Short version
The app processes network information on your Mac to provide its features. It does not require an account, include advertising or analytics SDKs, inspect packet contents, or send its monitoring data to us.
Information processed by the app
To show network activity, NetBuddy reads information available locally from macOS. Depending on the features you use, this can include:
- Network-interface download and upload byte counters.
- Application and process names, process identifiers, and attributed network usage.
- Active destination addresses, ports, and locally resolved host names.
- Latency measurements and connection-success or failure results.
- Your settings, incident thresholds, data budgets, and notification preferences.
This information is used only on your Mac to display live traffic, group related processes, calculate data budgets, identify unusual network conditions, and create incident context.
NetBuddy does not read or store the contents of packets, messages, browsing pages, files being transferred, passwords, or account credentials.
Storage, retention, and deletion
Detailed traffic
Detailed traffic samples are memory-only and capped to a rolling window of up to six hours. They disappear when they age out or when the app process ends and are not written as a general browsing or traffic history.
Incident records
When enabled, NetBuddy saves compact records for unusual events such as latency spikes, connection failures, and recoveries. A record can include a short before-and-after traffic context, the top active applications, destination summaries, latency, and a quality score. You choose a local limit of 50, 100, or 200 records.
Data budgets and preferences
Budget counters and app preferences are stored locally so they can work across launches and reset according to the selected daily or monthly period.
Your controls
You can pause collection, change incident types and thresholds, reduce the saved-incident limit, disable notifications, remove individual budgets, and clear all recorded incidents from Settings. Uninstalling NetBuddy may not automatically remove its Application Support files; these can also be deleted from your Mac’s user Library.
macOS features and actions
NetBuddy can ask macOS for notification permission. Notifications are generated locally and can be disabled in either NetBuddy or macOS System Settings.
If you choose to stop a process from its detail view, NetBuddy asks macOS to terminate that selected process. macOS permissions may prevent the action. NetBuddy does not perform this action automatically.
When you export an incident report, NetBuddy creates a text file at the location you select. It does not upload the report. If you later share that file yourself, the recipient’s practices apply.
This website
This website does not set marketing cookies, run advertising pixels, include behavioral analytics, or offer user accounts. It is delivered through Cloudflare Workers. Cloudflare may process ordinary request information—such as IP address, browser details, requested URL, and timestamps—to deliver, secure, and operate the site under Cloudflare’s own terms and privacy practices.
The website Worker does not write visitor profiles or application network data to a database.
Children’s privacy
NetBuddy is a general-purpose macOS utility and is not directed to children. Because the app does not send personal information to us, we do not knowingly collect personal information from children through the app.
Policy changes
If NetBuddy’s data practices change, this page will be updated and the effective date above will be revised. Material changes will be reflected in the app and its App Store privacy information where required.
Contact
For privacy questions or requests, use the developer support contact provided on NetBuddy’s Mac App Store product page. Because NetBuddy has no user accounts or server-side app profiles, there is normally no remotely held app-usage record for us to access or delete.
NetBuddy · Network for dummies.