Showglass Privacy Policy

Showglass is a Mac app by VPO Labs that shows previews of your files in Quick Look and Finder. This policy says what Showglass does with your information. The short version: your files never leave your Mac; the Quick Look extensions have no network access; the app sends anonymous usage counts you can turn off, and the messages you choose to send us.

In short

• Your files are read on your Mac to draw a preview. They are never copied, uploaded or shared, and their names, paths and contents are never sent. The one exception is yours: a file you attach yourself to a feedback message or to a reply.
• The two Quick Look extensions, the parts that open your files, have no network access. They cannot send anything anywhere.
• The Showglass app sends VPO Labs anonymous usage counts, hang and error reports, and crash reports when you choose to send them. None of it is linked to you, and there is no tracking and no advertising.
• The app asks VPO Labs' server for in-app messages, such as announcements and a notice when a version is too old. That request carries nothing about you or your files.
• You can turn usage counts and hang and error reports off, choose whether crash reports are sent, reset the identifiers, and export or delete your data in Settings › Privacy.
• Send Feedback… sends us what you write, an email address only if you add one, the screenshots or files you attach (to a message or to a reply), and the app's diagnostics only if you tick Include diagnostics. Our answer appears on the same Feedback page. Delete your messages in Settings › Privacy.
• If you got Showglass from our website (the direct edition), Dodo Payments sells the license key, the app sends the key to Dodo to activate and check it, and it asks our website for updates. See The direct edition.

Who we are

VPO Labs ("we", "us") is the developer of Showglass and the controller of the data described here. Contact: support@vpolabs.com.

What Showglass does with your files

When you press Space on a file in Finder, Quick Look asks Showglass to draw the preview, and Finder asks it for thumbnails of some file types. Showglass reads that file on your Mac, draws the preview, and forgets it. The two Quick Look extensions:

• have no network permission, so they cannot send anything anywhere;
• never run code from your files and never load remote content;
• do not keep a copy of your files or of the previews, and do not keep a list of what you previewed;
• do not write file names, paths or contents to the system log.

Each time an extension draws a preview or a thumbnail, it adds 1 to a counter for that kind of file (for example "code" or "fonts") in Showglass's own storage on your Mac. The counter is a number; it never holds a file name, path, content or file type. The app reads these counters and includes them in the usage counts below.

What the Showglass app sends

The Showglass app (not the extensions) sends the following to VPO Labs, over HTTPS, using VPO Labs' own support software (VPOCoreKit) and VPO Labs' own servers (VPO Core). Apart from what you write and attach in a feedback message, none of it contains your name, email address, account, license key, IP address, your Mac's name or serial number, a hardware identifier, your location or time zone, or anything from your files.

The app description in reports, feedback and survey answers: the app's bundle identifier, version, build and channel, the macOS version and build, the Mac architecture, the Mac model identifier (such as Mac16,5), the language and region setting, and the app's process number.

Every request to VPO Labs' server carries the app's name, the app's public key (the same in every copy of Showglass), its bundle identifier, version and build, and the version of VPOCoreKit.

The app keeps two random identifiers, made on your Mac and not derived from your hardware, your account, your license or you: one for reports (made the first time the app prepares a report or a feedback message) and one for usage counts. They are never sent together, so reports and usage counts cannot be joined. Reset Identifiers in Settings › Privacy makes new ones. Each feedback conversation also has its own random secret, kept in your Mac's Keychain; the server keeps only a one-way hash of it, and only this Mac can read or answer the conversation.

Usage counts carry no time of day, only the date. The server uses your IP address only for the moment of the request, to limit abuse, and never stores it.

In-app messages. The app asks VPO Labs' server for messages: an announcement or a note about what's new, a notice when this version is too old to keep using or a newer one fixes something, a message about a fix for a problem this Mac reported, and now and then a short survey. Which messages to show is decided on your Mac from its app and macOS versions. Once this Mac has a report identifier, it is sent with the request, so a message such as "fixed in 1.2, update to get it" reaches the Macs that reported that problem; the server compares it for that one request and neither stores nor logs it, and the usage identifier is never sent with it. There are no ads, and the messages are never used to track you. Once you have sent a feedback message, the app also asks VPO Labs' server for answers to your own conversations (shortly after the app opens, every few minutes while it runs, and every minute while the Feedback page is open). It does not use the App Tracking Transparency framework because it does not track you.

Why, and on what legal basis

We use this information to find and fix crashes and hangs, to see which kinds of files people preview so we know what to improve, to see whether the extensions are turned on and the Pro purchase works, and to tell you about updates and fixes. The website's visit counts tell us which pages and links bring people to Showglass; they are our legitimate interest too, and the only personal data they touch is your IP address, used for the moment of the request and as a one-way hash for the current hour. Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in keeping Showglass working and improving it, balanced by keeping the data anonymous, minimal and switchable. Crash reports you send when asked are also covered by your choice to send them. Feedback messages and survey answers are used to answer you and to fix or improve what you write about; sending one is your request, and answering it is the basis for using it. For a license bought on our website, activating and checking the key is needed to provide what you bought.

Who processes it, and for how long

VPO Labs processes this data itself, on servers it runs for its own apps (VPO Core). No analytics company, advertiser or data broker receives it, and we do not sell it or use it for marketing.

• Hang, error and crash reports: kept for 18 months.
• Feedback messages, their attachments and our answers: kept for 18 months, then deleted with the conversation.
• The record of which Macs were told about a fix for a problem they reported: kept as long as the reports.
• Usage counts: kept for 400 days.
• The website's daily visit totals and release download log (no identifiers): kept for as long as we run the website.
• After that, only totals per day with no identifiers remain.

Export and delete

In Settings › Privacy:

• Export… downloads everything the server holds under your Mac's identifiers, as a JSON file you save where you choose.
• Delete… deletes everything the server holds under those identifiers, including your feedback messages and their conversations, and everything the app keeps for reporting on your Mac, then makes new identifiers.

Remove from This Mac… (right-click a conversation on the Feedback page, then confirm) only removes a conversation from your Mac; use Delete… to delete it from the server too.

The server records only that a request happened, not what it returned. If you uninstall Showglass without using Delete, the data expires after the periods above; you can also email support@vpolabs.com.

What Showglass stores on your Mac

Showglass stores a small amount of data in its own space on your Mac:

• Your settings, such as theme and which kinds of preview are switched on.
• The preview and thumbnail counters described above, and the counts the app has already reported.
• Reporting data: your privacy choices, the two random identifiers, reports waiting to be sent, the in-app messages already shown, and a short diagnostic log of what the app did (no file names, paths or contents).
• Your feedback conversations: the messages and answers, so you can read them on the Feedback page, and in your login Keychain the secret key of each conversation.
• Your Pro record, if you have Pro. It contains the details of the App Store transaction that Apple verified (App Store edition) or of your license activation (direct edition), and a one-way hash of your Mac's hardware identifier, which ties the record to this Mac. The hash cannot be turned back into the identifier and is never sent anywhere.
• In the direct edition, your license and the trial's start date, described in The direct edition.
• Sample files only if you choose "Export Sample Files…". They are written to the folder you pick.

Deleting Showglass and its data (for example with an app cleaner, or by removing its folders in ~/Library/Containers and ~/Library/Group Containers) removes all of this from your Mac. The license and the trial's start date in your login Keychain stay until you remove them in Keychain Access, or choose Deactivate This Mac first.

Purchases

Showglass is free. Pro is an optional one-time purchase. In the App Store edition it is made through the App Store. Apple handles the payment, your Apple Account and your payment details, and tells Showglass on your Mac whether the purchase is valid. We receive no payment details and no personal information from your purchase. Apple may give us aggregate sales and download figures through App Store Connect; they do not identify you. Apple's handling of your data is described in Apple's Privacy Policy. In the direct edition Pro is a license key sold by Dodo Payments, below.

The direct edition

Showglass is also a direct download from showglass.vpolabs.com, signed and notarized for macOS (the "direct edition"). Everything above applies to it too, and in addition:

• Buying a license. Showglass Pro for the direct edition is a license key sold through Dodo Payments' checkout. Dodo Payments is the merchant of record: it takes the payment, charges the tax and sends the receipt and the key, and your card and billing details go to Dodo, not to VPO Labs, under Dodo Payments' own privacy policy. We see the orders Dodo shares with us, such as the product, the amount and the buyer's email address, and use them only to support you, to handle refunds and to keep our accounts.
• Activating and checking the key. When you activate a key, the app sends the key and this Mac's name (from System Settings › General › About) to Dodo Payments, which answers with an activation identifier. Then, at most once a day (and when you choose Check Now), the app sends Dodo the key and that activation identifier to check that the license is still valid. Deactivate This Mac sends the same two to free the Mac. These requests go to Dodo directly; VPO Labs' servers are not involved, and the key is never sent to VPO Core. The key, the activation identifier, the Mac's name, your email address (only if you typed it) and the dates of the last checks are kept in your login Keychain.
• Manage your license on our website (/license) sends the key and the purchase email you type to our website's device service (/api/license/), which asks Dodo for that key's Macs, or frees one, and answers. The key and the email are used only for that request: they are never logged, stored or sent anywhere but Dodo. To limit abuse, the service keeps a one-way hash of your IP address with the times of your requests for 10 minutes.
• The 14-day trial starts the first time you open the direct edition. Its start date, and the latest date the app saw, are kept only on your Mac (in your login Keychain and in the app's own folder). Nothing about the trial is sent anywhere.
• Updates. The direct edition checks for updates with Sparkle, the standard updater for Mac apps, at most once a day and when you choose Check for Updates…: it asks https://showglass.vpolabs.com/appcast.xml for the newest version and downloads updates from the same website. The request carries what any download carries, such as your IP address and the app's name and version; Sparkle's system profile is turned off, so nothing about your Mac is added. The App Store edition is updated by the App Store and never makes this request.

The Setapp edition

Showglass is also available through Setapp, from MacPaw (the "Setapp edition"). Everything above applies to it too, except what follows:

• Setapp handles your account, payment, licensing and updates under its own privacy policy. The Setapp Framework inside the app checks your access with the Setapp app on your Mac and reports app usage to Setapp, as every Setapp app does. The Quick Look extensions don't include it.
• There are no in-app messages, no license key and no purchase in the app, and the Feedback page has no email field.

Feedback and support

Help › Send Feedback… (also Feedback at the bottom of the sidebar, and Settings › About) opens the Feedback page in the Showglass window. Nothing is sent until you press Send. A message carries:

• the topic you pick (a file looks wrong, a feature idea, a purchase or Pro, something else) and what you write;
• an email address, only if you type one, so we can also answer by email;
• the screenshots or files you attach (images, PDFs, text, JSON or log files of up to 3 MB each), including a snapshot of a Showglass window if you choose Attach Window Snapshot. A snapshot shows whatever that window shows, such as a file you dropped onto it, so look at it before sending;
• the app and macOS versions, the Mac model identifier (such as Mac16,5), the architecture and the language;
• with Include diagnostics, which is off unless you tick it for that message: the app's recent diagnostic log, the app's crashes from the last seven days and the last steps the app took. Diagnostics never include file names, paths or contents (paths are replaced before anything is sent).

See exactly what's sent shows the whole message before you send it.

Each message starts a private conversation. Our answer appears on the same Feedback page (Help › Your Messages, and a badge on the Showglass icon in the Dock while there is an answer you have not read). Only your Mac holds the key to the conversation. If we need diagnostics to look into it, the conversation asks you, and they are sent only if you press Send Diagnostics. When we fix a problem a conversation is about, we may post one message about the fix into that conversation.

You can reply in the conversation, and attach screenshots, files or a window snapshot to a reply too, with the same types and sizes as above (at most five files a message). A reply with files is sent at once and is not queued: the files are never kept on your Mac, and the conversation lists only their names, types and sizes. While Showglass is open, the files you attached in this session stay in its memory so you can see them in the conversation; opening one in Quick Look writes a temporary copy that is deleted afterwards.

We use your messages only to answer you and to fix or improve what you write about. We keep them for 18 months, then delete them. We do not sell them, share them, or use them for marketing. Delete them sooner with Delete… in Settings › Privacy.

You can still email support@vpolabs.com. Then we receive your email address and whatever you write or attach, use it only to answer you, and delete it when it is no longer needed.

Apple's crash reports

Separately from the above, if you have turned on "Share with App Developers" in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements, macOS may send crash reports to Apple, and Apple may make them available to us through Xcode and App Store Connect. That is Apple's opt-in system, governed by Apple's policy.

Who sees your information

• VPO Labs: the reports, usage counts, survey answers and feedback messages above, on its own servers, and the orders Dodo Payments shares with us.
• Apple: App Store purchases, and its own opt-in crash reports.
• Dodo Payments (direct edition only): your purchase and payment details, as merchant of record, and the license key, this Mac's name and the activation identifier when the app activates or checks the key, and the campaign tags of the link you followed, if any, as part of your order.
• Our web host (Hostinger), which runs showglass.vpolabs.com: the technical details of each request to the website, including the update check of the direct edition, the website's daily visit totals and the release download log.
• Our email provider: only emails you choose to send us, and our answers by email if you left an address in a feedback message.
• Nobody else. There are no advertisers, analytics companies or data brokers.

We do not track you across other apps or websites, and we do not build profiles.

The Showglass website

showglass.vpolabs.com sets no cookies, stores nothing in your browser, embeds nothing from other companies, and loads no fonts, scripts or images from other servers. Like any website, the server that delivers its pages receives the technical details every browser sends, such as your IP address and the page you ask for; we don't use them to identify or follow you.

Visit counts. To see which pages and which links bring people to Showglass, each page (except the license and thank-you pages) sends our own website one small request when it opens, and another when you click Buy a license. It carries the page, the link's campaign tags (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content) when the link you followed had them, otherwise the name of the website you came from, and whether the device looks like a Mac, a phone or tablet, or something else. The Download button is counted the same way. Our server keeps only totals per day (for example "12 views of /pricing from reddit.com on a Mac"). Separately, each time a release file is served we log the time, the version and whether it was a download or an update of the direct edition, and nothing else. Neither record holds an IP address, browser details, an identifier or anything that links one visit to another or to you; the visit totals carry no time of day. To stop a single visitor from inflating the counts, the server keeps a one-way hash of the IP address for the current hour only. Page views and clicks from obvious robots are not counted. No analytics company is involved: the counts stay on our web host, in files only we open, and we keep them for as long as we run the website.

When the link you followed had campaign tags, the Buy a license button passes them on to Dodo Payments' checkout, so we can see which campaign led to a sale; they are stored with the order and say nothing about you. The page you return to after buying a license shows the key from its own address in your browser, sends it nowhere and is not counted. The Buy a license button takes you to Dodo Payments' checkout, which is Dodo's own website. The App Store edition never contacts our website; the direct edition contacts it only for updates and when you open one of its pages.

Children

Showglass is a general utility, not directed at children, and collects nothing that identifies anyone, apart from what someone chooses to write in a feedback message or what a buyer gives Dodo Payments.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you may access, correct, delete or take a copy of data about you, and object to how we use it. For the app's reports and usage counts, use Export… and Delete… in Settings › Privacy (we cannot find them without your Mac's identifiers), or turn sharing off. Export… and Delete… also cover your feedback messages. For survey answers, emails and for a license bought on our website, write to support@vpolabs.com; we respond within one month. You also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority. In Romania this is the National Supervisory Authority for Personal Data Processing (ANSPDCP, www.dataprotection.ro), and you may also contact the authority in your own country.

Changes to this policy

If Showglass changes what it does with information, we update this policy first and say so in the app's release notes. Version 1.6 (9 November 2026) adds the website's visit counts (daily totals only, see The Showglass website) and which edition the app is (App Store, website or Setapp) to the usage counts; version 1.5 (4 November 2026) adds the Setapp edition; version 1.4 (1 November 2026) adds the direct edition from our website (the license key and the Mac's name sent to Dodo Payments, the 14-day trial kept on your Mac, the update check) and the in-app messages, minimum-version notice and surveys the app now asks VPO Labs' server for, describes the website, and lists in full what VPO Labs' server receives; version 1.3 (24 October 2026) said that screenshots and files can be attached to replies too; version 1.2 (23 October 2026) replaced the Mail draft of Send Feedback… with the in-app Feedback page and its private conversations; version 1.1 (23 October 2026) added the app's anonymous usage counts and reports; version 1.0 described an app that sent nothing.

Contact

VPO Labs · support@vpolabs.com

© 2026 VPO Labs