Privacy policy

Last updated November 9, 2026

The short version

Shoji draws a texture on your screen. It doesn't read, record or upload anything that's on your screen, and the app has no analytics or tracking. The only things that leave your Mac are a daily update check and, with Shoji Pro, what's needed to check your license.

The Shoji app

Your settings (texture, strength, shortcuts and so on) are stored only on your Mac.

To stay up to date, Shoji checks shoji.ink/appcast.xml about once a day for a new version, and downloads it from GitHub if you choose to install it. Like any web request, this reveals your IP address and Shoji's version number to our host. Nothing about you, your files or your screen is sent. You can turn automatic checks off in Shoji's settings.

If you activate Shoji Pro, the app contacts our payment provider, Polar, to activate and periodically confirm your license. Each check sends:

• your license key and its activation ID,
• an anonymous device identifier: a one-way hash of your Mac's hardware ID, which can't be turned back into the original,
• your Mac's name (as set in System Settings), so you can tell your Macs apart on your account page,
• the Shoji version number.

Your license key and activation are stored in your Mac's Keychain.

Purchases

Purchases are processed by Polar, our merchant of record. Polar collects your name, email, billing details and payment information to complete the sale, calculate tax and send your license key. We can see your order and email address in Polar so we can help with support and refunds. We never see your full card details. Polar's own privacy policy covers how it handles your data.

This website

shoji.ink is hosted on Vercel, which keeps standard server logs (such as IP address and browser) for security and reliability. The site uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to count visits: which pages are viewed, the referring site, and the country, browser and device type, in aggregate. It sets no cookies and doesn't track you across other sites. The site uses no other analytics. The "Paper view" switch and texture choice are remembered in your browser's local storage and never sent anywhere.

Your choices

You can deactivate a Mac from Shoji's settings or your account page at any time. To ask about or delete data related to your purchase, email hello@shoji.ink.

Changes

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted here with a new date.