Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 2026

The short version: BeaconFind processes your files, searches, index, and AI work locally on your PC or Mac. It has no search telemetry or analytics. Network activity includes license and optional website-account services, updates, model downloads, and Apple App Store transactions on Mac. If you send a support report, or enable automatic crash and error reports, the app sends the information described in Section 3. Optional features that read your photos and recordings (people, places and transcripts) are described in Section 4; recognising people is off until you turn it on.

1. Who we are

BeaconFind is developed and sold by the operator listed in the Impressum. For anything privacy-related, contact support@beaconfind.app.

2. What the desktop app does, and doesn't, send

Local processing: your files, file contents, names, folder structure, searches, chat questions, AI answers, and search index are processed on your PC or Mac. The index is encrypted on your device. The app does not send searches or file data during ordinary search and indexing. Support reports are a separate transfer described in Section 3.

The app may connect to online services for these purposes:

• Website license activation and trials: In direct-download builds for Windows or Mac, when you start a trial or activate a website license, the app sends the information needed to verify it, including a device-bound public key and app/platform details. Trial verification uses your email address. Mac App Store builds do not offer website trials. License activation enforces the device allowance for that website license.
• Optional access to an existing website license: when website-account access is available in your app, you can sign in with the email address associated with it. The app sends that email address and device public key to request and verify a sign-in code. Listing licenses, activating or deactivating a website license, and deleting the account send authenticated requests to BeaconFind's account service. Account deletion removes account sign-in records; website purchase, license, and device records remain separate. This service is separate from an Apple purchase and is not required to buy or use one.
• Mac App Store: on Mac, the app uses Apple's StoreKit to purchase or restore the lifetime product and check verified purchase entitlements. These transactions are handled by Apple and are separate from BeaconFind's website license service. The app does not send Apple purchase requests or receipts to that account service.
• Updates: direct-download builds periodically ask whether a newer version exists, sending the app version, update channel, and platform. Mac App Store builds receive updates through the App Store.
• AI model downloads: model downloads normally use our Cloudflare-hosted mirror. The download service may contact Hugging Face for model metadata or a file missing from the mirror. Standard web-server logs, such as IP address and requested file, apply to these requests. This also applies to the speech model used for transcripts and, if you turn on people recognition, to the face models (Section 4). A model download carries no files, photos or face data.

Search and local file processing continue offline. Account services, license activation, updates, and first-time model downloads need an internet connection; Apple purchase and restore need the App Store.

3. Support reports and diagnostics

You can report a problem from inside the app (from version 1.3, under Settings → Help & Support), from beaconfind.app/support, or from your account page. You choose when to send a manual report. Automatic crash and error reports are sent only if you enable that setting. The bullets below explain what they contain.

• The app log, only if you tick the box. The in-app form has a checkbox to attach the app's own log for the last three days and, if the app crashed, its crash log. With redaction enabled, the app removes recognized search-query markers and file paths from the log. This is not a general removal of personal information. You can turn redaction off; that option is off by default.
• A short diagnostic summary goes with an app report: operating-system and app versions, processor, memory, graphics, AI tier, app mode, and aggregate indexed-file and indexed-chunk counts. If people recognition exists in your version, it also states whether that feature is switched on and a total count of faces found (a number only). It does not include file names, paths, names of people or anything from your photos.
• Files you attach yourself (screenshots, recordings, a log you picked from disk) are stored exactly as you sent them. Nothing is removed from them, so check them first if that matters to you.
• Automatic reports, only if you turned them on. From version 1.3 the app asks once, on setup or on the Home page, whether it may send crash reports and error reports by itself. If you say yes, a report goes out without a further prompt when the app has crashed, and at most once a day when its log recorded errors. Those automatic reports include a log with the same limited redaction described above and diagnostic metadata. They do not include user-selected files. You can turn automatic reporting off at any time under Settings → Help & Support. You can still send a manual report when you choose.
• Your email address, if you give one. An app report also carries a device-bound public key and signature to authenticate the submission. If you leave the email field empty, the service may use the email associated with your website license to reply.

What we store: the text of your report, contact details if available, app and device details, diagnostic metadata, and the files you chose to attach. Report text and metadata are stored in our support database; attachments are stored in a private Cloudflare R2 bucket when upload succeeds. Our hosting, storage, and email providers process information needed to receive and handle reports and send replies. Why: to investigate your report, respond to you, and let you know when a relevant fix ships if you gave us an email address. How long: we keep reports while needed to investigate and respond, subject to applicable recordkeeping needs. Email support@beaconfind.app to ask for access to or deletion of a report; we will review and act on your request, including any records we must retain.

4. Photos and recordings: people, places and transcripts

Three features read more of what is inside your photos and recordings than file names do. All three work on your own computer. This section says what each one stores and where.

People in your photos (optional)

Recognising people is off until you turn it on, under Settings → Privacy & Data ("Recognise people in photos"). When it is on, BeaconFind looks for faces in the photos it indexes and computes a numeric description of each face, a face signature, to group photos of the same person so you can name them and search by name. Finding and comparing faces runs on your computer. The models it needs are downloaded once from our servers after you turn the feature on, in the same way as the other AI models (Section 2).

What is stored: where each face is in its photo, its face signature, the names you type, and small previews of faces (a handful are kept for each person or group; others are cut from your photo when you look at them and kept in a size-limited cache folder on your computer). Positions, signatures, names and the stored previews are kept in BeaconFind's encrypted index on your computer.

What is not sent: nothing about faces or names is sent to us or to anyone else. Face signatures, positions, previews and names are never part of a bug report or of the diagnostic information described in Section 3. We do not use face data for anything other than grouping and searching your own photos on your computer.

Your controls: Delete all face data under Settings → Privacy & Data removes every detected face, every face signature, every name you gave, the stored and cached face previews, and the face models. Your photos are not touched. Turning the feature off stops the scan and keeps what is already stored until you delete it.

Photo locations

If a photo carries GPS coordinates in its own metadata (most phone photos do), BeaconFind reads them while indexing and turns them into a place name by finding the nearest town in a list of place names that is stored inside the app. This uses no map service and makes no network request. The coordinates and the place name are stored in the index on your computer, so you can search and filter your photos by place. The places map is drawn from outlines stored inside the app, not from map tiles fetched from a server.

Your controls: this feature is on by default and can be turned off under Settings → Privacy & Data ("Read photo locations"). When it is off, BeaconFind stores no coordinates or place names for the photos it indexes from then on.

Transcripts of audio and video

BeaconFind can transcribe speech in audio and video files so you can search what is said. Transcription is only available on the Balanced and Max AI tiers, and you can turn it off for a single folder or for the whole app in Settings. Transcription runs on your computer with a speech model that is downloaded once from our servers (Section 2). The transcript text is stored in the index on your computer, like the text of your documents, and your audio and video files are not uploaded.

5. Purchases

For purchases on our website, payments are processed by Stripe; your card details go directly to Stripe and never touch our servers. We receive your email address, the product purchased, and payment status so we can issue your license key and handle the purchase. Stripe's own privacy policy applies to website checkout.

On Mac, Apple processes BeaconFind App Store purchases through StoreKit. The app uses StoreKit to purchase, restore, and check verified entitlements. We do not send Apple receipts or purchase requests to BeaconFind's website-license account service. Apple's privacy terms apply to information Apple processes for App Store transactions.

6. Email

We primarily send service emails through Resend: trial verification codes, optional website-account sign-in codes, license keys, and replies to support requests. The trial-end offer described below is a separate promotional message.

If you start a trial, we may send you one notice around the time it ends, and that notice can include a discount. It goes only to people whose trial is ending or has just ended, never to a general list, and it carries a one-click opt-out. Opting out stops offers and nothing else, so you still get your verification code, your licence key, and replies to your own support messages. You can also just email support@beaconfind.app and we will do it for you.

7. This website

• Hosted on Cloudflare Pages; Cloudflare processes standard access logs (IP address, requested page) to serve and protect the site.
• No advertising, no tracking pixels, no third-party analytics scripts, no cookie banners, because there are no tracking cookies. We count page views ourselves, in daily totals only, with no profile of you and nothing stored on your device to do it. Your theme preference (light/dark) is stored locally in your browser and never sent anywhere. If you would rather not be counted at all, open any page with ?bf_notrack=1 on the end of the address: that preference is stored locally the same way, never sent anywhere, and this site stops counting you. ?bf_notrack=0 undoes it.
• The interactive search demo on the landing page runs entirely in your browser against built-in sample data. Nothing you type in it is transmitted.

8. What we store, and for how long

Optional BeaconFind accounts: when website-account access is available, the account service stores your verified email address, account identifier, device public key, and sign-in session records. Sign-in codes expire after 10 minutes; sessions expire after 30 days without an authenticated account action. Expiry prevents further use of the code or session and does not itself mean every stored record is immediately deleted. The app stores its session in an encrypted local file. You can sign out or request account deletion from the app when this service is available. Account deletion removes the account, its sessions, and pending sign-in challenges. Website purchase, license, and device records are held separately; account deletion does not delete a support report or an Apple purchase.

• Website license and purchase records (email, license key, activated devices, and purchase details): kept separately from optional account sign-in records to administer purchases, license access, and applicable recordkeeping requirements. Contact us to ask about a specific record or request deletion.
• Trial records (email, device key): kept to enforce one-trial-per-device.
• Support email: kept as ordinary correspondence.
• Problem reports and their attachments: kept while needed to investigate and respond, subject to applicable recordkeeping needs. You can request access or deletion by email. Details in Section 3.

9. Your rights (GDPR)

If you are in the EU/EEA, you can request access to, correction or deletion of, and a copy of personal data we hold about you, and ask us to restrict or object to certain processing. These rights have legal conditions and exceptions. Email support@beaconfind.app. We will respond without undue delay, normally within one month of receiving your request. If the request is complex or we receive many requests, the period may be extended by up to two further months; we will tell you within the first month and explain why. You can also complain to your local data-protection authority.

10. Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, we'll note it in the app's release notes and update the date at the top of this page.

• November 2026: added Section 4 on optional people recognition, photo locations and transcripts, and what is stored for each. The sections after it moved down one number. Section 3 now says what a report states about these features.
• October 2026: clarified Mac App Store purchases, optional website-license accounts, and support-report data and redaction.
• September 2026: added Section 3 on problem reports and the diagnostics you can choose to send with them, including the optional automatic crash and error reports. The sections after it moved down one number; nothing else changed.