Trace privacy policy
Effective October 6, 2026
Trace is a macOS app for editing vector documents. This policy describes what it processes, what can leave your Mac, and what we — Honestly, the developer — collect. The short version: Trace works on files on your Mac, talks to the internet only where you have set it up to, and we collect nothing.
What Trace processes
- The documents you open and create — SVG, Trace's multi-page
.tracesvg, and PNG — and the images you add to them. - Folders you grant access to. When a document keeps its images as separate files, Trace asks once for access to that folder and remembers the permission as a sandbox bookmark on your Mac. You can revoke it by moving or deleting the folder.
- Your screen, only when you ask. The eyedropper samples a single pixel color from the screen when you invoke it, using the system color sampler. No screen contents are captured otherwise.
- Color palettes you create, stored in the app's own container and, if iCloud is on for the app, synced through Apple's iCloud key-value store under your Apple Account.
What leaves your Mac
Nothing, unless you set up one of the following. Each is under your control and off by default:
- Your own storage bucket. If you add an S3-compatible bucket in Settings ▸ Storage, Trace uploads images to it and reads them back using the credentials you entered. Those credentials are stored in your macOS Keychain and are never written into a document or a preference file. Traffic goes directly from your Mac to the provider you chose, under that provider's terms. Honestly operates no server and never sees the credentials, the images or the traffic.
- Remote images in a document. A document that references an image by URL (one you or someone else uploaded earlier) fetches that image from its URL when the document opens.
- Import Web Page. File ▸ Import Web Page loads the address you type, on your Mac, to turn the page into shapes. Nothing is sent anywhere else.
- Icon sets. Icon sets you choose to add are downloaded from their publishers' sites. Trace ships with none installed.
- iCloud palette sync. With iCloud enabled for Trace, your color palettes sync between your Macs through Apple's iCloud under your Apple Account and Apple's privacy policy.
Expiring share links that you copy from the bucket browser are signed with your bucket credentials on your Mac; anyone you give a link to can read that one object until the link expires.
What we collect
Nothing. Trace has no accounts, no sign-in, no analytics, no crash reporting and no advertising. The app does not contact Honestly.
Your control
- Removing a bucket in Settings ▸ Storage stops all uploads and downloads to it; its credentials can be removed from the Keychain at the same time.
- Each document chooses where its images live (inside the file, in a folder, or in a bucket) in its inspector, and can be switched at any time.
- Folder permissions are sandbox bookmarks you can clear by removing the app's container, and iCloud sync is governed by System Settings ▸ Apple Account ▸ iCloud.
Children
Trace is not directed at children and collects no personal information from anyone.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version is published at this address with a new effective date.