Private by architecture, not by promise.

The short version

The Mac App Store edition of ByteSteward does not track you, does not include an analytics or advertising SDK, and does not send storage inventory to a ByteSteward server.

Storage evidence, scan history, treatments, and approval receipts stay in the app’s sandbox on your Mac unless you explicitly choose an export or archive destination.

What ByteSteward reads

• Files and folders you explicitly choose with the native macOS picker.
• Metadata needed to measure storage, such as allocated size, file type, and displayed modification dates.
• App-local settings, scan history, evidence, treatment choices, and approval receipts.
• Local Ollama manifest and Conda package metadata only when you explicitly authorize those folders.

What ByteSteward does not collect

• No advertising identifier, tracking profile, contact list, precise location, health, financial, or browsing data.
• No passwords, recovery keys, cloud tokens, environment-variable values, model prompts, database contents, or private source code.
• No population or aggregate storage intelligence in the current Mac App Store build.

Folder permissions

ByteSteward starts without general filesystem authority. Folder access is granted through Apple’s security-scoped bookmarks after you choose a location. You can review and revoke saved access from Privacy & Access in the app. A stale or revoked permission fails visibly and requires you to choose the folder again.

Archives and cloud providers

ByteSteward transfers data only after you select an archive boundary and separately approve the operation. The app does not silently traverse an entire cloud-provider account. Your provider processes any file you place there under its own terms and privacy policy.

The current Mac App Store edition does not contact GitHub, Docker, Colima, PostgreSQL, or installed developer command-line tools. Those specialist integrations belong to the separately distributed Direct edition.

Retention and deletion

Local records remain on your Mac until you remove them in ByteSteward or delete the app’s data. Exported archives and receipts remain wherever you chose to store them until you delete them there. ByteSteward cannot delete a provider copy after you revoke its folder permission.

Changes to this policy

If a future release enables an optional network or aggregate-intelligence service, the in-app disclosure, privacy manifest, App Store privacy answers, retention controls, and this policy will change before that release is distributed.

Contact

Questions and privacy requests can be submitted through the ByteSteward support page. Do not include recovery keys, credentials, or private file contents.