Security
What SnapForMac can do on your Mac, and what it does
A window manager needs the Accessibility permission, and that permission is powerful. This page says, in plain words, what the app uses it for, what it never does, and what leaves your Mac.
The permission
Used for window frames, and nothing more
With the Accessibility permission an app could read other apps' windows and watch your input. SnapForMac does neither. These are the rules the app is built to.
The app does
The app never does
Reads a window's position, size, title and the app it belongs to
Reads the text or contents inside another app's window
Sets a window's position and size, and brings it forward
Clicks in, types into or closes another app's window
Watches the mouse button and drags, to see a window being moved
Watches what you type. The keyboard is not part of what it listens to
Holds window titles in memory while the Snap Layouts bar is open
Saves, logs or sends a window title, or anything else about your windows
What leaves your Mac
Three destinations, and nothing else
No window titles, app names, layouts, shortcuts or usage counts are ever sent. There is no analytics, no crash reporting and no telemetry.
| To | What is sent |
|---|---|
| Our payment provider (api.polar.sh) | Your licence key, our store's id, the id of this activation and a scrambled id for this Mac. The Mac's real hardware id, serial number and network address are never sent. |
| snapformac.com | The app's name and version, and nothing else. No licence key, no id for this Mac and no plan. We count the request by version; no IP address is kept. |
| cdn.snapformac.com | The app's version and platform, to see whether a newer version exists, and the download itself when you choose to install it. |
When each connection happens is on the privacy page.
The keyboard is not watched
Shortcuts are registered with macOS as named key combinations, the way any Mac app registers one. The app is told when one of them is pressed, and nothing else.
- The part that watches for a dragged window listens to the mouse only
- No key press is recorded or stored
- Nothing is ever typed into another app
Window titles stay in memory
A window title can hold something private, such as a document name. The Snap Layouts bar needs titles to list your windows, and that is all they are used for.
- Held only while the bar is open
- Never saved to disk
- Never sent anywhere
No Screen Recording permission
The app never asks to see your screen. That is why the bar lists windows by app and title instead of showing pictures of them.
- One permission only: Accessibility
- No screenshots, no screen capture
- No camera, microphone or location
Your Mac is not identified
A licence key is tied to a Mac by an id. The app sends a scrambled version of the Mac's hardware id, which cannot be turned back into the real one.
- The real hardware id never leaves the Mac
- No serial number, no network address
- The free version sends no id at all
Our website cannot control the app
The one thing snapformac.com can do is show a notice in the app. The app decides what it will accept.
- Shown as plain text, never as a web page
- Links only to snapformac.com, over https
- With no answer, the app shows its built-in text
The licence check fails safe
If the licence server cannot be reached or is busy, Pro stays as it was. Only a definite "not valid" switches it off.
- No network never locks you out
- Without Pro, the free features keep working
- Nothing secret of ours is inside the app
Updates
A new version has to prove where it came from
An app that updates itself is a way in, so an update is checked before it is installed. If a check fails, nothing is installed and the version you have keeps running.
- 1
The app asks our own download server, and only that server, whether a newer version exists. It checks a little after launch and once a day.
- 2
Nothing is installed by itself. The app tells you a version is ready, and it installs when you click.
- 3
The download carries a signature made with a key that only we hold. The app has the matching public half built in and refuses a file that does not match.
Reporting
Found a security problem?
Write to [email protected] with what you found and how to see it. Please give us time to fix it before you publish it. The machine-readable version of this is at /.well-known/security.txt.
Get SnapForMac
Put your windows side by side today
Halves, quarters and drag to snap are free. SnapForMac Pro starts at $14.99, paid once. Needs macOS 13 or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel.