Privacy Policy

Overview

Magzdown is a privacy-first application. There are no accounts and no cookies. The articles you read, and your highlights and notes, stay in your browser and are never sent to us. We collect anonymous usage statistics to see which features people use, described under Analytics below.

Data storage

All data — articles, settings, highlights, annotations, and reading progress — is stored locally in your browser using localStorage. This data never leaves your device and is not accessible to us or any third party.

Network requests

Magzdown makes network requests only in the following cases:

• When you fetch an article by URL (the content is saved to your browser, not to any server)
• When you validate a Pro license key (a single API call to Polar.sh to verify the key)
• When you purchase a Pro license (handled entirely by Polar.sh's embedded checkout)
• When you subscribe to the newsletter (your email address is sent to Buttondown, only if you submit the form)
• Anonymous usage analytics, described below

No other network requests are made. There is no error reporting, and the content of your articles is never included in any request.

Analytics

The website uses Umami, running on our own server, to count visits and feature usage. It sets no cookies and does not identify you across sites. It records:

• Page views, with the referring site and your browser, operating system, device type, and country
• Which features you use, such as the style preset, theme, or font you pick, exports, and clicks on install and download links

It never records the text of your articles, your highlights or notes, or your license key. Blocking the analytics script with a content blocker doesn't affect how Magzdown works.

Browser extension (Magzdown Clipper)

The Magzdown Clipper browser extension for Chrome and Firefox:

• Only activates when you click the extension icon — it never runs in the background
• Reads the current page content solely to extract the article text and images
• Does not collect, store, or transmit any browsing data to any server
• Passes the extracted content directly to your local Magzdown instance via a URL
• Requires only the "activeTab" and "scripting" permissions — no broad host access

Mac app (Magzdown for Mac)

The Mac app and its Quick Look preview render your Markdown files on your Mac:

• Your files are read locally and never uploaded. The app has no account, analytics, or telemetry.
• Quick Look reads the previewed file and images in the same folder, and nothing else
• It contacts Polar.sh only when you activate a Pro license key, and to re-check that key about once a week
• Images that a file links from the web are loaded from their original servers, as in any Markdown viewer
• Your style, theme, font, and license settings are stored in the app's preferences on your Mac

Sharing

When you share an article via a Magzdown link, the content is encoded directly into the URL using base64. No data is uploaded to any server. The recipient's browser decodes the content entirely client-side.

Third-party services

Magzdown uses two third-party services. Polar.sh handles Pro license key validation and payment processing. It has its own privacy policy governing how it handles payment information, and Magzdown does not receive or store any payment details. Buttondown sends the newsletter and stores the email addresses of people who subscribe. You can unsubscribe from any issue. Analytics run on our own server, not a third party.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, you can reach us at [email protected].