Privacy Policy
The short version. SyntaxPad collects no data. No accounts, no analytics, no telemetry, no crash reporting, no advertising, and it makes no network requests. Your documents never leave your Mac.
This Privacy Policy explains how Flowlab Apps (“we”, “us”) handles information in SyntaxPad (the “app”). It is written to be read, not to be survived.
1. What we collect
Nothing. There is no sign-up, no login, no email address collected, no advertising identifier, no usage analytics and no crash reporting. No SDK in the app reports your behaviour to anyone.
Flowlab Apps operates no server that holds your SyntaxPad data, because no such data ever reaches us. That is not a policy decision we could quietly reverse in an update — there is no backend to send it to.
2. What the app stores, and where
Everything SyntaxPad saves is stored on the device you are using it on.
| What | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Documents you open or create | Wherever you choose to save them | They are your files |
| Unsaved scratch tabs and window state | The app's sandbox container | So your tabs are still there next launch |
| Recently opened file list | App preferences on this Mac | To populate the Open Recent menu |
| Editor preferences (theme, indentation, word wrap) | App preferences on this Mac | To remember how you like the editor |
| Security-scoped bookmarks for files you opened | App preferences on this Mac | So files reopen after a restart without asking again |
3. Permissions
SyntaxPad asks for the following, and nothing else. Every permission marked optional can be declined, and the app keeps working without it.
- Files you choose yourself — SyntaxPad runs in the macOS App Sandbox with four entitlements — app sandbox, user-selected file read/write, app-scope bookmarks, and the network-client entitlement that macOS requires before it will start the web-rendering component behind the Markdown preview. It can read and write only files you have picked through an Open or Save dialog.
4. Network activity
None. SyntaxPad makes no network requests — there is no server to contact and no code that contacts one. It does declare the network-client entitlement, but not to reach the network: macOS will not start the system web-rendering component behind the Markdown preview without it. That preview is served under a default-src 'none' content security policy, which is what actually prevents a Markdown file loading a remote image, phoning home, or reporting that you opened it. Remote images therefore show their alt text instead — a deliberate trade.
5. Third parties
None. No SDKs, no trackers, no analytics.
We do not sell, rent, share or disclose your personal information, because we do not hold any of it.
6. What we declare to the app stores
Apple requires a privacy declaration alongside the app listing. These are the answers we give for SyntaxPad, reproduced here so you can check them against the rest of this policy.
| Store declaration | Our answer |
|---|---|
| Apple App Store — App Privacy | Data Not Collected. Nothing is collected from this app, by us or by anyone else, so no data type is linked to you and none is used to track you. |
| Account deletion | Not applicable — the app has no account. See Data & Account Deletion. |
7. Children
SyntaxPad is not directed at children under 13, and it collects no personal information from anyone of any age. Because nothing is collected, nothing is collected from children.
8. Additional notes
Links you click in a Markdown preview open in your default browser, and only http, https and mailto links are permitted. Once a link opens, that browser's own privacy policy applies.
9. Your rights and your choices
Privacy laws including the GDPR and the CCPA give you rights to access, correct, export and delete personal data a company holds about you. Flowlab Apps holds no personal data about SyntaxPad users, so there is nothing for us to produce, correct or erase on request.
You remain in full control of the data on your own device:
- Delete individual items from inside the app.
- On a Mac, moving the app to the Trash leaves its data behind. Choose File → Open Recent → Clear Menu to forget recent files, and Edit → Snippets → Delete Snippet to remove saved snippets. To clear everything at once, quit SyntaxPad and delete its container,
~/, which holds unsaved scratch tabs, snippets, the recent-file list and your preferences. Documents you saved yourself are your own files and are untouched.Library/ Containers/ com. flowlabapps. syntaxpad - Revoke any permission at any time from your device's system settings.
We do not sell personal information and never have. We do not share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising.
10. Security
Because your data stays on your device, its security rests on your device's own protections — your passcode, your biometric lock and your operating system's storage encryption. Keep your device updated and locked.
11. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the revised version will be published at this address with a new date at the top. If a future version of SyntaxPad ever begins collecting data, this policy will be updated before that version is released, and the app will ask for your consent in-app.
12. Contact
Questions about this policy, or about privacy in any Flowlab Apps app:
- Email: dev@flowlabapps.com
- Support: flowlabapps.
com/ apps/ syntaxpad/ support/
We aim to answer within a few business days.