PressDeck is designed without an owner-operated account system, analytics SDK, advertising SDK, tracking SDK or content-proxy backend.
Data stored on the Mac
Preferences, enabled and custom feed sources, custom categories, topic follow/mute rules, notification deduplication identifiers, local recommendation counters, read state and bookmarks remain in local app storage. The optional menu-bar marquee stores at most ten headline strings per language so it can resume after relaunch. It does not store article text, URLs, images or summaries for this purpose.
Direct publisher requests
PressDeck contacts configured publishers, the official Hacker News API and image CDNs directly to retrieve feeds, article pages and images. These providers receive ordinary technical connection data such as the device IP address and apply their own privacy policies. Preview images are downsampled and kept only in a bounded memory cache. Article pages are normally processed locally in an invisible, non-persistent WebKit session with publisher JavaScript disabled, then rendered in PressDeck’s native reader. If a publisher requires consent or subscriber authentication, the user can explicitly open the publisher’s real access page inside PressDeck. JavaScript is enabled for that visible page and the resulting publisher session, including cookies, is stored persistently on the Mac. The publisher and embedded third parties can receive data according to the page they present. PressDeck does not receive credentials or copy the session to an owner-operated server.
Notifications and on-device processing
Optional local notifications can show requested topic matches or a Morning Brief reminder. PressDeck does not register for remote push notifications or upload a device token. The German presentation option rewrites visible German text locally. On supported macOS 26 devices, a user may explicitly ask Apple’s on-device Foundation Model to compare up to eight visible cluster headlines and feed summaries. PressDeck does not operate an AI backend or train a model.
Purchases
Apple processes App Store purchase information. PressDeck reads verified StoreKit entitlements to unlock Premium and sends no purchase data to an owner-operated backend.
Your choices
You can disable or remove sources and categories, remove topic rules and bookmarks, reset local recommendations, clear all stored publisher sessions in Settings, revoke notification permission in System Settings and delete the app’s local container. PressDeck has no account requiring an online deletion request.
Contact
Use the public support forms for non-sensitive privacy questions. Do not post personal data. Use GitHub private vulnerability reporting for security-sensitive matters.