This is not a policy promise layered on top of a data pipeline. The app has no
networking code in it at all. You can confirm that from the outside: run
nettop or Little Snitch alongside it and you will never see a
connection, because there is no code that could open one.
What Desknames stores, and where
Everything stays in your own home folder:
~/Library/Application Support/Desknames/spaces.json— the names, colours and icons you assign, keyed by each desktop's identifier.~/Library/Application Support/Desknames/activity/— how long you spent on each desktop, used for the productivity summary. Local only.~/Library/Application Support/Desknames/receipt— the date your trial started.- Your preferences and licence key, in the standard macOS preferences file.
Deleting that folder removes every trace of your names and history. Nothing is written outside it.
What Desknames reads while it runs
To do its job it asks macOS which desktops exist, which one you are on, and which apps have windows on each. That is read in memory to draw the switcher and to suggest a name. It is never written anywhere except as the name you choose to save, and never transmitted.
The Accessibility permission
One optional feature — showing your names inside Mission Control — reads the Dock's accessibility tree to find where the desktop thumbnails are on screen. macOS requires the Accessibility permission for that, so Desknames asks for it only when you switch that feature on, and only uses it to position labels.
Leave the feature off and the permission is never requested. Turn it off later and Desknames stops using it.
Your licence
A licence key is a signed piece of text that the app checks against a key built into it. Activation is arithmetic performed on your Mac — it does not contact a server, and it works with the network off, forever.
When you buy, the payment is handled by our payment provider, who acts as merchant of record and receives your billing details under their own privacy policy. They send us your name and email so we can issue and re-send your licence. We do not see or store your card details.
Questions
Write to support@desknames.app. If you want your name and email removed from our records after purchase, ask and it will be done — you keep your licence, which works without us.