Last updated: July 18, 2026
Beacon searches your Mac on your Mac. Your files, messages, notes, mail, calendar events, clipboard, and browsing history are read locally and never uploaded anywhere. The app contains no analytics and no tracking.
Beacon makes exactly three kinds of network requests:
Update checks. The app periodically fetches
beaconmac.com/appcast.xml to see if a new version exists,
and downloads updates from GitHub. No personal data is included.
License validation. If you enter a license key, the
app sends only that key to license.beaconmac.com
to confirm your subscription is active. No information about your
searches, files, or device is sent.
Site icons. When browser-history results are shown, Beacon fetches favicons directly from the sites you've already visited (never via a third-party service). You can avoid this by not using the History filter.
Payments are processed by Paddle as merchant of record; they collect your name, email, and payment details under Paddle's privacy policy. Our license server stores your license key alongside your Paddle transaction reference and email so we can look your purchase up when you need support or key recovery. We never see your payment details.
beaconmac.com is a static site served by Cloudflare. It sets no cookies and runs no analytics. The checkout overlay is provided by Paddle and governed by their policy.
Searching Messages, Notes, Mail, and Safari history requires macOS Full Disk Access, which you grant (and can revoke) in System Settings. Contacts and Calendar access are requested through the standard macOS permission prompts. All of it is optional — file search works with no permissions at all.