Privacy
Updated 21 October 2026
The short version
Beckon works on your Mac. It doesn’t collect your windows, what’s in them, or anything about you. It talks to us for two things only: to check a licence key you chose to enter, and to see whether there’s a newer version.
The app
- Your apps and windows. With the Accessibility permission, Beckon reads which apps are running, their windows’ titles, and the commands in their menus, to show them on the ring and to bring up the one you pick. That stays on your Mac.
- Thumbnails. If you turn on window thumbnails and allow Screen Recording, Beckon captures small pictures of your windows to show on the ring. They’re kept in memory only, never saved to disk and never sent anywhere.
- Your Dock. If you choose to hide the macOS Dock, Beckon changes the Dock’s auto-hide setting and puts your own setting back when you turn that off or quit.
- Stored on your Mac: your settings, your pinned apps, the start of your Pro trial, your licence key and a random id for this Mac (the last three in your Keychain).
- No analytics, no tracking, no ads. Beckon has no analytics and sells nothing to anyone.
Licence checks
When you enter a licence key, and about once a week after that, Beckon sends api.withbeckon.app the key, a random id for this Mac, and the Mac’s name (as set in System Settings → General → Sharing). We use them to tell you whether the key is valid and to count the Macs it’s active on (up to 3). We don’t receive your email, your windows or anything else.
Keys bought on withbeckon.app are checked with Polar, our payment provider; we don’t store them. Keys from AppSumo are kept with the Macs they’re active on, so AppSumo licences work and support can find a licence by its key.
Updates
Once a day, Beckon asks withbeckon.app whether there’s a newer version. The request carries Beckon’s version and your macOS version, as the Sparkle updater sends them, and nothing else. If there is one, Beckon offers it; it never installs anything without asking. Turn the daily check off in Beckon → Settings → General → Check for updates automatically; you can still check by hand from the menu bar (Check for Updates…).
Buying a licence
Polar (polar.sh) is the merchant of record: it takes your payment, handles tax and receipts, and emails your key. Polar’s privacy policy covers what you give it. If you buy on AppSumo, AppSumo’s does. We receive the key and the order, not your card details.
The website
withbeckon.app sets no cookies and has no analytics. Our host, Cloudflare, keeps standard request logs for security and reliability.
Your choices
Deleting Beckon removes the app; its settings stay in your user Library until you delete them. To free a licence’s slot, deactivate it in Beckon → Settings → Licence, or write to hello@withbeckon.app.