Privacy Policy

Strata — Planetary Stacking
Effective Date: March 25, 2026
Developer: Mac Observatory

Overview

Strata is designed with privacy as a core principle. All image processing runs locally on your Mac using Metal GPU acceleration. We do not collect, transmit, or store any personal information, usage analytics, or telemetry.

Data That Stays on Your Device

All of the following data is stored locally on your Mac and is never transmitted to Mac Observatory or any third party:

  • Capture data — SER video files, TIFF, PNG, JPEG, and FITS images you import for processing
  • Processing results — stacked, sharpened, and exported images saved to locations you choose
  • Processing profiles — named sharpen and color settings stored in your Application Support folder
  • App preferences — settings such as export format defaults, filename templates, and window state stored in local preferences
  • Recent files list — paths to recently opened files stored locally via security-scoped bookmarks

Strata processes your imaging data entirely on-device. Your captures and results never leave your Mac.

Network Connections

Strata makes no network connections. The app operates entirely offline. There are no update checks, no cloud sync, no remote analytics, and no server communication of any kind. All processing is performed locally using your Mac's CPU and GPU.

Data We Do Not Collect

  • No personal information
  • No account or sign-in required
  • No usage analytics or telemetry
  • No crash reporting to external services
  • No advertising or ad identifiers
  • No tracking across apps or websites
  • No data shared with third parties

Third-Party Services

Strata contains no third-party SDKs, analytics frameworks, or advertising libraries. It is built entirely with Apple system frameworks (Swift, SwiftUI, Metal, Accelerate, vImage, and vDSP).

App Sandbox

Strata runs in the macOS App Sandbox. It can only access files and folders you explicitly grant permission to via the system file picker or drag-and-drop. File access is managed through security-scoped bookmarks and can be revoked at any time through macOS privacy settings.

Children's Privacy

Strata does not knowingly collect any information from children under the age of 13.

Changes to This Policy

If we update this privacy policy, the revised version will be posted at https://www.macobservatory.com/strata-privacy-policy with an updated effective date.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, contact us at:

Email: support@macobservatory.com
Web: https://www.macobservatory.com