UARTist Privacy Policy

Effective date: 3 October 2026

UARTist is a serial console: it talks to devices connected to your computer's serial (COM) ports. This policy explains what the app stores and what it does not do.

What UARTist does not do

• It does not collect, sell or share personal information.
• It has no account, sign-in, advertising, analytics or crash reporting.
• It sends nothing over the internet. Its window talks only to the app itself, on your own computer (127.0.0.1).

Sharing a tab with AI tools

Sharing is off unless you turn it on, per tab. When you share a tab, UARTist lets AI tools on your own computer (for example Claude Desktop or Claude Code, connected through UARTist --mcp) read that tab's device output, and — only if you choose "read & send" — type into it. It listens on 127.0.0.1 only, so nothing is reachable from other computers, and it stops when you turn sharing off, disconnect, close the tab or quit.

UARTist itself still sends nothing over the internet. The AI tool you connect may send what it reads to its own service (a cloud model, for instance); that is covered by that tool's privacy statement, not this one. Share only what you are willing to give that tool.

What UARTist keeps on your computer

• Settings. The port, serial settings, line ending, local echo, recording choice, theme and layout you last used, so the app opens the way you left it. They are saved in your user profile's app-data folder (for the Microsoft Store version, Windows may keep them in the app's own package folder).
• Command sets. The commands you save or import, in the same app-data folder.
• Recordings. When Record is on (it is on by default), each session's output from the device is saved in a folder under .uart-proxy/sessions in your user profile, as raw bytes and as text stamped with the time each line arrived. What you type is not recorded, but a device may echo it back, and a console can print passwords, keys or other sensitive data. Old recordings are deleted automatically: those older than 30 days, then the oldest until all of them fit in 500 MB (both limits can be changed in .uart-proxy/config.toml). A recording in use is never deleted. You can delete any recording yourself at any time, or turn Record off for sessions you do not want kept.
• Clipboard. The app reads the clipboard only when you paste into the terminal, and writes to it only when you copy.
• Files you save. Search results, the hex view, or command sets you export are written only where you choose.

None of this leaves your computer unless you move or share the files yourself. Uninstalling the app removes its settings, but not your recordings folder; delete that folder to remove them.

Microsoft and Apple components

UARTist shows its window with the system's web view — Microsoft Edge WebView2 on Windows, WebKit on macOS — and may be distributed and updated by the Microsoft Store. Data those services handle is covered by their own privacy statements, not this policy.

Children

UARTist is a tool for working with hardware. It does not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children.

Changes

If a future version changes what the app stores or sends, this policy will be updated first, with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about this policy: open an issue at github.com/changyy/UARTist-release/issues.