Typeist

Typeist Privacy Policy

Effective date: November 5, 2026

Typeist is a font manager for macOS. It is built and published by Jon Sabutis, an individual developer (“I”, “me”). This policy explains what happens to your information when you use the Typeist app. The short version: Typeist works on your Mac, I do not collect your fonts or your library, and the app has no accounts, analytics, advertising or tracking.

What stays on your Mac

Everything Typeist does to manage your fonts happens locally. None of the following is ever sent to me:

  1. The fonts in your library folder, and any fonts you import into it.
  2. The index of your library, including family names, styles, tags, collections and which fonts are turned on.
  3. Your settings, such as your theme, appearance and chosen library folder.
  4. Automatic class tags. These come from a model that runs entirely on your Mac.
  5. Crash reports. When Typeist crashes, it writes a report to a folder on your Mac and leaves it there. It never uploads them.

Typeist stores its database in ~/Library/Application Support/font-manager/ and its settings in the standard macOS preferences system. Your tag edits and collections are kept in small JSON files in a data folder, which sits in ~/Library/Application Support/font-manager/ unless you keep the Typeist project folder next to your library. You can delete all of these at any time. Deleting the database is safe, because Typeist rebuilds it from your font files and the JSON files. Deleting the JSON files removes your own tag edits and collections.

Information that leaves your Mac

Typeist connects to the internet in only two situations.

1. Update checks

Typeist uses Sparkle, a widely used open-source update framework for Mac apps, to check for new versions. When it checks, it downloads a small update feed from a server I run. Like any web request, that request reveals:

  1. Your IP address.
  2. The version of Typeist you are running and the version of macOS, which are sent in the request headers.

I do not use this to identify you, build a profile of you, or link it to anything else. Typeist does not send the optional system profile that Sparkle can collect. Server logs that contain this information are kept for no more than 30 days, then deleted, unless I need them longer to investigate abuse of or an attack on the server.

You control update checks. Typeist asks before it starts checking automatically, and you can turn automatic checks off at any time in Settings under Updates. If you turn them off, Typeist makes no network requests for updates unless you choose Check for Updates yourself. Until a release has an update feed, Typeist makes no update requests at all.

2. Vision Tags (optional, off unless you set it up)

Vision Tags is an optional feature that uses Anthropic’s Claude API to suggest style and mood tags for your fonts. It does nothing until you add your own Anthropic API key. It sends nothing until you start something in the Vision Tags window. There are two things you can start:

  1. A pilot, which sends the small reference set of families you labeled, so you can see the accuracy and the cost per family before spending more.
  2. The full library, which sends every family that has no tags yet. This needs your approval after you see the estimated cost. Once you have approved it, each font family you add later is sent as it arrives, to the same model. Remove your API key from the Vision Tags window to stop that.

Each time, Typeist sends the following for each font family directly from your Mac to Anthropic, at api.anthropic.com:

  1. A rendered image of sample text set in that font.
  2. Basic facts about the family: its name, the name of the folder it sits in, its number of styles, weights, whether it has italics or is monospaced, its glyph count, and one shape measurement.

Typeist does not send the font files themselves. The request goes from your Mac to Anthropic under your own Anthropic account and API key, so it never passes through me and I never see it. Anthropic handles it under its own terms and privacy policy, which you agreed to when you created your API key. Read them at https://www.anthropic.com/legal/privacy before you use this feature.

Your API key is stored in the macOS Keychain on your Mac. Typeist uses it only to make the requests you approve. You can remove the key at any time from the Vision Tags window.

What I do not do

  1. I do not sell, rent or share your personal information. That includes “selling” or “sharing” as those terms are defined in California law.
  2. I do not use analytics, advertising, tracking pixels, fingerprinting or third-party SDKs that collect data.
  3. I do not require an account, an email address or a license key.
  4. I do not use any of your information to train AI models.

If you contact me

If you email me, I receive your email address and whatever you choose to include. I use it only to reply to you and to handle your request. I keep the correspondence for as long as I need it to deal with your request, and then for no more than two years, unless the law requires otherwise.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights over your personal information, including the right to:

  1. Know what personal information I hold about you and get a copy of it.
  2. Have it corrected or deleted.
  3. Object to or restrict how I use it.
  4. Withdraw your consent where I rely on it.
  5. Not be treated differently for using any of these rights.

In practice, the only information I could hold about you is update-server logs and any email you send me. To make a request, email privacy@typeist.app. I will respond within 30 days. I may need to ask for information to confirm the request is yours, such as the approximate date and the IP address involved for a log request. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

Where the GDPR, the UK GDPR or a similar law applies, I am the controller of the limited information described above. I process update-check requests because I have a legitimate interest in delivering security and bug-fix updates and keeping the update server running. I process email because you asked me to, and to respond to you. Vision Tags requests go directly from you to Anthropic, so Anthropic, not me, processes that data under its agreement with you.

International transfers

I am based in the United States, and the update server may be located there or in other countries. If you are outside the United States, the limited information in an update request may be transferred to and processed in those countries. Where the law requires it, I rely on appropriate safeguards for those transfers.

Children

Typeist is a general-purpose tool and is not directed at children under 13, or under 16 where local law sets that age. I do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent me personal information, email me and I will delete it.

Security

Because Typeist keeps your data on your Mac, its security mostly depends on your Mac’s own protections. Typeist stores your API key in the Keychain, uses encrypted HTTPS connections for every network request, and checks that updates are signed by me before installing them.

Changes to this policy

If I change this policy, I will update the effective date at the top and publish the new version with the app or on the Typeist website. If a change expands what Typeist sends off your Mac, I will describe it in the release notes for the version that makes that change, before you install it.

Contact

Jon Sabutis privacy@typeist.app