Privacy Policy

Effective July 21, 2026

Hefty Search is built around one idea: your files are none of our business. This policy walks through the small amount of data that gets processed, and why. It is short on purpose, so it is intended to be read in its entirety.

"We," "us," and "our" mean the people who make and run Hefty Search. "You" and "your" mean whoever is using it.

Scope

• This policy covers everyone who uses Hefty Search, on any platform, anywhere.
• It covers both the Mac version and the Windows version of the app. When something only applies to one of them, we say so. Otherwise, assume it applies to both.
• It does not cover other companies' products or websites that Hefty Search links to or works with. Those have their own privacy policies, and those are the ones that apply when you use them.

The short version

This part is just a summary. If it ever disagrees with the detailed sections below, the detailed ones win.

• The app runs on your device. Indexing, analysis, and search all happen locally. Your Content does not get sent to us or anyone else in any form to make search work.
• The only things that ever leave your device are license checks, crash reports, and purchase info, without which, it should be obvious that you won't be able to use the app outside of the free trial that we provide. Each one is covered below.
• No account needed. No analytics, no usage tracking, no telemetry about how you use the app.

What we do not collect

To be crystal clear, we never collect, receive, or store any of this:

• The contents of your files, whether it is a photo, a video, an audio clip, or a document;
• Your file names, folders, or paths;
• Your search queries, your search history, or your results;
• The Search Index or anything derived from your files, like captions or transcripts;
• Analytics or telemetry about how you use the app;
• Account logins, because there are no accounts.

All of the above stays on your device. It does not come to us in any form.

Everything happens on your device

• Local work. All the indexing, analysis, and search happens on your device. That includes building the index, transcribing audio and video, writing optional captions for images, and running searches, including reverse image search.
• The Search Index. The app builds and keeps the Search Index on your device. It is never uploaded, backed up to us, or sent anywhere. It stays yours.
• Your searches. Whatever you search for, text or an image, is handled on your device. It does not leave.
• No cloud needed. The core search stuff works without the cloud. You will still need internet for a few side things: checking your license, sending a crash report, and downloading updates.

What the app sends out

License checks

How your license gets checked depends on where you got the app.

• Mac version (bought from our website). When you activate with a License Key, the app sends your key and your device name to Lemon Squeezy, our payment and licensing provider, to confirm the key is valid. It checks again now and then the same way. No files, no searches, nothing else.
• Windows version (from the Microsoft Store). The Microsoft Store handles your license here, so there is no License Key and nothing license related gets sent to us or Lemon Squeezy.

Either way, the license check never includes your Content, your Search Index, your searches, or anything beyond the key and device name.

Crash reports

• If the app crashes, it sends an automatic crash report to Sentry, a crash-reporting service, so we can find and fix the bug.
• These reports only hold technical stuff: the crash trace, the app version, your operating system version, and your device model.
• They do not contain your files, file names, searches, the Search Index, or anything from your library.
• We use them for one thing only: fixing bugs and making the app more stable.

Buying the app

How your payment is handled depends on where you buy.

• Mac version. Purchases go through Lemon Squeezy as merchant of record. They handle your payment details and email under their own privacy policy. We get your email and order details so we can help you with support. We never see your card info.
• Windows version. Purchases go through the Microsoft Store, and Microsoft handles your payment under its own privacy policy. We never see your card info, and we only get whatever purchase info the Microsoft Store passes along.

Your dealings with Lemon Squeezy and Microsoft, including anything you pay or share with them, are covered by their policies, not this one.

The website

• The site at heftysearch.app is a plain static site hosted on Cloudflare.
• No analytics, no tracking cookies. The only cookies used, if any, are the ones needed to make the site or the checkout work.
• When you buy the Mac version on the site, the checkout is a Lemon Squeezy overlay, covered by their privacy policy. The Windows version is not sold on the website, it comes from the Microsoft Store.
• The site may link to other websites. We are not responsible for how those handle your data, so check their policies before you hand anything over.

The services we use

We use a handful of outside services to keep things running. Each one only handles data for the specific job below.

• Lemon Squeezy handles payments and license checks for the Mac version.
• Microsoft handles distribution, payments, and licensing for the Windows version.
• Sentry handles crash reports.
• Cloudflare hosts the website.

If we ever add, drop, or swap one of these, we will update this policy.

Legal bases for processing

Where the law asks us to name a reason for handling data, here they are:

• To do our job for you. License checks and purchase info are handled so you can actually use and pay for the app.
• Legitimate interest. Crash reports are handled because we have a fair interest in fixing bugs and keeping the app stable.
• Consent. If anything ever needs your consent, we only do it once you give it, and you can take it back anytime.
• Legal duties. We may handle some data to meet tax, accounting, or other legal requirements.

How long we keep things

• We keep personal data only as long as we need it, plus any period the law requires.
• License info for the Mac version sticks around for the life of the license and a bit after, so we can manage it and sort out any disputes.
• Crash reports are kept by Sentry under their retention rules, only as long as needed to fix the bug.
• Order data is kept by whoever processed the payment under their own rules. We only hold what we need to help you and stay compliant.

Where your data goes

• The services listed above may store or move data in countries other than yours. Those transfers are covered by the safeguards each service keeps in place.
• Where the law requires it, proper protections are applied to those transfers.

Security

• We use sensible technical and organizational measures to protect the small amount of personal data described here.
• Since most of your data, your Content and your Search Index, never leaves your device, its safety mostly comes down to your device: your login, your disk encryption, your physical security. That part is on you.
• No method of sending or storing data is ever perfectly secure, so we cannot promise absolute security.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of these rights over your personal data:

• to ask for a copy of what we hold about you;
• to have wrong or incomplete data fixed;
• to have your data deleted in certain cases;
• to limit or object to how we handle it in certain cases;
• to withdraw consent where we relied on it;
• to complain to a data protection authority.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for behavioral advertising. Which rights you actually have, and how they work, depends on your local law.

How to use those rights

• To use any of the rights above, just contact us from either the email you used to purchase the app or mentioning the one with your message. For data held by someone else, like a Microsoft Store purchase, you may need to ask them directly.
• You can ask for a copy or deletion of your purchase data (your email and order history) anytime. Requests about crash report data are fine too, even though those reports do not personally identify you at all.
• We may need to confirm who you are before we act, and we will respond within the time the law requires.

Changes and contact

• If this policy changes, the new version goes up here with a new effective date. You will be notified through email for the same.

Questions? Email [email protected].