Privacy policy: NoteRescue

Last updated: 17 October 2026

This policy covers NoteRescue: Recover Lost Apple Notes, 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 NoteRescue.

The short version

NoteRescue never uploads your notes, attachments, backups or exports. We can’t see them, and nobody else can through us. There is no account. The app only talks to the internet for your licence (activating it, removing it, and showing its details) and to look for updates; scanning, previewing, exporting and restoring all work offline.

What NoteRescue reads, and where

To do its job, NoteRescue reads on your Mac:

• Your current Notes database (~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.notes), only to compare it with your backups so it can show which notes are missing or changed.
• Time Machine backups on disks connected to your Mac or network backups your Mac has mounted.
• iPhone and iPad backups made in Finder or iTunes, in the folder where macOS keeps them (~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup) 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.
• Folders you add, such as a copied Notes folder, a copied iPhone backup or a Time Machine backup folder.

macOS protects these locations. NoteRescue needs Full Disk Access to read them, which you turn on in System Settings and can turn off again at any time.

NoteRescue only reads these sources. It never changes, deletes or moves your backups or your Notes database. It does not sign in to iCloud, does not read iCloud.com and never asks for your Apple Account password. It does not open password-protected (locked) notes.

What NoteRescue creates

• Your exports. Exported notes and their attachments are saved in the folder you choose. If that folder syncs to iCloud Drive (for example Documents or Desktop with “Desktop & Documents Folders” turned on) or another cloud service, that service uploads the export. What you do with an export afterwards is up to you.
• Restored notes. When you choose Restore, NoteRescue asks the Notes app, through the macOS Automation permission, to create the notes in a new folder. They are then normal notes in your Notes account, and if that account is iCloud, Apple syncs them to your other devices under Apple’s terms.
• Temporary working copies. While a backup is open, and especially after you enter the password of an encrypted backup, NoteRescue keeps working copies of the Notes database and the attachments it needs in a private temporary folder that only your user account can read. They are deleted when you quit the app (closing the window doesn’t quit it; choose NoteRescue, Quit NoteRescue). If the app is force quit or crashes, any copies left behind are deleted the next time NoteRescue starts.
• Preferences, such as the folders you added and the export format. They stay on your Mac.

What NoteRescue sends over the internet

Only two things, and neither contains any of your notes or personal content:

• Licence activation and check. 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. 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. While a licence is saved, the app also asks the licence service at most once a week whether it is still valid, sending the same key and Mac identifier; if the purchase was refunded, the licence is removed from this Mac. Without an internet connection the licence keeps working. When you open the Licence window and the licence saved on this Mac has no email address yet, the app asks the licence service for it once, sending the same key and Mac identifier. The key, the email address and the signed licence are stored on your Mac, in the app’s settings, until you remove the licence. The free scan 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. You can turn automatic update checks off in NoteRescue’s Settings, and still check by hand with Check for Updates. Sparkle’s anonymous system profile is off.

Nothing else. NoteRescue 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, Paddle.com, which handles payment, tax and your billing details under its own privacy policy. We receive your email address, country 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 notes, exports or backups. 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.
• Paddle.com Market 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