Shade reads built-in display brightness and elapsed hardware idle time. It does not read typed text, pointer coordinates, screenshots, or clipboard contents, and does not record input events.
Preferences (dim delay, shortcut, wake option, tutorial choice, and updater preferences) are stored locally in macOS UserDefaults under ai.combinatrix.shade. Login launch is managed by macOS. Deleting the app does not automatically delete these preferences; disable Launch at login and remove the preference domain to reset it.
Sparkle checks GitHub for updates and downloads releases. Those requests expose normal network metadata, including your IP address, to GitHub. System profiling is disabled. Shade has no analytics or account service. macOS may retain ordinary application or crash logs.
Dimming is not a lock and does not protect against someone with access to the Mac. Shade is not for serious security needs.