Glance collects nothing

No data collection

• No Glance account, ever — not even for Pro
• No analytics
• No telemetry
• No ad or tracking networks

Updates talk to one host, and you can turn them off

Glance checks for new versions in the background by default, and any time you pick Glance ▸ Check for Updates… from the menu. To stop the automatic check, turn off Check for Updates Automatically in Glance ▸ Settings — then it only runs when you ask.

The check fetches a small update feed from https://glance.md/appcast.xml and compares the version number. No identifiers, no headers beyond what your system sends to any HTTPS request, no other host. If a newer version exists, Glance downloads it from glance.md and installs it when you relaunch — the download's signature is verified against a key built into the app before anything is installed. That's the entire update conversation: two requests to one host, only when there's an update.

Licensing talks to Polar, only if you buy Pro

If you never buy a Glance Pro license, this section doesn't apply to you — nothing below ever runs. There's no trial ping, no registration, and no check-in.

When you activate a license, Glance sends your license key and a label for the Mac to https://api.polar.sh, and stores the key in your login Keychain. The label is your Mac's name as macOS reports it — often something like "Klim's MacBook Pro" — so you can tell your machines apart in the Polar customer portal and free up a slot. That's the only place a name is involved, and it's the name you gave the Mac.

After that, a licensed copy re-checks the key with Polar on launch, so a refunded or revoked license stops unlocking Pro. If that check can't reach Polar, Glance assumes the license is fine and carries on — being offline never locks you out of something you paid for. Deactivating a Mac in Settings sends one more request to release the slot. No file contents, no document names, and nothing about how you use the app is ever part of any of this.

The purchase itself happens on Polar, not here. Polar Software, Inc. is the Merchant of Record for Glance, so your payment details go to them and never touch glance.md or the app. What Polar keeps is covered by Polar's privacy policy.

File access

Glance opens files you select in Finder, drop onto the dock, or preview through Quick Look. The app reads files locally and writes nothing back.

Crash reports

macOS shows a system dialog after a crash and asks if you want to share the report with Apple. Glance receives nothing from this flow. Sharing stays your choice.

If you write to me

The app collects nothing. The feedback form on this site is the one place you can hand me something, and only because you typed it and pressed send.

What gets kept: your message, the email address if you left one, the country your request came from, and the date. I also keep a one-way hash of your IP address — not the address itself — purely so a script can't flood the form. No name, no account, no cookie, no tracking of what you did before or after.

It's used to reply to you and to decide what to build next. It isn't sold, shared, or mailed to a list, and there's no newsletter to be added to.

Bugs and requests sometimes become public issues on GitHub so the work can be tracked in the open. I write those by hand from your report — your email address is never part of one, and I take out anything that identifies you or your files. Your message is only quoted on this site if you ticked the box that asks, and then it's your words and first name, never your address.

Want it gone? Email hello@glance.md and I'll delete it — the message, the address, the lot. You don't have to explain why.

Changes to this policy

Updates appear on this page with a new date at the top. The promise stays the same. Glance reads markdown and nothing else leaves your Mac.

Contact

Questions? Reach out at hello@glance.md.