What Padlight reads
Padlight reads your trackpad: finger position on the trackpad surface, physical clicks, and held modifier keys. It reads them to decide whether a gesture is happening. It also asks media apps you use (Music, QuickTime Player, Safari, Chrome) for the current playback position and duration, only while you scrub the bottom edge.
What never leaves your Mac
- Touch data, finger positions, and click history.
- Anything you type. Padlight has no keyboard recorder.
- The frontmost app and its contents, except the media position query described above.
Gesture decisions are computed entirely on your Mac.
Media scrubbing
The bottom-edge timeline scrub works in Safari and Chrome (HTML5 video, including YouTube — requires "Allow JavaScript from Apple Events" in the browser's Develop menu), Apple Music, QuickTime Player, and other music apps with AppleScript support. It moves the playhead only in the app you are scrubbing.
Network use
Padlight's network traffic is limited to:
- License checks (Pro only): activation, validation, and deactivation with Lemon Squeezy's license API.
- Update checks: once a day, Padlight downloads the update feed from padlight.dwirandyh.dev.
The license check sends your license key and this Mac's name, so you can tell your Macs apart when moving a key. The update check sends your Padlight and macOS versions. No other data is transmitted.
Checkout and email
Purchases are handled by Lemon Squeezy, the merchant of record, under their own privacy policy. The checkout collects the name, email, country, and payment details you give it. Your purchase email contains your license key. Padlight has no user accounts.
Permissions
Padlight requests one permission: Accessibility, used to press the system volume, brightness, mute, and corner keystroke keys, and to keep clicks near the trackpad edges from reaching the app underneath. It is not used to read anything.