Privacy policy: Exhibitly
Last updated: 16 October 2026
This policy covers Exhibitly: Texts to Court PDF, a Mac app published by Kayabyte, the trading name of Caner Kaya, Stasjonsveien 64, 0771 Oslo, Norway (we, us). It adds app-specific detail to the privacy policy for Kayabyte apps for Mac. Where the two differ, this page applies to Exhibitly.
The short version
Exhibitly never uploads your messages, photos, contacts, call history, iPhone backups or exports. We can’t see them, and nobody else can through us. The app only talks to the internet to activate your licence and to look for updates. Exports are saved in the folder you choose; if that folder syncs to iCloud Drive or another cloud service, that service uploads the export (see “Your exports” below).
What Exhibitly reads, and where
To do its job, Exhibitly reads on your Mac:
- iPhone backups made in Finder, in the folder where macOS keeps them, or in a folder you add. If a backup is encrypted, you type your backup password into the app. The password is used only on your Mac to open that backup. It is never stored or sent anywhere.
- The Messages folder on your Mac
(
~/Library/Messages), for messages and attachments that are on the Mac. - Contact names, so messages can show names next to
phone numbers. Exhibitly reads them directly from the address book
database files on your Mac
(
~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook) and from the contacts inside an iPhone backup. It does not use the macOS Contacts permission: these files are covered by Full Disk Access, so if you give Exhibitly Full Disk Access, it can read them. - Call history, so an export can list calls with the
other person: from the iPhone backup, and from this Mac’s call history
(
~/Library/Application Support/CallHistoryDB) when it exists.
macOS protects these folders. Exhibitly needs Full Disk Access to read them, which you turn on in System Settings and can turn off again at any time.
Exhibitly only reads these sources. It never changes, deletes or moves your backups, your Messages folder, your contacts or your call history.
What Exhibitly creates
- Your exports. The PDF, Excel file, attachments folder and SHA256SUMS.txt (and “Messages as text.txt” if you turn it on) are saved in the folder you choose. The suggested folder is “Exhibitly Exports” in your home folder, which iCloud does not sync. If you choose a folder that syncs to iCloud Drive (for example Documents or Desktop with “Desktop & Documents Folders” turned on) or another cloud service, that service uploads the export; Exhibitly shows a note in the export sheet when it can tell the folder syncs to iCloud. The verification page lists the device names and file locations that were read (for example the name of the Mac and your home folder path); use Redact a Word to hide a name before you share an export. What you do with an export afterwards, such as emailing it to your lawyer, is up to you.
- Temporary working copies. While a backup is open, and especially after you unlock an encrypted one, Exhibitly keeps decrypted working copies of the databases and of the attachments it needs in a private temporary folder that only your user account can read. They are deleted when you quit the app. If the app is force quit or crashes, any copies left behind are deleted the next time Exhibitly starts.
- Saved redactions. So your redactions are still there after you quit, Exhibitly saves them in its folder in Application Support on your Mac. It saves only which messages are redacted (message identifiers), the words or phrases you asked it to redact, and for older saved redactions character positions, never the rest of the message text. You can delete them all in Exhibitly’s Settings.
- Preferences, such as the export folder, paper size, time zone, exhibit label, the case name you typed for a conversation and the next Bates number. They stay on your Mac.
- Thumbnails of photos are drawn inside the app and kept only in memory.
What Exhibitly sends over the internet
Only two things, and neither contains any of your messages or personal content:
- Licence activation. When you enter a licence key, and when you remove a licence from a Mac, the app sends the key and an identifier for your Mac to our licence service. The identifier is a one-way SHA-256 hash of your Mac’s hardware identifier. It isn’t your name, email, serial number or Apple Account, and the hardware identifier can’t be read back from it. It stays the same if you reinstall Exhibitly, and our other Mac apps use the same identifier for the same Mac. It lets us limit a licence to 3 Macs. After activation the licence is checked on your Mac, offline. The free preview doesn’t need a licence.
- Update check. The app uses the Sparkle update framework to download an update feed from kayabyte.dev and see whether a new version exists. Like any web request, this includes your IP address, and the request tells the server your app version and macOS version. You can turn automatic update checks off in Exhibitly’s Settings, and still check by hand with Check for Updates. Sparkle’s anonymous system profile (Mac model, macOS version, language) is off, and is only sent if you turn on “Send anonymous system profile” in Settings.
Nothing else. Exhibitly has no telemetry, analytics, crash reporting service, advertising or tracking. If we ever add anonymous usage statistics, they will be off until you switch them on, and this page will be updated first.
Purchases
Purchases go through our reseller and Merchant of Record, which handles payment, tax and your billing details under its own privacy policy. We receive your email address, country, the edition you bought and the order status, so we can send and support your licence. We never see your full card details. We keep order records as Norwegian bookkeeping law requires.
Support
If you email support@kayabyte.dev, we use your message and address only to help you, and delete support conversations 24 months after they end. Please don’t send us your exports, backups or messages. If we need to see a problem, we’ll ask for a description or a screenshot with private details covered.
Sub-processors
- Cloudflare, Inc.: hosts kayabyte.dev, the update feed and the licence service.
- Our Merchant of Record (Paddle.com Market Ltd or Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd.): checkout, billing and tax.
Your rights
You can ask to see, correct or delete the data we hold about you (your order record, licence activations and support emails) by writing to support@kayabyte.dev. We answer within 30 days. You can also complain to Datatilsynet, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, or to the data protection authority where you live.
Contact
Kayabyte, Caner Kaya, Stasjonsveien 64, 0771 Oslo, Norway. support@kayabyte.dev