Privacy Policy

Onlink is a network-connectivity utility for macOS. The app does not require an account, include advertising, use app analytics, operate an Onlink developer data server, sell personal information, or send your local connection history to the developer.

The Onlink app

Information stored on your Mac

Onlink stores app data in its sandboxed container on your Mac, including:

• raw connectivity probe records, retained for approximately 7 days;
• Internet Health samples and incidents, retained for approximately 90 days;
• speed-test records, retained for approximately 365 days;
• compact incident-forensics evidence used by Incident Detail;
• notification, launch-at-login, menu-bar, speed-test provider, network identity, theme, and other app preferences;
• Cloudflare and M-Lab speed-test consent choices and local usage counters.

Onlink automatically prunes history beyond the applicable retention periods. Local interface addresses are read from your Mac when needed and are not sent to the developer.

Connectivity monitoring

Onlink normally sends a lightweight HTTPS HEAD request towww.apple.com every 20 seconds and when macOS reports a network-path change. If that request fails, Onlink checks www.cloudflare.com as a fallback. These requests are used to decide whether the internet appears reachable.

Internet Health and incident evidence

Internet Health measurements, Reliability Score, incident history, and “What Onlink noticed” analysis are calculated locally from saved measurements. Onlink does not use AI or cloud analysis for these features.

Automatic incident diagnosis stores compact evidence around an incident so Onlink can compare the connection before, during, and after it. Copy Evidence and incident reports are designed not to include Wi-Fi names or IP addresses.

Optional public IP and provider lookup

Public-IP/provider lookup is disabled by default. If you enable it, Onlink requests metadata from speed.cloudflare.com/meta. If needed, Onlink may useipinfo.io/json as a fallback. The returned public IP, provider, and ASN are displayed locally and are not sent to the developer.

Cloudflare speed test

Cloudflare speed tests are user-started and require a first-use disclosure. Onlink downloads test data from speed.cloudflare.com/__down and uploads generated test data tospeed.cloudflare.com/__up. These tests can transfer substantial data. Cloudflare receives the connecting public IP address and technical request metadata. Completed results are stored locally by Onlink.

Measurement Lab speed test

M-Lab NDT7 tests are optional and require consent before the first test. Onlink contactslocate.measurementlab.net/v2/nearest/ndt/ndt7 to find an available server, then connects to the selected M-Lab server over secure WebSockets. Measurement Lab retains and publicly publishes test measurements, including the client public IP address, under its own data practices.

Notifications and launch at login

Connection-change notifications are optional. Permission is requested only when you enable the feature, and macOS handles notification delivery. Launch at Login is optional and managed through macOS system services.

Managing local data

You can disable optional public-IP/provider lookup at any time in Onlink Settings. Other preferences can be changed in the app or relevant macOS settings. Removing Onlink and its sandbox container removes the app’s local records and preferences; it cannot remove information independently retained by Apple, Cloudflare, IPinfo, or Measurement Lab.

This website

The Onlink website does not currently use advertising, analytics, tracking pixels, user accounts, or contact forms. The theme picker stores your selected theme locally in your browser using theonlink-theme local-storage key.

Like any website, the hosting infrastructure that serves a request may process ordinary technical metadata such as the connecting IP address, user agent, requested path, and request time. Onlink does not currently add a separate analytics layer on top of those normal hosting requests.

If website analytics are enabled in the future, this policy will be updated before treating them as part of the published site behavior.

Tracking and advertising

Onlink does not track you across apps or websites and does not use information for advertising or marketing profiles.

Children

Onlink is a general-purpose utility and is not directed to children. The developer does not knowingly request personal information from children.

Changes

Material changes to this policy will be reflected by updating the effective date on this page.

Contact

For privacy questions or support, visit the Contact page or emailbybydotdev@gmail.com.