Privacy policy
Last updated: 2026-07-22
Controller under the GDPR: Balane GmbH · Balanstraße 84 · 81541 Munich · Germany Commercial register: HRB 301320, Amtsgericht München · VAT ID: DE455102718 Represented by its managing director Jonas David Höttler support@balane.tech
WindowNote is a local-first app for macOS and Windows. It is built so that your notes, and everything it knows about your windows, never leave your device.
1. Notes and window data
- Your notes are stored exclusively locally, in a SQLite database in your user folder — on macOS at `~/Library/Application Support/app.balane.windownote/`, on Windows at `%APPDATA%\Balane\WindowNote\`.
- This data is never transmitted to the provider or to third parties. There is no account, no sync and no cloud.
2. Access to window information
To keep notes attached to the right windows, the app has to read window information from the operating system: on macOS through the Accessibility permission, on Windows through the system's window interfaces. On macOS you grant that permission yourself in System Settings; on Windows the system requires no separate permission for it.
These interfaces are technically broad; the app deliberately limits how it uses them.
Read, and only this:
- the application's name and bundle identifier
- the window title
- the window's position, size and visibility state
- macOS only: the document path, where the application exposes it through the Accessibility API. On Windows no document path is read.
Not read:
- the contents of your windows
- keystrokes, clipboard, passwords
- the accessibility tree inside other applications
This data is processed and stored locally, to the extent needed to recognise a window again (bundle identifier, window title, document path). It is never transmitted.
3. Purchase and licence
This depends on where you got the app.
Mac App Store: Purchase and subscription run through Apple as an in-app purchase. Apple processes the data required for that as an independent controller; Apple's privacy policy applies. That build uses no licence key and transmits neither a key nor your device name to the provider or to Lemon Squeezy for purchase validation.
Direct from balane.app: Purchases are handled by Lemon Squeezy (Lemon Squeezy LLC) as Merchant of Record. Lemon Squeezy processes the data required for purchase, invoicing and VAT (e.g. name, email address, payment details, country) as an independent controller. Lemon Squeezy's privacy policy applies.
For licence activation and validation, that build transmits to Lemon Squeezy:
- the licence key
- your device name (hostname), so you can tell your activated devices apart in the customer portal
No notes or window data are transmitted. Without a licence key (free use), no data is sent to Lemon Squeezy.
Independently of that, the directly distributed version checks periodically whether a new version is available and fetches a file from balane.app to do so; this transmits your IP address to our hosting provider (see section 4 of the general privacy policy). The automatic check can be switched off in the app's settings. The App Store version contains no update mechanism.
Validation happens at most once per day. If the server cannot be reached, the licence remains valid for seven days.
4. No analytics, no telemetry
The app contains no analytics, tracking or crash-reporting libraries.
5. Your rights
Because the provider collects no personal data through the app, requests for access, rectification or erasure directed at the provider will generally have no subject matter. For data processed as part of a purchase, contact Lemon Squeezy as the controller. For email support requests, the general privacy policy on this website applies.
You can delete your local data by removing the app and deleting its data folder — on macOS `~/Library/Application Support/app.balane.windownote/`, on Windows `%APPDATA%\Balane\WindowNote\`.