Private by design
Privacy policy
System Headroom reads local system activity to tell you what is using your Mac. That information stays on your Mac.
- No account Nothing to create or sign in to.
- No analytics or tracking No telemetry and no advertising profile.
- Process data not collected Samples are read and used locally.
01
What System Headroom reads
To tell you which apps are busy, System Headroom reads process names, process identifiers, CPU and memory measurements, and the local ports that apps are listening on.
It reads all of this through standard macOS APIs, inside the Mac App Store sandbox. It reads nothing else. It does not open your files, your network traffic, your keystrokes, or your location.
It reads only while it is running. Sampling pauses when the popover is closed, unless you turn on live CPU in the menu bar.
02
What leaves your Mac
Nothing. System Headroom has no server and no account system, so there is nowhere for your process data to go.
The app does not transmit process names, measurements, port listings, or device identifiers. I never see them, because they never leave your machine.
The Mac App Store edition is monitoring only. It cannot quit, force quit, or otherwise control another app.
04
Retention and your choices
Your preferences, such as refresh interval and menu bar options, are stored locally in the app’s macOS sandbox. Deleting System Headroom removes them.
No process samples are kept on a server, so there is no server-side history to export or delete. To stop local collection entirely, quit the app.
05
Purchases and the App Store
System Headroom is a $4.99 one-time purchase. Apple processes the payment. I never receive your name, address, or payment details.
Apple gives developers aggregate sales reports, and App Analytics only when you have opted in to share it. Apple’s privacy policy governs that data, and none of it identifies you to me.
06
This website
macheadroom.com is a static site. It sets no cookies and runs no analytics. Fonts and images are served from this domain, so loading a page makes no third-party requests.
Your browser stores one thing:
system-headroom-hero-intro in session storage. It
records that you have already seen the homepage entrance
animation, so the page does not replay it. Closing the tab clears
it.
The site is delivered by Amazon CloudFront. Like any web server, the CDN may record standard request data such as IP address, timestamp, and requested file, for delivery and security. That data is not used to profile you.
07
Changes to this policy
When this policy changes, I will update the effective date at the top of this page. Material changes to how System Headroom handles data will also appear in the app’s release notes.