Privacy Policy

Effective date: April 3, 2026

PaceBar is a macOS menu bar app that estimates cognitive load using activity signals processed locally on your device. PaceBar does not sell personal information, does not use third-party trackers, and does not transmit your activity data off-device.

This policy describes the app's data practices. It is intended to support transparency for people using PaceBar and to describe the app's current behavior as of the effective date above.

Information PaceBar Accesses

To provide its functionality, PaceBar may access the following information on your Mac:

• The identity of the app you are currently using, such as the app name and, where needed for classification, its bundle identifier
• Limited window-list metadata made available by macOS that helps PaceBar determine which visible app should be treated as the current app context
• Timing related to recent keyboard, modifier-key, mouse, drag, and scrolling activity, such as how recently those interactions occurred
• Derived on-device metrics such as activity level, recovery level, focus duration, context-switching patterns, app-category weighting, and pace/load estimates

PaceBar does not access or collect:

• The contents of your keystrokes or typed text
• The contents of messages, emails, or documents
• Screen recordings or screenshots
• Photos, contacts, location, camera, or microphone data

Consent and User Choice

PaceBar is designed to process activity signals locally on your Mac in order to estimate pace and cognitive load. By installing, opening, and using PaceBar, you direct the app to perform that local processing for its core functionality.

You can stop further processing at any time by quitting or uninstalling PaceBar. You can also revoke any macOS permissions previously granted to PaceBar by using macOS System Settings.

If a future version of PaceBar requires an additional macOS permission to access a protected resource, PaceBar is expected to request that permission through the standard macOS prompt before accessing that resource.

How Information Is Used

PaceBar uses this information only to:

• Estimate your current cognitive load or pace
• Display pace, recovery, focus, and context-switching metrics
• Generate pace-related recommendations
• Maintain a short local history of derived snapshots used to calculate recent trends and an adaptive baseline across launches

PaceBar may temporarily keep recent app-context events in memory while the app is running in order to calculate context-switching metrics. Those temporary app-context events are not transmitted off-device and are not stored as part of the app's persisted history.

Data Collection and Transmission

PaceBar processes this information locally on your device. PaceBar does not transmit this information to the developer or to third parties.

PaceBar does not use advertising SDKs, analytics SDKs, or third-party tracking technologies.

Data Storage, Retention, and Deletion

PaceBar stores a short local history of derived snapshots on your device. This locally stored data may include recent pace/load snapshots and related derived metrics used to support app functionality across launches.

PaceBar currently retains this derived local history for up to approximately 72 hours. Older stored snapshots are removed on an ongoing basis as newer snapshots are saved.

PaceBar does not store keystroke contents, typed text, message contents, document contents, or screen contents.

Because PaceBar does not transmit your activity data to the developer, there is no server-side storage of this data.

PaceBar's current implementation stores its derived local history in the app's local preferences or app container on your Mac. If you want to remove PaceBar's locally stored app data from your Mac, you can delete the app and remove its associated local app data through normal macOS app-data removal methods. Because PaceBar does not receive or store this data on a server, the developer cannot delete local-only data from your device remotely.

If you contact the developer about privacy, access, or deletion, the developer can explain the app's current local data behavior, but cannot directly access or erase local-only data stored on your device unless you provide that data yourself.

Third-Party Access

PaceBar does not disclose your activity data to third parties.

Tracking

PaceBar does not track you across apps, websites, or services.

Changes to This Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. Any updates will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.

Region-Specific Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have privacy rights under applicable law, such as rights to request access to information the developer has about you, request correction or deletion of information, or ask questions about how data is handled.

Because PaceBar's activity processing and derived history are designed to remain local to your device and are not transmitted to the developer, the developer may not possess that local-only data and therefore may not be able to provide, correct, or delete it on your behalf remotely. If you make a privacy request, the developer will respond based on the information actually available to the developer and the requirements of applicable law.

Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, contact:

Charbel Rami
support@pacebar.app
https://pacebar.app