Privacy Policy
Last updated 4 November 2026
DockPal is made by Vikas Kalwani (“we”), who is responsible for the information described here. In short: DockPal goes online only for its licence and updates. All it sends is your licence key and activation ID, your Mac's name, and DockPal's version. This policy explains what your pet looks at, exactly what gets sent, and the little we receive when you buy DockPal or write to us.
The app
The only times it goes online. DockPal connects to the internet for these four things, and nothing else:
- Activating your licence, once per Mac. It sends Dodo Payments your licence key and your Mac's name, as set in System Settings › General › Sharing (such as “Ana's MacBook Air”), so you can tell your activations apart. Dodo Payments returns an activation ID and your email address, which the app shows in Settings.
- Each time it opens, such as when you log in. It sends Dodo Payments your licence key and activation ID, to check the key is still valid, for example after a refund. If your Mac is offline, nothing happens and DockPal keeps working.
- Deactivating on a Mac. It sends Dodo Payments your licence key and activation ID, to free the activation for another Mac.
- Checking for updates. Once a day, and whenever you choose Check for Updates…, it asks this website for a short list of versions. The only identifying header is
DockPal/<version> Sparkle/<version>. Your macOS version isn't sent, and neither is a system profile. You can turn off the daily check in Settings › About › Updates. If you choose to install an update, DockPal downloads it from this website; nothing downloads without your agreement.
Licence requests use a private network session, so they leave no cookies or cache on your Mac. As with any internet request, the server receiving it sees your Mac's IP address. Nothing else is sent. DockPal has no analytics, crash reporting, advertising IDs, tracking pixels or accounts. It checks whether you're online, so your pet can react when the connection drops, but not what's sent over that connection. When you first open any app downloaded from the internet, macOS may check it with Apple; that's between your Mac and Apple.
What your pet notices. To react, DockPal reads what macOS tells it, on your Mac, as things happen. None of this leaves your Mac. This is all of it, including the parts that sound nosier than they are:
- That a key was pressed, whether Shift or Command is held (to spot the screenshot shortcut) and whether Caps Lock is on. Never what you type.
- DockPal notices whether a Focus is on, never which one.
- Where your pointer is, so you can pick up your pet while other clicks pass through. It isn't recorded.
- Which apps are running, whether each is responding, the text of its Dock badge and whether its icon is bouncing. Nothing from inside the apps.
- The position and size of other apps' windows, so your pet can step aside for full screen. Not their titles or what's in them.
- That a screenshot is being taken, worked out from the running apps and the shape of your pointer. It never sees the picture.
- Whether Music or Spotify is playing, not the song or the artist.
- Mute, volume, and whether headphones are connected.
- Battery and charging, the heat level macOS reports, low memory, free disk space, whether you're online, light or dark mode, drives being plugged in, and the time and date.
- Whether the Trash has anything in it, not what.
- That a file was dropped on your pet. DockPal doesn't open, move or copy it.
What it never does. DockPal never sees what you type. It only notices that a key was pressed, whether Shift or Command is held (to spot the screenshot shortcut) and whether Caps Lock is on. None of this is recorded. It doesn't open or read your files, save any file's name, take screenshots or see your screen, or read your clipboard. It doesn't use your camera, microphone, location, contacts or photos. It needs no Accessibility, Input Monitoring or Screen Recording permission.
Optional permissions. DockPal works without these. macOS asks you first, and you can turn them off at any time in System Settings › Privacy & Security.
- Calendar, only if you turn on meeting reminders. DockPal reads the titles and start times of upcoming events, whether they're all-day, and whether you've declined them, to remind you 5 minutes before a meeting. macOS calls this full calendar access, but DockPal reads no more than this and changes nothing. A title can appear in your pet's speech bubble. Titles aren't saved.
- Downloads folder, only if you turn on download digging. To spot a new arrival, DockPal compares the list of file names in the folder, in memory, and checks the tag macOS puts on downloaded files. Files are never opened and names are never saved.
- Full Disk Access, entirely optional. macOS grants this broadly, but DockPal only uses it to tell whether a Focus is on, and it reads nothing else. The Focus filter works without it.
What's stored on your Mac, and how to erase it. To erase DockPal, first choose Deactivate on This Mac in Settings › About › Licence to free your licence. Then quit DockPal, delete the app, and delete these:
~/Library/Preferences/com.vikaskalwani.DockPal.plist: your settings, statistics, licence activation (key, activation ID and email address) and update-check times.~/Library/Application Support/DockPal/: the diary and any custom pet packs. The diary holds daily counts only, with no app names, file names, window titles or anything you typed.~/Library/Group Containers/3TXACPACJV.com.vikaskalwani.DockPal/: the widget's summary.~/Library/Caches/com.vikaskalwani.DockPal/: the update-check cache and any downloaded update.~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.vikaskalwani.DockPal/: network storage macOS may keep for update checks.
If you back up your Mac, these items are in your backups too, which only you control.
Buying DockPal
Purchases are handled by Dodo Payments, our merchant of record. When you buy, you give your name, email address and payment details to Dodo Payments, not to us, and we never see your card details. It issues and emails your licence key, and shares with us what we need to support you, such as your name, email address, country and what you bought. Dodo Payments' own privacy policy applies to what it collects.
The website
dockpal.app has no advertising or analytics and sets no cookies. Its fonts and scripts are served from this site, not from other companies.
It's hosted by Vercel, which, like any web host, may process your IP address, browser type and the pages you request, to deliver the site and protect it from attacks. The same goes for DockPal's daily update check, which reaches this website too. We don't use this to identify or profile anyone. The site remembers your light or dark choice and whether the pet's sounds are on in your browser; neither is sent anywhere. The buy button and links to other sites take you to pages covered by those sites' own policies.
Emails to us
If you write to myself@vikaskalwani.com, we receive your email address and whatever you include, and use them only to answer you. Our email provider stores these messages for us. We keep them only as long as they're useful for helping you.
Why we use this information
- Licence details, to give you your licence and stop keys being misused.
- Update checks and website requests, to deliver updates and this site, and keep them secure.
- Purchase details, to support you, handle refunds, and meet our tax and legal duties.
- Emails, to answer you.
Where data protection laws such as the GDPR ask for a legal reason, ours are performing our contract with you, our legitimate interests in running and protecting DockPal and answering you, and our legal duties for tax records.
Who else handles it
Dodo Payments for payments and licences, Vercel for this site and the update check, and our email provider for messages you send us. We don't sell your information or use it for advertising, and we share it with no one else unless the law requires it. These companies may process information outside your country.
What we keep, and your choices
- We keep purchase records for as long as tax and accounting law requires, licence activations while the licence exists, and any server logs we control for a short period.
- Depending on where you live, you may have the right to see, correct or delete the information we hold about you, to object to how it's used, and to complain to your data protection regulator. Write to us and we'll help. What DockPal stores is already on your Mac and under your control.
Children
DockPal isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If a child has emailed us, a parent or guardian can ask us to delete the message.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top. If DockPal ever starts sending anything new, this page will say so before that version ships.