Cyberquarium Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 7, 2026
Who we are: Cuteness Technology ("we", "us"). Contact: hello@cutenesstechnology.com

Cyberquarium is a Mac app: an aquarium and music visualizer that runs on your computer. This policy explains what little information the app handles, what leaves your Mac, and what never does. It covers both ways you can get the app: the Mac App Store build and the direct download from cutenesstechnology.com.

The short version

• There is no account and no sign-in in the app.
• Your music, audio, screen, files, and settings never leave your Mac.
• Usage analytics require onboarding consent or enabling them in Settings. Onboarding proposes sending usage statistics; you can turn that choice off before completing setup. You can change it anytime in Settings → App → Send Usage Analytics.
• How you bought the app changes one thing only:
• Mac App Store: Apple handles purchase and licensing. The app does not use Freemius and does not send a license key anywhere.
• Direct download: Purchase and license activation go through Freemius (see below).
• The product website collects anonymous page-view statistics (Aptabase), with no cookies and no personal data.
• We never sell data, and we never show ads.

What stays on your Mac

Audio. When the music-reactive feature is on, Cyberquarium listens to the audio your Mac is playing so the fish can move to the beat. This audio is analysed in real time, in memory, on your Mac. It is never recorded, stored, or sent anywhere. macOS asks your permission before the app can do this, and you can revoke it at any time in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

Settings and scenes. Your scenes, colours, camera position, window mode, and every other preference are saved on your Mac in the app's own preferences. They are not uploaded.

Wallpaper mode. The Mac App Store build displays an aquarium window behind desktop icons without replacing your system desktop picture. The direct-download build can also use native wallpaper and may temporarily adjust desktop-picture settings so the menu bar stays readable, restoring the previous wallpaper when the mode is turned off. Wallpaper-related settings and backups stay on your Mac.

What leaves your Mac

1. Purchases and licensing (depends on how you bought the app)

Mac App Store build. Purchase, receipts, and entitlement are handled by Apple. Cyberquarium does not include Freemius, does not ask for a license key, and does not contact a licensing server for activation.

Direct-download build. Cyberquarium is sold as a one-time purchase with a license key. When you enter your key, the app sends the key, a random install identifier, and your Mac's computer name to our licensing provider, Freemius, so the key can be activated on that Mac. The same happens in reverse when you deactivate. The app does not contact the licensing server at any other time and works offline afterwards.

Freemius also handles the direct-sale purchase itself (payment card, billing email, receipts). We never see your card details. Freemius's handling of that information is covered by its own privacy policy at https://freemius.com/privacy/.

2. Optional anonymous usage analytics (Aptabase)

Cyberquarium can send small anonymous usage events to Aptabase, a privacy-focused analytics service. Analytics do not run before onboarding consent or enabling them in Settings. Onboarding includes an optional “Send usage statistics” choice, initially on; you can turn it off before completing setup. After that, Settings → App → Send Usage Analytics controls whether new events are sent. Debug builds never start analytics.

Examples of what may be sent when analytics are on:

• that the app was launched, and roughly how long it was used
• scene-change counts, without custom scene names or contents
• whether a mode such as Wallpaper, Travel, or Virtual Boy was turned on or off
• which settings panel was open, for how long, and how many settings were changed in it (not which ones, and not their values)
• onboarding completion signals (for example starter scene chosen, audio permission outcome)
• the app version, macOS version, device model, language, and country derived from your connection

What is not sent: your name, email, license key, computer name, IP address (Aptabase discards it after deriving the country), anything about the audio you play, wallpaper images, or any setting values or custom scene contents.

Events are tied to a random session identifier that is regenerated regularly and cannot be linked back to you.

Turning it off: Settings → App → Send Usage Analytics. When it is off, nothing new is sent. Events already sent are not deleted automatically and cannot be looked up per person.

Aptabase's own privacy policy is at https://aptabase.com/legal/privacy.

3. This website

The cutenesstechnology.com / cyberquarium pages may send anonymous usage events to Aptabase: which pages are viewed, the site that referred you, your browser language, and whether a buy button was clicked or a purchase completed. To count returning visitors, the site may store a random identifier in your browser's local storage. It is not a cookie, is not linked to your name, email, purchase, or license, and you can remove it by clearing the site's data in your browser. No IP addresses are stored by us for this purpose.

Permissions the app asks for

• Screen & System Audio Recording (macOS wording): used only to hear the audio your Mac is playing for the music-reactive feature. The app does not capture your screen.
• Open at Login: optional, so the aquarium can start with your Mac. Offered during onboarding and controllable in Settings → App.

Children

Cyberquarium is a general-audience app and does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children.

Data retention and deletion

We hold no account profile about you to delete. For the direct-download build, license activation records live with Freemius and can be removed by deactivating your Mac in the app, or by asking Freemius or us. Anonymous analytics cannot be linked to you and therefore cannot be looked up or deleted per person. For Mac App Store purchases, Apple's privacy terms apply to purchase data Apple holds.

Your rights

If you are in the EU, UK, California, or anywhere else with data-protection rights, you can exercise them by emailing hello@cutenesstechnology.com. Because we hold little or no personal data ourselves, most requests will be answered by explaining what we do and do not hold, but we will always reply.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted at https://cutenesstechnology.com/cyberquarium/privacy.html with an updated effective date. Material changes will also be mentioned in the app's release notes when practical.

Contact

hello@cutenesstechnology.com