Sortwise Privacy Policy

1. At a glance

Everything Sortwise can send, where it goes, and when.

2. Who we are

Sortwise is a Mac app made by VPO Labs, which is responsible (the “controller”) for the personal information described in this policy. You can reach us at contact@vpolabs.com.

This policy covers both versions of Sortwise: the one from the Mac App Store and the direct download from this website. Where they differ, the section says so.

3. What happens on your Mac

Sortwise reads the files that arrive in the folders you choose so that your rules can rename, move or tag them. It reads PDF text, scans and photos of documents (with macOS text recognition), image details and plain text, and it uses Apple’s on-device model (Apple Intelligence) to tell what a document is and to pick out details such as its date, the company or person, and the amount.

All of this happens on your Mac. What Sortwise learns about your files, your rules, your settings and the Activity log (kept for 90 days by default, then reduced to counts) are stored in Sortwise’s own folder in your user account. We cannot see them.

If Apple Intelligence isn’t available, Sortwise uses its basic reading, which also runs entirely on your Mac.

4. What never reaches VPO Labs

• File names, file paths and folder names.
• File contents, and anything read from them: document kinds, companies, people, dates, amounts.
• Your rules, Finder tags and the websites files came from.
• Screenshots of your screen or of Sortwise’s window. Feedback has no attachments and no screenshots.
• Your name, your Apple Account, your Mac’s name or serial number, hardware identifiers, location or time zone. (The direct download sends your Mac’s name to Dodo Payments for licensing, not to us; see section 9.)

The list of usage fields Sortwise may send is fixed inside the app, and anything not on the list is dropped before it can be sent. Text in crash reports and feedback goes through a filter that replaces paths, file names and e-mail addresses before sending.

5. Usage data and crash reports

Usage data and crash reports go to VPO Core, VPO Labs’ own server at core.vpolabs.com.

Your choice

• Nothing is sent before setup ends.
• The last step of setup has one checkbox, already ticked: “Share anonymous usage data and crash reports. Never file names or contents.” You see it before anything is sent and can untick it.
• Settings › Privacy has two switches, Share anonymous usage data and Send crash reports. Turning one off stops it and clears what was waiting to be sent.

Usage data

About once a day, one record for that day. Sortwise’s own fields:

Added to every daily record by VPO Core: the day (no finer time), the app version, build and release channel, the macOS version (major and minor), the processor architecture, the number of sessions, crashed sessions and hangs, minutes of activity, whether you sent feedback that day (with its category) and how you answered an update prompt, and a random install identifier (see Identifiers).

Crash, hang and error reports

After Sortwise quits unexpectedly, it asks you before sending the crash report. Reports that Sortwise froze (hangs) and error reports are sent automatically while the switch is on, at most one per kind of problem an hour and 20 a day.

A report contains the technical state of the app: the error or signal, the code locations that were running (not your data), the list of loaded libraries, recent steps the app took (Sortwise adds none that name files), macOS performance diagnostics, and a note and e-mail address only if you type them. Paths in any text are shortened or removed. Sortwise does not send macOS’s own crash log.

Each report also carries Sortwise’s bundle identifier, version, build and channel, the macOS version and build, the processor architecture, the Mac model identifier (for example Mac16,5), your language and region setting, and a random support identifier.

Identifiers

VPO Core uses two random identifiers made on your Mac. They are not derived from your hardware, your Apple Account, your purchase or you. The support ID goes with crash, hang, error and feedback reports; the install ID goes with usage data only. The two are never sent together, so reports and usage cannot be joined.

Every request also carries the app’s public key for our server, its bundle identifier, version and build, and the version of the VPO Core kit.

Where it is processed, and for how long

VPO Labs runs VPO Core on its own hosting. The hosting provider is Hostinger, which supplies the servers and may process data in countries other than yours. The server uses your IP address briefly in memory to limit abuse and does not store it. We do not use advertising services, data brokers or other analytics services, and we do not sell your data.

• Crash, hang and error reports, and feedback: up to 18 months.
• Usage data: up to 400 days.
• Daily totals with no identifiers (for example “sessions per version”) may be kept longer.

6. Feedback

Feedback, in the sidebar of the main window, sends nothing until you press Send. A message contains:

• the category you choose and what you write;
• an e-mail address, only if you type one;
• diagnostics, only if you tick Include diagnostics: recent app logs, recent crash records and recent steps, without file names or contents.

There are no attachments and no screenshots. Paths, file names and e-mail addresses in your text are replaced before sending; please don’t paste the contents of a file.

Our replies come back in the app, under Your Messages. While you have a conversation, Sortwise checks for replies using a random secret kept in your login Keychain. If you gave an e-mail address, we may also answer there.

7. Version and update checks

Both versions. After setup, Sortwise asks VPO Core from time to time (about once an hour) for the number of the latest version, to show it in Settings › Updates. The request carries only the headers described under Identifiers: no identifier of you or your Mac.

Mac App Store version. The App Store installs updates.

Direct download. Sortwise checks https://sortwise.vpolabs.com/appcast.xml for new versions about once a day, starting only after setup, and downloads updates from this website. The request carries the app version, as any web request from an app does; Sortwise sends no system profile. Settings › Updates turns automatic checks off. Every update is signed by VPO Labs and Sortwise verifies the signature before installing.

8. Private Cloud Compute

Not available in this version. This version of Sortwise reads every file on your Mac and sends nothing to Private Cloud Compute. This section describes how the option will work when it arrives; we will update it if anything changes before then.

Private Cloud Compute is Apple’s service for requests a Mac can’t handle on its own. Sortwise will offer it for documents your Mac couldn’t read well, and only where you turn it on: for a folder, or for one file at a time. It is off by default, and Sortwise asks once before the first use.

• What is sent is up to you. The document text (up to 1, 3 or 10 pages, plus the last page). Optional and off by default: an image of the first page (documents only, never photos or screenshots), the file name, the website the file came from, and the file’s dates.
• Hidden before sending, on by default: account and card numbers, personal ID numbers, e-mail addresses and phone numbers are replaced on your Mac, in the text and in the page image. Names, addresses and amounts are not hidden.
• Never sent: file paths, Finder tags, other files, your rules, or any identifier of you or your Mac; and documents of the kinds you mark “Never send” (ID and travel documents and medical documents are marked by default).
• Who processes it: Apple, under Apple’s terms. Apple states that the data is used only to answer the request and is not stored. VPO Labs never receives it and cannot see it.
• Your record: Activity on your Mac shows which files were read this way. Settings can show exactly what would be sent for any file, and Turn Off Everywhere stops it for every folder.

9. Purchases and licenses

Mac App Store version

Sortwise is free to download; Pro is a one-time in-app purchase. Apple takes the payment and keeps the payment details. We never see your card, billing address, Apple Account or e-mail address. Sortwise asks Apple on your Mac whether Pro is unlocked; nothing about your purchase is sent to VPO Labs. We may see aggregated sales figures in App Store Connect that are not about you.

Direct download

Pro for the direct download is sold by Dodo Payments, our merchant of record. Dodo processes your payment, your name, your e-mail address and your billing country (for tax) under its own privacy policy. We never see your card details. We receive the order details we need to support you, such as your e-mail address and the license key.

To activate, check and deactivate Pro, Sortwise talks to Dodo Payments’ license service. It sends the license key and your Mac’s name (so you can tell your Macs apart), and later the activation’s id. Sortwise checks the license about once a day; if it can’t reach Dodo, Pro stays on for 14 days. The key is kept in your login Keychain.

10. This website

This website sets no cookies and uses no analytics, trackers, third-party scripts or web fonts. Like any website, its host (Hostinger) keeps standard server logs (IP address, page address, time and browser) to run the site and keep it secure.

After a purchase, Dodo Payments sends you back to our thank-you page. The address it uses can include details of the order, such as its status, your e-mail address and the license key. The page does not show, store or send them, but page addresses appear in the server logs mentioned above.

11. Why we use data

We use the data in sections 5 to 7 only to find and fix problems, to understand which features are used, to tell you about new versions and to answer you. Under the GDPR we rely on your consent for usage data and crash reports (you can withdraw it at any time in Settings › Privacy; that does not affect what was sent before), on your request when you send feedback, on the contract with you for licensing, and on our legitimate interest in keeping the service and this website secure.

12. Your rights, export and deletion

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the EU and UK, or the CCPA/CPRA in California), you can ask to access, correct, export or delete personal information we hold about you, to restrict or object to how we use it, and to withdraw consent. You can also complain to your data protection authority. We do not sell or share personal information, and we don’t treat you differently for using these rights.

To export or delete your data, write to us through Feedback in the app, or e-mail contact@vpolabs.com. Reports carry only random identifiers and no name, so we may ask for something that identifies them, such as the e-mail address you used in feedback, so that we act on the right data and nobody else’s. We answer within the time the law requires, normally within one month.

Everything in section 3 is on your Mac, not with us. Removing Sortwise and its folder in your user Library removes it; the direct download’s license record stays in your login Keychain until you deactivate the Mac or remove it in Keychain Access. Files Sortwise moved stay where they are.

13. Children

Sortwise is a general-purpose utility, not directed at children, and it has no account. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, tell us and we will delete it.

14. Security

Sortwise runs in the macOS App Sandbox and can reach only the folders you grant it. Everything it sends travels over an encrypted connection (HTTPS). No system is perfectly secure, so please don’t put sensitive information in feedback.

15. Changes

This is the first version of this policy, effective 31 October 2026. If we change what Sortwise sends, we will update this page before the change ships and change the date at the top. A version that sends a new kind of data will ask you first.

16. Contact

VPO Labs · contact@vpolabs.com · vpolabs.com. You can also write to us through Feedback in the app.