Tracer
Last updated: 21 August 2026
This policy explains what data Tracer handles, what leaves your computer, and who receives it. Tracer is published by Bradin Zaba ("we", "us").
Contact: [email protected]
Your serial data never leaves your computer. Session logs, notes, comments, vault contents, macros, and settings are written to your own disk and are never transmitted to us or to anyone else. We cannot see them. There is no account, no cloud storage, and no synchronisation.
Tracer makes network requests for three things, all described below: checking for updates, fetching service notices, and — only if you buy a license — validating that license. It makes no other outbound request of any kind.
Tracer writes the following to your machine only:
| Data | Location |
|---|---|
| Session logs (serial traffic) | ~/SerialApp/Vault/ |
| Notes and inline comments | alongside each session |
| Macros, highlight rules, settings | app data directory and browser local storage |
| License key (if purchased) | your operating system's keychain |
None of this is transmitted anywhere. Deleting these files deletes the data permanently; we hold no copy and cannot recover it.
What happens. A few seconds after launch, Tracer requests
https://updates.gettracer.net/latest.json to see whether a newer version exists.
What is sent. Nothing beyond an ordinary web request. The server necessarily observes your IP address, the time of the request, and standard HTTP headers. Cloudflare, Inc. serves this file on our behalf and processes those request logs as our hosting provider.
What is not sent. No identifier, no license key, no serial data, no information about your device or usage.
Turning it off. Settings → Updates → Check automatically → Off. This stops both the update check and the service notice described below. You can still check for updates by hand from Help → About.
If you hold a license, license validation still happens periodically regardless of this setting — see section 3. It is what keeps your license working, so it is not something the update switch governs.
We use aggregate request counts to understand how many installations are active and which versions are in use. This data is not linked to individuals.
What happens. Shortly after launch, and on the same switch as the update
check, Tracer requests https://license.gettracer.net/v1/notice. This is how we
can tell you about something a release cannot fix on its own — for example a bad
build that needs replacing by hand.
What is sent. Nothing beyond an ordinary web request: no identifier, no license key, no serial data, no usage information. The request is identical for every copy of Tracer, and carries nothing about who is making it. The server necessarily observes your IP address and standard HTTP headers.
What comes back. Either nothing at all, or a short message. Any link it carries can only point at gettracer.net; the app refuses to open anything else.
Turning it off. Settings → Updates → Check automatically → Off, the same switch as update checks. The trade-off is that an urgent notice will not reach you.
If you buy a license and enter a license key, the following applies. If you never purchase, none of this happens.
Tracer sends your license key to license.gettracer.net, a service we
operate on Cloudflare. That service forwards the key to Lemon Squeezy, who
issued it and who performs the actual verification, and passes their answer back.
This happens when you activate, and again when Tracer revalidates (approximately every 7 days).
Two things are sent:
The activation label is not derived from your hardware. It contains no serial number, MAC address, user name, or any other detail about your machine or about you. It is a random number whose only purpose is to let a license be limited to a set number of computers.
| Party | Sees |
|---|---|
Us (license.gettracer.net) |
Your license key, activation label, and IP address |
| Lemon Squeezy | Your license key and activation label |
Because the request is forwarded by our service rather than sent by your computer directly, Lemon Squeezy does not see your IP address — they see ours. Routing it this way means fewer parties learn where you are.
Nothing. The forwarding service stores no license keys, keeps no record of who validated what, and maintains no database. It passes a request on and returns the answer. Cloudflare, as our hosting provider, processes request metadata such as IP addresses in the ordinary course of serving traffic.
We route through our own service so that we can change license providers in the future without breaking copies of Tracer already installed — not to collect anything.
You can release a computer's slot at any time from Settings → License, which deletes that activation.
Lemon Squeezy's privacy policy: https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/privacy
Your serial data is never sent as part of any of this. Revalidation happens in the background and does not block use; if you are offline, Tracer continues working using a cached result.
Purchases are processed by Lemon Squeezy, acting as merchant of record. They collect and process your payment details, billing address, and tax information directly.
We never see or store your payment details. We receive only the fact that a purchase occurred and the email address associated with it, so a license key can be issued and support provided.
Lemon Squeezy's privacy policy: https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/privacy
| Party | What they receive | When |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare, Inc. | IP address, request metadata | Each update check (unless disabled), and each license check if you have purchased |
| Lemon Squeezy | License key, random activation label (not your IP) | Activation and ~weekly revalidation, licensed users only |
| Lemon Squeezy | Payment and billing details | At purchase only |
No other party receives any data from Tracer.
Because we hold almost no personal data, most requests are straightforward.
If you are in the EEA or UK, you have rights under the GDPR to access, correct, delete, or port your personal data, and to object to processing. If you are in California, you have rights under the CCPA, including the right to know what is collected and to request deletion. We do not sell personal information under any definition.
The only personal data we can meaningfully act on is the email address associated with a purchase and a license record. Write to [email protected] and we will respond within 30 days.
Your session data is not covered by such requests for the simple reason that we never receive it — it is on your machine, and you can delete it yourself at any time.
Legal basis for processing (GDPR): update checks and license validation are carried out on the basis of legitimate interests in distributing and protecting the software; purchase processing is carried out to perform a contract with you.
Tracer is a developer tool and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.
We may update this policy. Material changes will be noted by the "Last updated" date above and, where significant, mentioned in release notes.
Bradin Zaba, publisher of Tracer.