Privacy Policy
Last updated: November 2, 2026
The short version: SideDeck does not collect, store or share your personal data. There is no account and no SideDeck server. Your phone talks only to your own Mac, and everything stays on those two devices.
This policy covers the SideDeck phone app (the “phone app”), the SideDeck Mac app (the “Mac app”), together the “Apps”, and this website. They are provided by Hakjae Kim (“we”, “us”).
1. Data we collect
None. The Apps contain no analytics, advertising, tracking or third-party SDKs, and they don't send anything to us or to any third party. We cannot see your decks, your buttons, what you press or which apps you use.
In Apple's App Store privacy terms, the phone app for iPhone is “Data Not Collected”.
2. Data stored on your devices
To work, the Apps keep the following on your own devices. None of it is sent to us.
| Where | What | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Phone | A random device identifier, the name and identifier of your paired Mac, and the pairing key (in the phone's secure storage, such as the iOS Keychain) | To reconnect to your Mac securely without pairing again |
| Phone | Your app settings: theme, language and haptics | To remember your preferences |
| Mac | Your decks, buttons, System Bar, layout, button style and Scenes (app names, window titles, positions and sizes), and automatic backups of them | The Mac app is where you build and keep your decks |
| Mac | Paired phones' names and identifiers, and their pairing keys (in the macOS Keychain) | To recognise your phone |
Optional features on the Mac
- Site Decks read the address of the page shown in Chrome, Safari or Notion through Accessibility, to pick the right deck. The address never leaves your Mac.
3. Communication between your phone and Mac
The phone app and the Mac app communicate directly over your local network, or over a direct Wi-Fi link between the two devices. Nothing passes through the internet or our servers. Every message is end-to-end encrypted with keys created for that session, and the devices only accept each other after you confirm the same 6-digit code on both screens.
The Mac sends the phone what it needs to draw your buttons (labels, icons, colours, app icons and the name of the app in front). The phone sends the Mac its device name and identifier when connecting, and after that only which button you pressed, System Bar levels such as volume, the size its buttons are drawn at and whether it is in dark mode, and whether you have SideDeck Pro.
4. Permissions
- Local Network (phone and Mac): to find and connect to your paired device.
- Accessibility (Mac): to press shortcuts, choose menu items, type text and arrange windows when you tap a button. SideDeck does nothing with this access other than what your buttons and enabled features do.
5. Purchases
If SideDeck offers in-app purchases, they are processed entirely by Apple. We never receive your payment details. Apple's privacy policy applies to the purchase.
6. Crash reports
If you choose to share analytics with app developers in your Apple device settings, Apple may provide us with anonymous crash reports and usage statistics. You can turn this off at any time in Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements.
7. This website
This website does not use analytics or advertising. It sets one cookie only if you pick a language, to remember your choice. It is hosted by Vercel, which, like any web host, may process technical data such as your IP address and browser type in its server logs to deliver and secure the site.
8. Deleting your data
Because everything is on your devices, you are in full control:
- On your phone: Settings › Choose Another Device, then Remove next to your Mac, removes the pairing. Deleting the app removes its data.
- On Mac: menu bar › Preferences › Paired Devices › Remove deletes a pairing. Your decks and backups are in
~/Library/Application Support/SideDeckand the app's preferences.
9. Children
The Apps do not collect personal data from anyone, including children.
10. Changes
If we change this policy, we will update it on this page and change the date above. If a future version of the Apps ever needed to collect data, we would explain it here before that version is released.
11. Contact
Questions about privacy? Email hakjae.dev@gmail.com.