Klaar Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 6, 2026

This policy covers the direct-download version of Klaar (the Developer ID signed, notarized Klaar.dmg). Klaar works locally on your Mac.

Data collection

Klaar does not collect, sell, rent or share personal data. It has no accounts, analytics, telemetry, advertising or crash-reporting services.

Network access: update checks

Klaar's only network connection is the software-update check, done with the open-source Sparkle framework:

• Klaar downloads the update feed https://whsmacon.com/klaar/appcast.xml and, if you choose to install an update, the update disk image from https://whsmacon.com/klaar/.
• The request identifies the app and includes Klaar's version and Sparkle's version; it may include your macOS version. Like any web request, it also reveals your IP address to the server.
• Sparkle's optional system profiling (which would send details such as your Mac model, CPU and language) is turned off and Klaar never enables it. No identifiers, file names, scan results or usage data are sent.
• Automatic checks are your choice: Sparkle asks on the second launch, and Klaar › Settings › Updates lets you turn automatic checks and automatic downloads on or off. With automatic checks off, Klaar connects only when you choose Check for Updates.
• Updates are verified with Klaar's EdDSA signature before they are installed.

The web server may keep standard access logs (IP address, time, requested file, user agent) for operating and securing the site. They are not used to identify or track you.

File access

Klaar is not sandboxed. To find everything an app leaves behind, it reads standard locations on your Mac directly, without a folder picker:

• /Applications, /Applications/Utilities and ~/Applications, to list installed apps
• ~/Library and /Library, to find preferences, caches, containers, logs, saved state, cookies, web data, crash reports, launch agents and daemons, and shared support files
• /var/db/receipts and /Library/Receipts, to read Installer package receipts for apps installed from a .pkg
• Developer-tool locations in your home folder and in /Library (for example ~/.npm, ~/.gradle, ~/Library/Developer, /Library/Java), for the Developer tab

While Klaar is open, it also watches /Applications, ~/Applications and your Trash (~/.Trash) for app bundles being added, updated or removed, so the app list stays current and Klaar can offer to clean up after an app you drag to the Trash in Finder. It reads only the app bundles' names, identifiers and versions. You can turn the cleanup offer off in Settings › General.

The Orphaned Files scan, which runs only when you start it, lists the standard ~/Library and /Library folders and compares item names with the bundle identifiers of installed apps, running apps and loaded background jobs.

If you grant Klaar Full Disk Access in System Settings, it can also see locations that macOS otherwise hides, including your Trash. Klaar uses this access only to list apps and measure and find related files on your Mac. File contents are never uploaded or sent anywhere.

Command-line tools

For the Developer tab, Klaar runs package managers already installed on your Mac (brew, npm, pip/pip3, gem) to list packages, to uninstall the packages you select, and to export a setup snapshot. To recognize apps installed with Homebrew, Klaar reads Homebrew's own records in its Caskroom folder (and, if those are incomplete, runs brew info --cask --installed once). When you choose Uninstall with Homebrew, Klaar runs brew uninstall --cask for that app, with automatic Homebrew updates turned off. To find those tools, Klaar reads your login shell's PATH once. Klaar does not install these tools. The tools are yours, and they follow their own configuration and privacy practices; Homebrew may contact the network according to its own settings.

When you remove a launch agent or daemon, Klaar runs launchctl to unload it first, and to load it again if you undo the cleanup. An Orphaned Files scan runs launchctl list and launchctl print system (read-only) to see which background jobs are loaded.

Administrator authorization

Some items, such as root-owned files in /Library, can't be moved with normal permissions. For those items Klaar first lists exactly what will be moved, then shows the standard macOS administrator authorization prompt. If you approve it, Klaar moves those items into your Trash with /bin/mv. They keep their original owner, so emptying the Trash may ask for your password. Undoing such a move asks for the password again. Klaar never sees or stores your password.

Optional administrator helper

If you turn on Settings › Administrator › Use background helper, Klaar registers a small privileged helper (whsmacon.Klaar.Helper, a launch daemon inside Klaar.app) with macOS, which you approve in System Settings › General › Login Items. It is off by default. While it is on:

• Klaar still lists the items and asks you to confirm before every removal; the helper then moves them into your Trash (and back on Undo) without a password prompt.
• The helper accepts requests only from Klaar signed by its developer (and, in released versions, only from a Developer ID-signed copy that is no older than the helper), on behalf of administrator accounts, refuses protected system locations, leaves Apple's own files to the password prompt, and never deletes files.
• System items it moves keep their original owner in the Trash unless handing them to you can't let you change them and put them back, so emptying the Trash may ask for your password.
• It starts only when Klaar uses it and exits shortly afterwards. It makes no network connections.
• To support Undo, it keeps records of the moves it made (original path, Trash path, ownership) in /private/var/db/whsmacon.Klaar.Helper, readable only by root, for up to 30 days. Turning the helper off unregisters it; that folder can be removed with administrator rights.

Cleanup behavior

• Apps and files you remove are moved to the Trash, not erased. You can restore them from the Trash, or with Undo in Klaar for the most recent cleanup.
• Package uninstalls in the Developer tab are permanent. They run the package manager's own uninstaller and cannot be recovered from the Trash.
• Uninstall with Homebrew is permanent. Homebrew deletes the app (and, with zap, the support files the cask lists); they don't go to the Trash and Undo can't restore them.

Data stored on your Mac

Klaar keeps the following in its preferences (UserDefaults) on your Mac only:

• Your Settings choices (default selection levels, quit-before-removing, completion sound, the Finder-trash cleanup offer, whether to use the administrator helper)
• Sparkle's update settings (automatic checks and downloads, the time of the last check)
• Lifetime cleanup statistics (space reclaimed, items removed, apps cleaned), which you can reset in Settings

Cleanup reports and setup snapshots are written only to locations you choose.

Contact

For privacy questions, use the support contact on the website you downloaded Klaar from, or see SUPPORT.md.