Privacy Policy

Effective date: May 2025

The short version

Hotspot Guide collects nothing. There is no analytics SDK, no telemetry endpoint, no crash reporter, and no cloud backend. The app is sandboxed and has no background processes. Every diagnostic runs locally on your Mac.

What the app accesses

Wi-Fi and network information. Hotspot Guide reads your current SSID, BSSID, signal strength, channel, DNS configuration, VPN state, and proxy settings to perform diagnostics. This information is used only within the app and never transmitted.

Location Services. macOS requires Location authorization for any third-party app that reads the Wi-Fi network name (SSID). The app requests “When In Use” authorization for this purpose only. Your geographic location is never accessed, stored, or transmitted.

Keychain. If you choose to save portal login fields after a successful login, Hotspot Guide stores them as a Generic Password item in your macOS Keychain under service page.dangauthier.hotspotguide.portal. These items are:

• Encrypted at rest by the macOS Keychain
• Accessible only to Hotspot Guide and other apps you authorize
• Never synced to iCloud Keychain
• Never transmitted to any server

You can delete saved credentials at any time from within the app (portal browser nav bar → key icon → Forget saved details) or through Keychain Access.

Network probes. The diagnostic engine makes HTTP requests to:

• http://captive.apple.com/hotspot-detect.html — captive portal detection
• https://1.1.1.1/cdn-cgi/trace — DNS path verification
• https://speed.cloudflare.com/__down — speed measurement
• https://www.google.com/generate_204 — internet verification

These are standard connectivity checks. No personally identifying information is included in any request.

What we don’t collect

• No crash reports
• No analytics events
• No usage data
• No device identifiers
• No IP addresses logged server-side

Third-party SDKs

None. The app has no third-party dependencies.

Data retention

Because no data leaves your Mac, there is nothing for us to retain or delete on your behalf. All data stays on your device, under your control.

Children

Hotspot Guide is a utility app with no user accounts, no social features, and no data collection. It is suitable for all ages.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes materially, the updated version will be posted at https://hotspotguide.app/privacy/ with an updated effective date.

Contact

Questions about privacy: support@hotspotguide.app