Latent
Privacy Policy
The short version: your files stay on your Mac, and Latent has no analytics of any kind.
What matters most, in one paragraph. Latent analyzes your disk on your Mac. The contents of your files are never transmitted anywhere — the application contains no code that uploads file contents, and no file names, paths, or directory listings are sent to us either — with three opt-in exceptions inside feedback, described below, each sent only if you tick its box: the activity log, which contains folder paths, the most recent cleanup record, which lists the folders that run moved, and a list of untracked cache folder names and sizes. There is no analytics and no telemetry in the app — nothing is sent because time passed or a screen was opened — and no account to create. Crash reports are the one diagnostic the app can send, and never silently: the first time macOS leaves one, Latent asks, with three answers — always, this once, or never — and remembers the one you chose; a report carries the stack trace, file paths and the tail of Latent's own log, with every home folder name blanked out and no file contents, and section 3 describes it in full. Latent makes network requests in only five situations, each described below and each started by you: checking a public registry to prove something can be downloaded again, activating your license key — or releasing it from this Mac, and the launch-time check that follows activation — checking whether a newer version exists, sending feedback — which happens only when you write a report and press Send — a crash report once you have said it may go, and fetching something back when you press a button in the Recovery tab (that one is a real download, run by the tool that owns it, using credentials that tool already has).
1. Who is responsible
FatTail Labs ("we", "us") is the controller for personal data described here. Contact: support@latentmac.com. This policy covers the macOS application Latent (the "Software") and the website latentmac.com (the "Site"). It should be read together with our Terms of Use.
2. What stays on your Mac
To do its job the Software reads file and folder names, paths, sizes, and timestamps on your Mac. This information is processed locally, is shown only to you, and is not sent to us.
The Software keeps its own working data in a folder inside your home directory,
~/.latent:
index.json— a cache of the last scan, so re-opening the app is fast.history.jsonl— per-scan totals by category and owner, which draw the "space over time" chart.undo/— the undo records for each cleanup, so a run can be reversed.quarantine/— items you sent to the observation window, plus its ledger.archives/— data you chose to relocate, if you used that feature.
These files belong to you. You can inspect them, and deleting the
~/.latent folder removes the Software's working data — the scan
index, history, logs, quarantine, undo records and the local licence-gate cache
(note that this also discards pending undo records and anything still in
quarantine). A few preferences stay in macOS's own settings store for the app:
your licence key, a fallback device identifier, the language you picked, and
whether you have seen the welcome card. Moving the application to the Trash does not remove them; the Terminal command defaults delete com.fattaillabs.latent does.
3. What leaves your Mac, and why
| When | Where it goes | What is sent |
|---|---|---|
| Proving recovery — when the Software checks that an item can be downloaded again, before it lets you delete it | The vendor's own public registry: formulae.brew.sh, pypi.org, registry.npmjs.org, huggingface.co, registry.ollama.ai, repo1.maven.org, dl.google.com (Maven) |
Only the public identifier of the package, model, or artifact — for
example google/gemma-2-2b-it or numpy==2.1.0. No file
paths, no local file names, no identifiers of you or your Mac. As with any
web request, the service you contact can see your IP address. |
| License activation, validation, and a launch-time check of whether this Mac is licensed | Our licensing service at api.latentmac.com (with a fallback host on workers.dev) | At activation and release: your license key, the application version (activation only), and a device identifier that is a one-way SHA-256 hash of your Mac's hardware UUID, truncated. The launch-time check sends the device identifier alone. The raw hardware identifier is never sent, and the hash cannot be turned back into it. Purpose: to enforce the three-Mac limit of your license. |
| Update check | latentmac.com | An ordinary request for a small file (version.json) that
states the current version. Nothing about you or your Mac is added to it,
beyond what any web request carries (IP address, user agent). It runs once, a little after launch, and can be turned off in Settings › General. |
| Feedback you send — only when you write a report and press Send | Our feedback service at api.latentmac.com, and from there into our private issue tracker on GitHub | Your message, the app and macOS version, and — only if you leave that
box ticked — the recent activity log (up to 1,200 lines), with your home folder path replaced
by ~ before it leaves your Mac. A second, separately
ticked box can attach the most recent cleanup record — the list of
folders that run moved, where from, and when — with the same
~ replacement; it is shown to you before sending and is
off by default. A third, separately
ticked box can attach the names and sizes of your largest untracked
cache folders (from ~/Library/Caches and
~/.cache only), so we can teach Latent tools it doesn't
know yet; it is off by default. An email address only if you
type one, so we can reply; leave it blank and the report is anonymous. The
composer shows you the log before you send it. Nothing else is sent in the background — the one exception is a crash report after you have chosen “Always send”, described in the next row. |
| Crash reports — only after you have chosen it, and reversible | Our feedback service at api.latentmac.com, and from there into our private issue tracker on GitHub | When Latent has quit unexpectedly, macOS keeps a crash report on your Mac. The next time Latent opens it asks, once, what to do with it: send it every time, send this one only, or never. Only “Always send” makes later reports leave without a further question, and you can turn that off at any time in Settings › Privacy. A report contains the crash’s stack trace and file paths, together with the last part of Latent’s own activity log; every home folder name is blanked out before it leaves, and no file contents are ever included. The same report can be attached by hand when you send feedback. |
Those are the only five — crash reports leave only after you have said so, feedback and Recovery fetches happen only when you ask for them, and after a licence key has been activated on a Mac, launch includes a licence check that sends the device identifier alone. If you use the Software offline, none of them happen — the Software will simply report that a claim could not be proven, and will refuse to delete on unproven evidence rather than guess.
4. What we never collect
- The contents of your files — there is no feature that transmits them.
- File names, paths, or listings of what is on your Mac.
- Analytics, telemetry, or usage statistics. The application contains none. Crash reports are not collected either unless you choose to send them (section 3).
- Advertising identifiers, location, contacts, or browsing history.
We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it for advertising. No account is required to use the Software.
5. The website
- Hosting. The Site runs on Cloudflare, which processes standard request data (including IP address) to deliver pages and protect against abuse.
- Issue tracking. Feedback you send is mirrored into our private repository on GitHub (GitHub, Inc.) so it can be worked on. It is not public.
- Checkout. The purchase button sends you to Polar's checkout at polar.sh. Polar sets its own cookies and processes data under its own privacy policy.
- Preferences. Our Terms and Privacy pages store your language choice in your browser's local storage. It stays in your browser and is not used to track you.
- Download counts. The Site counts downloads per day and country. The count holds no identifier and cannot be traced to anyone.
- Campaign measurement. Only when you arrive through a link that carries a
campaign tag —
utm_parameters, or a click identifier an ad platform adds to its links (such as X'stwclid) — the Site records that visit, a download click from it, and a "send to my Mac" press: the time, the tag values including the click identifier, your country (from Cloudflare), the page, and your operating system family. It sets no cookie and records nothing for visits without a tag. We use it only to see which campaigns bring people to Latent; it is not shared with the ad platforms or anyone else.
6. Purchases
Our orders are handled by Polar (Polar Software Inc.) as Merchant of Record. Polar collects and processes the data needed for payment, tax, and invoicing, as an independent controller for that transaction. We never receive or store your card details. From Polar we receive the information needed to issue and support your license — such as your email address, order reference, and country.
7. Support
If you write to us, we keep your message and email address so we can answer and follow up. Please do not include sensitive information you do not want us to have.
8. How long we keep things
- License records (license key, hashed device identifiers, activation timestamps): while your license is active, and afterwards only as long as needed for support, fraud prevention, and legal or accounting obligations.
- Support correspondence, feedback reports and crash reports: normally up to 3 years. A report with no email address cannot be traced back to you, so it cannot be deleted on request — send one with an address if you may want it removed.
- Server logs: short-term, for security and troubleshooting.
- Campaign measurement records (section 5): deleted automatically 13 months after the visit. Download counts carry no personal data and are kept as totals.
- Local data on your Mac: kept until you delete it, with two housekeeping exceptions — an undo record that has been used and carries no re-fetch command is removed after 90 days, and the activity log rotates at about 1 MB, keeping one older copy. Records that can still put something back are never removed on a timer.
9. Legal bases
Where the GDPR or equivalent law applies, we rely on: performance of a contract (activating and validating your license, providing support); legitimate interests (preventing license abuse, keeping the Site secure, and measuring which campaigns bring visitors, as described in section 5); and legal obligation (tax and accounting records, which Polar largely handles as Merchant of Record).
10. Your rights
Subject to applicable law, you may request access to your personal data, correction, deletion, restriction or objection to processing, and portability. Write to support@latentmac.com and we will respond within the period required by the law that applies to you (30 days at the latest). Because a license record is keyed to your license key, please include it in your request. Deleting a license record will deactivate that license.
Data stored on your Mac is not held by us — you can delete it yourself at any
time by removing the ~/.latent folder.
If you are in the Republic of Korea, you may also lodge a complaint with the Personal Information Protection Commission (privacy.go.kr, 118). If you are in the EU or UK, you may lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.
11. International transfers
We are based in the Republic of Korea, and our providers (Cloudflare, Polar, GitHub) operate globally, so data may be processed outside your country. Where required, such transfers rely on appropriate safeguards, including the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses used by those providers.
12. Children
Latent is a developer tool and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 14 (Republic of Korea) or under 16 where that threshold applies.
13. Security
Network requests use TLS. Your hardware identifier is hashed before it ever leaves your Mac. The Software's optional automation interface is a local socket that is restricted to your own user account and readable only by you; it is off unless you turn it on. We keep the personal data we hold to the minimum the product actually needs.
14. Changes
If we change this policy, the updated version appears on this page with a new date, and material changes will be announced on the Site or in the application.
15. Contact
FatTail Labs — Republic of Korea
Privacy contact: support@latentmac.com
16. Language
This Policy is drafted in English. Translations are provided for convenience only; if a translation and the English version disagree, the English version prevails.