Privacy Policy

The short version: the PlainVM app does not collect any data. It has no user accounts, no analytics, no advertising, and it makes no network requests of its own. Your virtual machines, disk images and configuration files stay on your Mac, in locations you choose.

1. Scope of this policy

This policy explains how personal data is handled in connection with the PlainVM macOS application and this website. It applies to the version of PlainVM distributed through the Apple App Store and to any build we distribute directly.

2. Data we collect

The PlainVM application collects no data. Specifically, PlainVM does not:

• require or offer a user account, sign-in or registration;
• contain analytics, telemetry, attribution, advertising or crash-reporting SDKs;
• contain any third-party libraries that transmit data;
• send your files, configuration, device identifiers, usage statistics or diagnostics to us or to anyone else;
• read your contacts, calendars, photos, location, camera or microphone;
• track you across other apps or websites.

The application performs no network requests of its own. In our App Store privacy disclosure, PlainVM is declared as “Data Not Collected.”

That declaration describes the app. The only personal data we ever receive is what you choose to send us by email (section 7) and the standard access logs kept by our website host (section 8). Neither is collected by or through the app, and neither forms part of the App Store privacy declaration, which covers only data collected through the application itself.

3. Data PlainVM stores on your device

PlainVM needs to remember your machines between launches. All of the following is stored locally on your Mac and is never transmitted to us:

4. Guest operating systems and network traffic

A virtual machine runs a complete, separate operating system that you supply. That guest operating system — and any software you install inside it — may connect to the internet through the NAT network device, and may collect data according to its own privacy terms. PlainVM does not inspect, intercept, log, store or forward guest network traffic, and we receive nothing from it. Please review the privacy terms of any operating system or software you run inside a virtual machine.

5. Permissions PlainVM requests

PlainVM runs inside the macOS App Sandbox and uses only these capabilities:

• Virtualization — to create and run virtual machines with Apple’s Virtualization framework.
• User-selected files, read and write — access is granted only to items you explicitly choose in a file picker.
• App-scope bookmarks — to keep that access working across launches, so you are not asked to re-select the same disk every time.

PlainVM has no permission to read your files at large, and it does not ask for full-disk access.

6. Third parties, Apple and the App Store

We do not share data with third parties. Apart from the support correspondence described in section 7 and the website server logs described in section 8, we hold no data about you to share. We do not sell personal information, and we do not share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising.

If you obtained PlainVM from the App Store, Apple handles your purchase, download and subscription (if any) as an independent controller under Apple’s Privacy Policy. Apple may provide us with aggregate, non-identifying sales and usage reports. If you have chosen to share crash and usage data with developers in your device settings, Apple may make anonymised, aggregated crash reports available to us; that sharing is controlled entirely by your Apple settings and can be turned off there at any time.

7. If you contact support

When you email support@plainum.net, we receive your email address, your message, and anything you choose to attach — for example log text, screenshots or a configuration file. We use this only to answer you and to fix the problem you reported. We do not use it for marketing and we do not sell or share it.

Please remove anything you do not want us to see before attaching it. In particular, exported configurations and log text can contain file paths and machine names. We keep support correspondence only as long as needed to resolve the issue and to keep a record of related bug reports, and normally no longer than 24 months. The legal basis, where the GDPR applies, is our legitimate interest in providing support and in improving the app (Art. 6(1)(f)), or performance of our agreement with you (Art. 6(1)(b)).

8. This website

This site is a set of static pages. It sets no cookies, contains no analytics, no advertising and no tracking scripts, and loads no third-party fonts, scripts or resources. Your language preference is stored in your browser’s local storage on your own device and is never sent anywhere. Our hosting provider may keep standard server access logs (including IP address, timestamp and requested page) for security and reliability; we do not use these to identify you or to build a profile. Where the GDPR applies, the legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interest in the security and availability of the site (Art. 6(1)(f)). These logs are deleted or anonymised within 30 days and are never combined with any other data about you.

9. Children

PlainVM is a developer and power-user tool. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone, including children.

10. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the processing of your personal data, to data portability, and to withdraw consent. Because PlainVM collects no personal data, there is normally nothing for us to access, correct or delete — the data described in section 3 is on your own Mac and entirely under your control.

If you have contacted support, you may ask us to provide a copy of that correspondence or to delete it, by writing to support@plainum.net. We will respond within the period required by applicable law (generally within 30 days). If you are in the EEA or the UK, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

Because the app collects no personal data, the app transfers no personal data anywhere. If you email us, your message is handled by our email provider and may be stored on servers outside your country; where that involves a transfer out of the EEA or the UK, we rely on the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses, together with the UK International Data Transfer Addendum where applicable. The same applies to the website server logs described in section 8.

11. How to delete your data

• Delete individual virtual machines from within PlainVM.
• Delete any disk images, VM bundles, exported configurations and backup packages from the folders where you saved them.
• Move the PlainVM application to the Trash. To also remove its stored settings, delete the folder ~/Library/Containers/net.Plainum.plainVM/.
• If you used the Windows unattended-installation helper, open Keychain Access and delete items whose service is net.Plainum.PlainVM.WindowsUnattended. PlainVM removes these entries only when the machine fails to be created; deleting a machine later does not remove them, so delete them yourself once the installation is finished.

12. Security

PlainVM is sandboxed and code-signed, and it stores secrets in the macOS Keychain rather than in plain files. Because nothing is transmitted, there is no server-side store of your data to breach. The security of the virtual machine files themselves depends on your Mac: we recommend keeping FileVault enabled and storing virtual machines on an encrypted volume.

13. Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we will update the effective date and version at the top of this page and publish the new version here. Material changes will also be noted in the app’s release notes. Continued use of PlainVM after a change means you accept the updated policy.

14. How to reach us

Questions about this policy, or about privacy in PlainVM: support@plainum.net.