Privacy Policy

1. Scope and Summary

This privacy policy covers the Macro Deck Companion app for Android and iOS (app ID app.macrodeck.companion). The app shows the deck of the Macro Deck computers you add and sends your button presses to them.

• The app connects only to your own Macro Deck computers in your local network or via USB, to Google Play or the App Store for purchases, and to our licence service for the list of revoked licences.
• It contains no analytics, crash reporting, advertising or push notification services and does not require a Macro Deck account.
• Data that the app sends to your own computer stays under your control. We only receive data when a purchase is activated and, when the app downloads the list of revoked licences, its IP address (section 4).

2. Controller

Responsible for data processing:

Macro Deck, Owner Manuel Mayer
Porzer Straße 142A
53859 Niederkassel
Germany

Email: legal@macro-deck.app

We are not required to appoint a data protection officer. For all data protection questions, please contact us at the address above.

3. Connecting to Your Macro Deck Computer

3.1 Finding and adding computers

The app finds Macro Deck computers in your local network, reads the connect QR code shown by Macro Deck, or uses the address you enter. The QR code is decoded on your device; the link it contains is not opened on the internet. For each computer, the app stores its name, network addresses, identity key and, if you use Wake-on-LAN, the network card addresses needed to wake it.

3.2 Signing in

You sign in to your computer with the username and password you set up in Macro Deck, or with a one-time pairing code. The app sends the computer a device ID, a random client ID, the device name (the name of your device or a name you choose), the operating system and its version, the version of the system web engine (Android WebView or WebKit), the device type (phone or tablet) and the app version. Your credentials and session tokens are stored encrypted in the Android Keystore or the iOS Keychain and are not included in device backups. Other settings are stored in the app's private storage.

3.3 Device status and remote functions

While connected, the app reports the following to your computer, so you can use it in Macro Deck, for example to show the battery level on a button: battery level and charging state, screen orientation and brightness, device model, operating system and app version, which device functions are available and allowed, whether the app is in the foreground, network type, whether the network is metered and whether it reaches the internet, memory usage and, on iOS, processor usage. As network name, the app reports the name of your mobile network operator or, on Android and only if you turn this on in the settings, the name of your Wi-Fi network.

Your computer can ask the app to change brightness or orientation, vibrate, turn the screen on or off and take a screenshot of its deck. On Android you can additionally allow screenshots of the whole screen, which may include notifications and other apps; once allowed, a connected computer can take them without asking each time, until you turn the function off again. Screenshots are sent only to the computer that requested them.

All of this data is exchanged only between the app and your own computer and is not transmitted to us. We do not process it, neither ourselves nor on your behalf; what happens to it on your computer is under your control. The storage of data on your device is strictly necessary for the functions you use (§ 25 para. 2 no. 2 TDDDG).

4. Purchases, Trial and Licence

4.1 Purchase through Google Play or the App Store

The Companion app licence is a one-time in-app purchase. The purchase, payment, refunds and restoring purchases are handled by Google (Google Play Billing) or Apple (App Store) under their own responsibility. We do not receive your payment details, name or email address. Please refer to the privacy policies of Google and Apple.

To know whether you own the licence, the app asks Google Play or the App Store for your purchases when it starts. Once after the licence is activated, the app may show the rating dialog of Google Play or the App Store; whether it appears and what you submit there is handled by Google or Apple.

4.2 Activating the licence

Before the app hands the licence or a proof of purchase to a Macro Deck computer that has no licence yet, it asks you and shows that computer's identity. Only after you allow it does the app hand that computer the proof of purchase. It contains the store, the product, the purchase or transaction ID, the order ID, the app package name and the transaction data signed by the store; on iOS it can also contain proof of a purchase of the earlier Macro Deck app. Your computer sends it to our licence service, which checks it and issues a signed licence. The licence contains a licence ID, the product and the store and no personal details such as your name or email address.

The licence is stored in the secure storage of the app and on your Macro Deck computers, which pass it on to your other companion devices. The licence may only be transferred to your own Macro Deck installations; the Terms of Service apply. How our licence service processes the proof of purchase is described in the tab Accounts, Store & Creator Portal. The legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR.

4.3 Trial

The app can be tried for 7 days. To make sure a trial is started only once per device, the app uses a trial ID: on Android a salted one-way hash of the Android device ID, on iOS a salted hash of a random ID stored in the Keychain. The app reads or creates this ID only when you start the trial; by tapping the button to start it, which explains this, you consent to it (§ 25 para. 1 TDDDG). Before that, and if you buy the app without trying it, no trial ID is read or created.

The trial ID and the start of the trial are stored on your Macro Deck computers and are not transmitted to us. You can withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future under Settings, License, Remove trial ID: the app then no longer reads or sends the ID and deletes the random ID on iOS. A trial that is already running keeps running.

4.4 Revoked licences

So that licences that were refunded or passed on to others stop working, the app downloads the public list of revoked licence IDs from our licence service (api.macro-deck.app) when it starts and then every six hours. The request contains no licence ID, device ID or other data about you, but our server necessarily receives the IP address of your device and records it in its server logs. The servers, the server logs and how long they are kept are described in the tab Accounts, Store & Creator Portal, section 7. The legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR; our legitimate interest is to enforce the licence terms.

5. Permissions

• Camera: only to scan the connect QR code. Images are processed on the device and not stored.
• NFC: only to write and read the NFC tags you set up in the app, and to react when you tap one. A tag holds only a random link; which computer and script it stands for is stored on your device and is not sent anywhere. Tapping a tag only connects the app to your own computer.
• Local network (iOS): to find and connect to your Macro Deck computers.
• Location (Android only): Android requires this permission to read the name of the Wi-Fi network. It is used only while the app is open and only if you turn on Wi-Fi name reporting, which is off by default. Your location itself is not collected.
• Notifications and background operation (Android): to keep the connection alive while the app is in the background and to show the status of the connection.
• Accessibility service, device administration, screen capture and display over other apps (Android): optional, only if you enable them, so that your computer can lock or turn on the screen, bring the app to the front and take screenshots. The accessibility service does not read the content of other apps.

You can withdraw permissions at any time in the settings of your device.

6. Links

The app links to our imprint, privacy policy and terms of service, to the websites of the open source components it uses and, in the troubleshooting screen, to our Discord server. They open in your browser or the Discord app only when you tap them; data is only transmitted to the website you open.

7. Storage Duration

Data stored in the app stays on your device until you remove the computer, sign out or uninstall the app. Data stored on your Macro Deck computer stays there until you delete it. The storage of licence data by our licence service is described in the tab Accounts, Store & Creator Portal.

8. Obligation to Provide Data

You are not legally obliged to provide personal data. Without connecting to a Macro Deck computer, the app cannot be used, and without the proof of purchase, the licence cannot be activated.

9. Your Rights

You have the following rights with regard to your personal data:

• Access to the personal data we hold about you (Art. 15 GDPR).
• Correction of inaccurate data (Art. 16 GDPR).
• Deletion of your data (Art. 17 GDPR).
• Restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR).
• Receiving the data you provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (Art. 20 GDPR).
• Objection to processing based on our legitimate interests (Art. 21 GDPR), on grounds relating to your particular situation.
• Withdrawal of any consent you have given, with effect for the future (Art. 7 para. 3 GDPR).

To exercise these rights, contact us at legal@macro-deck.app. We may ask you to confirm your identity, for example by writing from the email address of your account or by giving your licence ID.

We do not use automated decision-making, including profiling, within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR.

10. Right to Lodge a Complaint

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or the place of the alleged infringement. The authority responsible for us is:

State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of North Rhine-Westphalia
Kavalleriestraße 2-4
40213 Düsseldorf
Germany
Phone: +49 211 38424-0
Email: poststelle@ldi.nrw.de
Website: https://www.ldi.nrw.de/

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We update this privacy policy when our services or the legal requirements change. The current version is always available at macro-deck.app/privacy/companion. Last updated: 17 October 2026.