Privacy Policy

The short version

Velvet changes how websites look entirely on your device. We never collect your browsing history, the pages you visit or what you type on them. There is no account and no advertising. The Velvet app sends usage and crash data that helps us improve it, and you can turn that off.

Website access

Safari asks you to let Velvet “read and change” websites. Velvet needs this to repaint pages in dark colors. Pages are processed locally by the extension; their content is never sent to us or to anyone else. You can limit or remove access at any time in Safari’s settings.

What stays on your device

• Your settings: dark mode, theme, quality, pause and the sites you changed.
• The last website where Velvet worked, so the app can confirm setup. Only the most recent site name is kept.
• The dates on which Velvet worked (the last 60, without any website), so the app knows when to ask for a review.
• A list of reports you sent, so you can see them in the app.

This information is stored in a private container shared only by the Velvet app and its extension. It is not sent to us.

Usage and crash data

The Velvet app (not the Safari extension) uses PostHog, a product analytics service, to understand how the app is used and to find crashes. It sends:

• which screens and settings you use in the app, as fixed values such as “theme: warm” or “pause: 1 hour”;
• whether setup finished, without any website name;
• crash and error reports from the app;
• device type, system and app version;
• an identifier for your Apple Account’s copy of Velvet (the App Store transaction ID), or a random identifier if that is unavailable, so we can count people rather than devices, plus a random identifier for this installation.

We do not use your IP address to estimate where you are; IP addresses are discarded when the data arrives.

It never includes websites, addresses, page content, anything you type, your name or your email. The data is not used for advertising, not sold and not combined with data from other companies. You can turn it off at any time in the app under Help, Share usage and crash data.

Site reports

If a website looks wrong, you can choose to send us a report from the Velvet menu in Safari. Nothing is sent unless you tap Send, and the form shows what will be included first:

• the address of the page you are reporting from (for example, example.com/products/lamp), which you can edit or shorten; anything after a # in the address and any user name or password in it are removed;
• the type of problem you picked and any note you write;
• the app and system version;
• a summary of your Velvet settings, such as the theme and quality.

Reports never include page content, form entries, screenshots, your IP-based location or any identifier tied to you: each report gets its own random identifier, and reports are not connected to the usage data above. A report is sent because you tapped Send, so it goes out even if usage and crash data is turned off.

Reports travel through PostHog, which notifies our team in Slack. We use reports only to fix how Velvet handles that website, and we keep them only as long as needed for that.

Purchases

Velvet is sold through the App Store. Apple handles payment and purchase records; we do not receive your payment details.

This website

This website uses PostHog in cookieless mode to count visits: it stores nothing in your browser for analytics and does not identify you. It records the page you view, the site that sent you here, clicks on the App Store button, where on the page people click and scroll (as aggregate heatmaps), your device type and browser, and your country, which Cloudflare derives from your connection; your IP address is not stored. The data is not used for advertising or sold. A light or dark preference you choose with the theme button is kept only in your browser.

Children

Velvet does not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes

If this policy changes, we will update this page and the date above. Material changes will be described in the app’s release notes.

Contact

Questions about privacy: maya@velvetdarkmode.com