Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 11, 2026
The short version: there are no accounts, no ads, and no selling of data. The app collects nothing about you, and the website keeps only anonymous, aggregate visit statistics. If you choose to donate, Stripe handles the payment.
The app
HoverEnhance runs entirely on your Mac. It contains no analytics, telemetry, or tracking of any kind, and your settings are stored locally on your machine.
To show previews, HoverEnhance uses macOS Accessibility access to read the thing under your cursor: an image, a link, or a file in Finder. It never reads what you type, and release builds keep what you hover out of the system log.
It makes network requests only to:
- The sites behind what you hover. To preview an image, video, or post, HoverEnhance loads it from the site it lives on, just as your browser would. In apps other than browsers, such as Mail, links load nothing unless you allow it in Settings.
- GitHub, to check for updates. The Sparkle framework fetches release information from GitHub, subject to GitHub's privacy statement.
- Google, only if you sign in. Signing in to subscribe to YouTube channels from a creator card connects to your Google account, subject to Google's privacy policy. The sign-in is kept in your Mac's keychain and is never sent anywhere else.
Like any web request, each of these exposes your IP address and user agent to the site it goes to. Nothing is ever sent to the maintainer.
The website
This site uses Cloudflare Web Analytics, a privacy-focused analytics tool, to count visits. A small script loaded from Cloudflare reports each page view. It uses no cookies, does not fingerprint your browser, and does not track you across other sites — the data is anonymous and aggregate (page views, referrers, browser type, country, and page load performance).
The site is served by Cloudflare, which may keep standard server logs (such as IP addresses) for security and operations, subject to Cloudflare's privacy policy. Release and download information shown on the homepage is fetched server-side from the GitHub API; your browser does not contact GitHub just by visiting.
Donations
Donations to the dog food fund are optional and processed by Stripe. Stripe's checkout loads from Stripe's servers only after you choose to donate, and Stripe collects your payment details, email address, and billing information, subject to Stripe's privacy policy. Card numbers never reach this site or the maintainer. The maintainer can see what Stripe shows a merchant, such as the amount, your name and email address, and your card's brand and last four digits, and uses it only for records of the donation. This site itself stores nothing about donations.
Downloads
Download links point to GitHub Releases, so downloading the app is a request to GitHub's servers and is covered by GitHub's privacy statement.
If you email jesse@stilwe.com, your message and address are used only to reply to you. They are never shared or added to any mailing list.
Changes to this policy
This policy may be updated from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated date at the top.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Email jesse@stilwe.com.