else handles data

• Cloudflare hosts this website, the purchase and license services and their database, for me.
• Stripe and Link handle payments, tax, receipts and payment support, and are independently responsible for payment data.
• Resend sends activation-code, recovery and withdrawal-confirmation emails for me.
• Proton hosts my support mailbox.
• Apple (iCloud Drive) stores encrypted backups of the purchase database. They are encrypted before upload with a key only I hold.

I don’t sell your data, share it for advertising or use it for profiling. I disclose it to authorities only when the law requires it.

Transfers outside the EU

Cloudflare, Stripe and Resend are US companies, and your data may be processed in the United States and other countries. Each is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and also uses the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. Proton is based in Switzerland, which the EU recognizes as protecting personal data adequately.

How long data is kept

• Purchase cookie and its hash: 7 days, unless you start a checkout; then the hash is kept with that purchase record.
• Hashed request counters: up to 2 days.
• Error logs: up to 7 days.
• Resend’s copies of emails: 30 days.
• Purchase, license, activation and withdrawal records, including your encrypted email address and code: while your license can be used, then 7 years for accounting, refunds and disputes.
• Feedback: until I delete it.
• Support emails: 2 years after the conversation ends.
• Encrypted backups: 90 days. Deleted data can also remain in older backups and in the database’s restore history, which Cloudflare keeps for up to 30 days, until they expire.

Your rights

You can ask for a copy of your data, or ask me to correct it, delete it, limit or stop its use, or give it to you in a portable format. Email me from your purchase address so I can confirm the request is yours. I’ll answer within one month. If I must keep some records, for example for accounting or a legal claim, I’ll tell you. Deleting your purchase records means I can no longer recover or support your license.

Link handles requests about payment data and your Link account. Asking Link to delete your data also cancels subscriptions you bought through Link.

If you’re unhappy with how I handle your data, you can complain to the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten, IMY), imy.se, Box 8114, 104 20 Stockholm, Sweden, or to the data protection authority where you live.

Private beta

Private beta builds use a separate license service run the same way. It stores a hash of your activation code, a hash of your device key and whether the activation is active, and it limits requests using a hash of your IP address without storing the address. Feedback sent from beta builds is stored there until I delete it.

Changes to this notice

If the way Backdrop handles data changes, I’ll update this page and its effective date before the change takes effect.