Privacy Policy
Last updated: 27 May 2026
Short version
PDF Pilot Pro collects no data. PDF Pilot Pro makes no network requests. PDF Pilot Pro has no server.
Everything that happens to your PDFs — compression, OCR, text extraction, file naming — happens on your Mac, using Apple's PDFKit and Vision frameworks. The app is sandboxed and does not have the network entitlement, so it literally cannot phone home.
What we don't collect
- No analytics. No event tracking, no crash reporting, no usage telemetry, no fingerprinting.
- No account. You don't sign up. You don't sign in. We have no user database.
- No documents. Your PDFs are never read, copied, or transmitted by us. They never leave your Mac.
- No identifiers. No advertising ID, no email, no name, no Apple ID, no IP address.
What stays on your device
PDF Pilot Pro uses a small amount of local storage on your Mac, governed by macOS's standard sandbox:
- User preferences (default compression quality, OCR language, notification toggle, onboarding-completed flag) in
UserDefaults. - The daily OCR usage counter for the free tier, also in
UserDefaults. - Temporary working copies of files passed in via App Intents or the Share extension, in the system temp directory. These are cleaned up by macOS.
None of this leaves your Mac. None of it is encrypted by PDF Pilot Pro because it doesn't need to be — your Mac's standard disk encryption handles that.
In-app purchases
The Premium upgrade is sold through Apple's In-App Purchase system using StoreKit 2. When you purchase, restore, or renew a subscription, PDF Pilot Pro exchanges receipts and transactions with Apple's servers — not ours. Apple's privacy policy governs that exchange. PDF Pilot Pro only checks whether the current Apple ID has an active Premium entitlement; we do not learn your name, email, or payment details.
System permissions PDF Pilot Pro asks for
- Files you pick. Standard macOS sandbox: PDF Pilot Pro only reads or writes files you've explicitly handed to it (drag-and-drop, file picker, Finder Services, Share extension, or Shortcuts action).
- Notifications (optional). To show a banner when a long-running compression or OCR job finishes while you're in another app. You can disable this in Settings or revoke it in System Settings.
Children's privacy
PDF Pilot Pro doesn't collect data from anyone, including children. The app is rated 4+.
Changes to this policy
If we ever change how PDF Pilot Pro handles data — and we don't currently plan to — we'll update this page and bump the "Last updated" date. Substantive changes will also be called out in an app update's release notes.
Contact
Questions, concerns, or a suspected privacy issue? Email [email protected].