Privacy Policy

This document outlines the Privacy Policy of "Sowiks" macOS desktop app, and applies to the most recent version of the app. By using Sowiks App, Sowiks cloud, or sowiks.com site, you acknowledge and agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Required macOS Permissions

• Screen Recording. To function correctly, Sowiks requires macOS Screen Recording permission to take screenshots. All screenshots taken by Sowiks belong to the user and are controlled by the user. Screenshots are stored and processed locally on the user's device, and any information derived from the screenshots never leaves the user’s device unless the user engages the "Upload" feature (see the Screenshot Uploading Privacy Policy).
• Accessibility Permissions. Accessibility Permissions are required only for the Scrolling Capture feature, which allows Sowiks to scroll other apps while taking their screenshots. This permission is not required if the user doesn’t use the Scrolling Capture feature.
• Permission to access the folder. Permission to access the folder is only required if the user saves screenshots.

Text Recognition (OCR)

When the user engages the OCR feature, text recognition happens locally on the user’s computer, both the image and the recognized text are never transferred over the internet by Sowiks.

Internet Connection and Data Transfer

Sowiks uses the internet connection for various tasks (see the list below). Sowiks does require internet connection to validate the license key number; other than that Sowiks will operate correctly on computers that don't have an internet connection, or if the user restricts its access to the internet using third-party tools.

Sowiks may contact sowiks.com server on the following occasions:

• To validate or revalidate the license number.
• If the user engages the “Upload” feature (see the Screenshot Uploading Privacy Policy).
• On app launch and once every few days Sowiks checks for information about the update availability. If a new version is found, Sowiks will offer the user to download the update, but will not perform the update without the user's confirmation.
• Sowiks reaches the telemetry endpoint to send diagnostic information to sowiks.com if the appropriate setting is turned on in the app Preferences.

Telemetry and Other Data Collection

Anonymized information may be captured and transmitted to the sowiks.com server, including but not limited to:

• Performance metrics
• Error codes
• Frequency and parameters of feature usage
• Randomly generated computer identifier
• OS version
• Screen resolution and number of external screens
• Internationalization preferences and timezone
• App version
• App preferences that don’t contain private information

The user license number is not included into the diagnostics data stream, but is transmitted to the server for the license verification purposes. The upload token is not included into the diagnostics data stream, but is transmitted when the image is being uploaded online. The application doesn't have access to the user email, name, and address, this information will never be transmitted as part of the telemetry data stream. No images are ever transmitted as part of the telemetry data stream. The text that the user provides (by typing in the application or by recognizing it from the image) is never included in the telemetry data stream.

When the telemetry collection is turned off, one final report to the server is made signaling that the data collection will stop. When the telemetry is off, the telemetry events may still be recorded locally on the user’s computer, but they won’t be sent to the server. When the diagnostics telemetry is turned off, the app stops sharing diagnostics information, but continues using endpoints to check for the updates, verify license information and upload the images when the upload feature is engaged; some information (including, but not limited to: license number, upload token) will be passed to the server as part of this process.

The collected information is solely used to provide service, develop and further improve the app.

Personal Identifiable Information

When the user purchases the license number for the app, their name, address, phone number and credit card information are collected and processed by our payment processing partner. This information is treated with the utmost confidentiality and is not shared with third parties, except as required by law. The sowiks.com server does not store or process name, phone number, address, or credit card information associated with the transaction. The sowiks.com server does process and store the email address associated with the license key number for the purposes of processing the transaction and providing customer support. The sowiks.com server also processes and stores the user's email address if the user applies for an upload token and uses the Upload feature (see the Screenshot Uploading Privacy Policy). Sowiks (the application) stores the license number when it's entered by the user, and every copy of the app generates and stores a random alphanumeric code that is used for analytics and tracking license number activations. The app does not receive, process or store user email, name, address, phone number or credit card information.

Additionally, the sowiks.com server stores user email if the user subscribes to the newsletter, reports a bug or files a suggestion, or applies for an upload token (see Upload Functionality section).

IP Address

Sowiks.com server endpoints don’t intentionally store the user’s IP address, however, the IP address may be temporarily stored in the server log files. Server log files aren’t being analyzed, processed, or mapped on the telemetry data.

Third Parties

Information collected by Sowiks is not shared with third parties. Sowiks.com may use third-party services to process user data, such as cloud hosting providers and payment processors.