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No tracking, just the fine print

Last updated . This policy covers the Universal Display Magnet app and this website.

Universal Display Magnet is a macOS app that arranges your displays, windows and Macs. It is made by Clever Mechanisms, an independent studio, and is not affiliated with Apple.

The short version

Universal Display Magnet does not sell or share personal data. The app has no analytics, no advertising, no tracking and no account to create. Your arrangements, workspaces and window positions stay on your Macs. The app does go online for two things, both described below: checking its license key with Polar, and checking for new versions. This website counts visits anonymously.

What the app stores, and where

Everything stays on your Mac, in ~/Library/Application Support/Universal Display Magnet/:

  • Arrangements, workspaces and your Macs: your display arrangements, saved workspaces and window layouts, and the other Macs you sync with, in records.json.
  • Settings: your preferences, in settings.json.
  • Scrolling Windows: the strip's saved session and the engine's log, in scrolling/. They can contain app names and window titles, and never leave your Mac.
  • Universal Control backups: a copy of the Universal Control arrangement before each change, so it can be put back.

To match windows when restoring, workspaces store each window's app, position, size, Desktop and title. Nothing is captured from the screen: the app never asks for Screen Recording permission.

Network connections

The app makes only these connections:

  • Sync with your own Macs. Only Macs that Universal Control links to this one, found with Bonjour on your local network. Everything they send each other is encrypted end to end between your Macs, with a key derived from the Macs' own identities. Nothing goes through a server or a cloud.
  • Your license. The app checks its license key with Polar, the store that sells it: when you activate it, when it opens or comes to the front, and every 15 minutes while it runs. It sends the key, the activation ID and a random installation ID, never your Mac's name, its hardware identifiers or anything about your displays, windows or workspaces. The key and activation are kept in this Mac's Keychain and aren't synced.
  • Checking for updates. Once a day the app reads the latest version number from this website (universaldisplaymagnet.app/version). The request carries nothing about you beyond what any web request does, such as your IP address, which the website's host handles as described below. Turn it off under Settings → Updates → Check Automatically.

Permissions

  • Device Control and Data Access (Accessibility on older versions of macOS): to see and move other apps' windows.
  • Local Network: to find and sync with your other Macs.

Sharing diagnostics

If you email support, you decide what to send. The app's Universal Control status and windows report leave out window titles but include app names; the Scrolling Windows log and session can include app names and window titles. Read anything before you attach it.

Data collected by the developer

From the app, no usage statistics, no crash reports beyond what you choose to share with Apple through macOS, and no hardware identifiers. Polar's license check, above, receives your license key and a random installation ID. Buying the app shares what's listed under Purchases.

Purchases

Payments are processed by Polar. The developer receives your email address, country and order details to deliver and support your purchase, never your card details.

This website

This website sets no tracking cookies and, apart from Vercel Web Analytics, loads no third-party scripts. It remembers the language you choose in a cookie, and counts visits with Vercel Web Analytics, which is anonymous and cookieless: it records the page, referrer, country, browser, operating system and device type, recognizes a visit by a hash of the request that is discarded after 24 hours, and stores no IP addresses. The site is served by Vercel, which processes standard request logs (such as IP addresses) to deliver and protect it.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date. Questions? Email support@clevermechanisms.dev.