Settle
Privacy
What happens to data on settlewifi.com and in the Settle app for Mac. They work differently, so each is described separately.
- Website visit statistics are kept by Google Analytics, and only if you allow it — it then sets its own cookies.
- The app has no account, analytics or crash reports.
- To check a network, the app contacts test servers run by Apple and Cloudflare. Network names and history are not sent there.
- Check history and logs stay on your Mac.
settlewifi.com
No ads or social pixels. The only outside script is Google Analytics statistics: it loads and sets its cookies only after you agree. The website itself sets no cookies. Fonts are your system’s.
Visit statistics
- Why
- To understand how many people visit, where from, and what they do next: whether they download Settle, go to support the project or to LinkedIn.
- When
- Only after you agree: “Accept all”, or “Analytics” switched on in the settings. Until then the statistics script isn’t loaded, and events aren’t collected to be sent later.
- Events
- Page visit; click on “Download for Mac” (a click, not an installation); going to support the project; going to LinkedIn.
- What data
- Page address, referrer, browser, operating system, device type, screen size, language, country and region derived from the IP address, the number in the _ga cookies, and the events below. According to Google, Google Analytics 4 doesn’t log or store IP addresses.
- Who handles it
- Google (Google Ireland Limited; data may be transferred to Google LLC, USA). Ads, Google signals and granular location are off in the Settle property.
- How long it’s kept
- Visit- and user-level data — 14 months; Google keeps aggregated reports longer.
- Not collected
- Session recordings, ad tracking, data from the Settle app — network names, measurements.
- How to turn off
- Click “Privacy settings” at the bottom of the page and switch off “Analytics”. Events stop being sent, and statistics entries the site can reach in your browser are removed.
What the website keeps in your browser
settle.lang- Your language choice — appears when you click “Русский” or “English” in the footer. It keeps the English page from switching you to the Russian one. Until you pick a language yourself, the English page looks at your browser language and opens the Russian version if it’s Russian — on your device, not stored anywhere.
settle.consent- Your statistics choice, so the site doesn’t ask on every page.
_ga- A random browser number for Google Analytics, so it can tell a new visit from a returning one. Lasts 13 months.
_ga_L03GHL6DVM- The current visit’s number and time for Google Analytics. Lasts 13 months.
settle.lang and settle.consent are entries in the browser’s local storage, not cookies, and are never sent to the server. The _ga cookies are set by Google Analytics, and only after you agree. If you withdraw consent in “Privacy settings”, the site removes them.
No language choice is saved right now.
Hosting
The website is hosted by GitHub Pages. Like any web server, it receives technical request data: IP address, page address, browser details and time. Whether and how long it keeps them is up to its own rules.
External links
The “Message Roman” link leads to LinkedIn, where LinkedIn’s rules apply.
The Settle app for Mac
The app has no account, analytics, crash reports or telemetry.
What the app connects to
To see whether there’s internet and whether the network wants you to sign in. The request goes over plain HTTP, same as macOS’s own check.
To check access and measure response time.
To download a test file and upload test data — zero bytes. When your phone shares its internet — only when you ask, up to 5 MB.
“Extended check” runs networkQuality, a tool built into macOS. It connects to Apple’s servers itself.
To check for updates: settlewifi.com/appcast.xml. If there is one, the archive downloads from settlewifi.com/download/, and its signature is verified before installing.
What these requests carry
- Address
- Only the check’s service address. The download address includes the test file size.
- Body
- Only the upload check has one — zero bytes. Network names, history and other data from your Mac are not sent.
- Headers
- What macOS adds to any app request: Settle’s name and build number, CFNetwork and Darwin versions (they reveal the macOS version), preferred languages, supported compression. The update request also names the Sparkle version; Settle doesn’t send system profile data.
- What the server sees
- As with any connection — IP address and time. Whether and how long Apple, Cloudflare and the hosting keep request logs is up to their own rules.
Check requests don’t keep cookies or cache.
What stays on your Mac
- Check history
- The last 10 checks for each network: network name, time, result and measurements. Also access point addresses (BSSID), so Settle can tell “Guest” in one café from “Guest” in another. Kept in the app’s preferences.
- Settings
- Whether to show text in the menu bar, whether the first run is done, whether you answered the notifications offer.
- Log
~/Library/Logs/Settle.log— measurement times, results and errors, without network names or page addresses. Once it passes 1 MB, it’s trimmed to the last 256 KB.- Extended check results
~/Library/Logs/Settle/checks— raw networkQuality output, the last 20.
How to delete
History only: Settle settings → “Clear history”.
Removing everything erases the check history and all Settle settings. This can’t be undone. Quit Settle first (settings → “Quit Settle”), then run in Terminal:
defaults delete com.settlewifi.Settle
rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/Settle ~/Library/Logs/Settle.logDeleting the app itself doesn’t erase this data.
Permissions
- Location
- macOS shares Wi‑Fi network names only with apps that have Location access. Settle asks for it to recognise familiar networks and doesn’t request coordinates. Without it the check still works, but familiar networks aren’t recognised. To change: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services.
- Notifications
- Optional. Used to tell you the result of a check and when the connection gets worse. Notifications are created on your Mac, without servers.
- Open at login
- Optional, a switch in Settle settings.
Questions
Developer: Roman Evangulov. If something is unclear or you want data deleted, write to Roman.
If anything changes, the new version will appear on this page.