MacPorterPrivacy Policy
Last updated: 14 October 2026
This policy explains what personal information we collect when you visit this website, try or buy MacPorter, or contact us, and what we do with it. It is written to meet the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). The short version: we collect only what we need to sell you a licence and support you, the app itself sends us nothing, and we don't sell or share your information for advertising.
1. Who is responsible
The responsible party for your personal information is , South Africa. Our information officer is , who you can contact at .
2. What we collect and why
| Information | When | Why | Legal basis (POPIA s11) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name, email address, amount paid, date, Yoco transaction reference | When you buy | To give you your licence, keep accounting and tax records, handle refunds and prevent fraud | Performing our contract with you; legal obligation |
| Your email address, the Macs your licence is on (a one-way hash of each Mac's hardware number and the Mac's name), and sign-in codes | When you buy and when you sign in to MacPorter or your account page | To let you use your licence on your Macs, to limit it to three, and to let you sign in | Performing our contract |
| Anything you write to us, such as your email address, messages and logs or screenshots you choose to attach | When you contact support | To answer you and fix problems | Performing our contract; your consent |
| A one-way hash of your Mac's hardware number, and the date your trial started | The first time the app starts | So the 14-day trial counts once per Mac. The hardware number itself never leaves your Mac and can't be worked out from the hash. | Legitimate interest |
| Standard web request data (IP address, browser type, page requested, time) | When you visit this website | Kept by our hosting provider to run the site and protect it from abuse | Legitimate interest |
We do not collect your card number. You enter card details on Yoco's checkout page, and Yoco processes them under its own privacy policy and the PCI DSS security standard.
We don't knowingly collect special personal information or information about children. If you are under 18, please ask a parent or guardian to make the purchase.
3. What the app collects
MacPorter does not send any personal information, usage data, analytics or crash reports to us. It has no tracking built in. It does contact our website for three things:
- The trial. On first start, and on later update checks until you buy, it sends a one-way hash of your Mac's hardware number. We keep the hash and your trial's start date, nothing else.
- Updates. About every six hours it fetches the list of the newest version and the game compatibility list. These requests carry no identifier, only what any web request carries, such as your IP address.
- Your licence. When you sign in, the app sends your email address and the hash of your Mac's hardware number. About every six hours it asks again whether the licence still stands, so a refund or a Mac you removed takes effect. The licence itself is checked on your Mac, so MacPorter keeps working offline.
To work, the app connects to these third parties directly from your Mac:
- Valve (Steam), to download the Steam installer and updates. When you sign in to Steam, you sign in to Valve directly. MacPorter never sees your Steam password, and Valve's privacy policy applies to everything you do in Steam.
- NVIDIA, only if you choose to open a GeForce NOW link the app suggests for a game that can't run locally.
- Our download host (GitHub), when the app or you download MacPorter or its updates. GitHub may log your IP address as part of serving the file.
4. Cookies and analytics
This website sets no cookies and uses no analytics, advertising or tracking scripts. The Yoco checkout page, which opens when you click Buy, may set its own cookies needed for secure payment.
5. Who we share it with
We share personal information only with the operators who help us run MacPorter, and only as much as they need:
- Yoco Technologies (Pty) Ltd, South Africa: payment processing.
- Vercel Inc., United States: hosting this website.
- GitHub Inc., United States: hosting app downloads.
- Our email provider: sending sign-in codes, receipts and support replies.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, for example to the South African Revenue Service. We never sell your personal information or share it for marketing.
6. Information sent outside South Africa
Some of our operators store information outside South Africa, mainly in the United States. We only use providers that are bound by data protection laws or agreements giving protection similar to POPIA, as section 72 of POPIA requires.
7. How long we keep it
- Purchase records: five years after the sale, as tax and accounting law requires.
- Trial records (the hardware hash and start date): up to three years, so a trial can't be restarted.
- Licence records: for as long as your licence is valid, so we can replace a lost key.
- Support emails: up to two years after the conversation ends.
- Web server logs: kept by our hosting provider for a short period under its own policy.
After that we delete or anonymise it.
8. Marketing
We won't send you marketing emails unless you ask to receive them. If you do, every email will have a way to unsubscribe. We will still send messages you need, such as sign-in codes, receipts and refund confirmations.
9. Security
We protect personal information with reasonable technical and organisational measures, including encrypted connections, two-factor sign-in on the accounts that hold your data and keeping only what we need. If a breach affects your information, we will tell you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.
10. Your rights
Under POPIA you have the right to:
- ask whether we hold information about you and get a copy of it;
- ask us to correct or delete it;
- object to us processing it, and withdraw consent you have given;
- refuse direct marketing;
- complain to the Information Regulator.
Email to use any of these rights. We will reply within 30 days. We may need to confirm your identity first, and we may have to keep some records, such as tax records, even if you ask us to delete them.
Information Regulator (South Africa)
Website: inforegulator.org.za
Complaints: complaints.IR@inforegulator.org.za
11. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page. If a change materially affects how we use information we already hold, we will email the people affected before it takes effect.