Last updated 13 September 2026
PDF Buddy is made by Ben Dansby. This policy covers the Mac app.
Your documents never leave your Mac. PDF Buddy has no analytics, no telemetry, no account and no identifier. It does not upload the files you open, or anything about them.
The usual way to compress or redact a PDF is to upload it to a website you have never heard of, and the files people need these things done to are leases, medical records, tax returns and court exhibits. PDF Buddy exists partly so that upload doesn’t have to happen. Every task — merging, trimming, compressing, redacting, recognising text, stamping, splitting — runs on your own machine with no network involved at all.
PDF Buddy reads the files you open and writes a new one when you save. It never edits a document in place, and the save panel suggests a copy’s name so the original isn’t overwritten by accident.
Finding emails, card numbers, social security numbers and faces is done by Apple’s on-device Vision framework, as is making a scan searchable. No page, image or recognised word is sent anywhere.
bendansby.com for its update feed. That request carries your app version and macOS version, which is what any updater needs.That is the entire list. Nothing about your documents is included in either.
If you buy a license, activating it sends your license key to Lemon Squeezy, who handle the purchase and validation. Their handling is covered by the Lemon Squeezy privacy policy. PDF Buddy stores the resulting receipt locally. If you never buy a license, this never happens.
PDF Buddy requests no system permissions — no screen recording, no accessibility, no camera or microphone. It reads the files you give it and nothing else.
PDF Buddy is a document utility. It is not directed at children and collects nothing from anyone.
If this policy ever changes, the updated version will appear on this page with a new date. Since PDF Buddy collects nothing, any change is likely to be a clarification.
Questions about privacy, or anything else: ben.dansby@gmail.com.