Privacy

Last updated 16 September 2026.

What leaves your Mac

HostBar makes exactly two kinds of network call on its own: license validation to Polar (your license key, an activation id, and your Mac's name so the portal list is readable), at most once a day; and update checks to GitHub, which fetch the appcast. There is no telemetry, no crash reporting, and no account.

The resolve panel sends DNS queries for the hostname you typed to the DNS servers your Mac is already configured to use, and only when you ask it to. Those are ordinary DNS packets to your own resolvers, not to us.

This website

gethostbar.com uses Google Analytics to count visits. Downloads are served by GitHub; purchases are handled by Polar, whose privacy policy covers checkout.

What stays on your Mac

Your profiles (~/Library/Application Support/HostBar/profiles.json), your license key and trial start (Keychain), and preferences. HostBar reads /etc/hosts, /etc/resolver, and the system DNS configuration to do its job; it writes only its own block in /etc/hosts.

Purchases

Polar is the merchant of record. We see your email and license key; we do not see card details.

Contact

support@gethostbar.com