Privacy Policy

This policy explains what data Burnt Hill Data Ltd, doing business as LightningXL ("we", "us"), collects, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. It covers:

The website at lightningxl.com
The LightningXL app for macOS and its Office add-in

If you have a question about this policy, email hello@lightningxl.com.

The short version

We collect the minimum we need to run a free trial, sell licences, and keep the app working.
The app never reads the contents of your workbooks, documents or slides, and it never saves your keystrokes.
We do not sell your personal data. We do not show ads.
You can ask us to show, correct, export or delete your data at any time.

Data we collect

When you use the website

Data	Source	Why
Pages viewed, clicks, device type, approximate location, and a random visitor ID	Google Analytics (cookies _ga, _ga_*)	To understand which pages and features people use
IP address and browser details in server logs	Vercel (hosting)	Security and to keep the site running

Pages load the Inter typeface from Google Fonts, which sees your IP address and browser details when a page loads. The website does not use a chat widget, a Facebook pixel, or any other tracker.

When you buy a licence

Data	Where it goes	Why
Name, email address and billing country	Polar, our merchant of record, and then to us	To issue your receipt and licence key, and so we can support you
Payment card details	Polar only	To process payment. Card numbers never reach us.
Order, subscription status and licence key	Polar and us	To manage your subscription and honour the licence

Polar's handling of your data is described in Polar's privacy policy.

When you use the app

Free trial. The 7-day trial runs on your Mac. We may ask for your email address when you start it. If you give it, we may use it to send setup tips, to check how the trial is going, and, after the trial ends, to remind you about subscribing and tell you about the product. You can unsubscribe with one click in any email.

Licence activation and checks. When you activate a licence key, and periodically while the licence is active, the app sends to Polar:

Your licence key
Your Mac's computer name, as set in System Settings
The app version and your macOS version

We use this to count activated Macs against your licence and to let you move a licence to a new Mac. If you do not want your computer name shared, change it in System Settings › General › About › Name before activating.

Software updates. Once a day the app fetches a small version file from lightningxl.com to see whether a newer version exists. The request carries the app version and your IP address, and nothing else.

Local data. The app stores your licence details and settings in your user account on your Mac. The app has no crash reporter and no usage analytics.

What the Accessibility permission does and does not do

LightningXL needs the macOS Accessibility permission so that it can see when you tap the Option key in Excel, Word or PowerPoint and press the matching ribbon button for you.

It watches for keystrokes only while an Office app is in front and a key tip sequence is in progress, and it processes them in memory.
It never saves your keystrokes and never sends them to us.
It reads the structure of the Office ribbon: tabs, groups, buttons. It never reads cell values, document text, slide text or any other content.
When macOS reports secure keyboard input, for example while you type a password, it stops watching keys until that ends.

The Excel add-in that carries the modeling shortcuts and formula tracing runs entirely inside Excel and sends nothing anywhere.

Emails we send

Licence keys and purchase receipts, sent by Polar
Renewal reminders, sent by Polar
Setup tips during the trial, if you gave us your email
Reminders and offers after the trial ends, if you gave us your email and have not subscribed
Occasional product updates and news from us
Replies to your support email

Every email we send other than receipts, licence keys and support replies has an unsubscribe link, and one click stops them.

Why we use your data

Purpose	Legal basis
Run the free trial, sell licences, activate Macs, send licence keys and receipts	Performance of a contract with you
Prevent licence abuse, improve the app and website	Our legitimate interests
Send trial tips, offers, product updates and news	Your consent (unsubscribe at any time)
Keep tax and accounting records	Legal obligation

Who we share data with

We share data with the service providers below so that they can do their job for us. They may not use your data for their own purposes.

Provider	What they handle	Their privacy policy
Polar Software Inc.	Payments, receipts, licence keys, activations, customer portal	polar.sh/legal/privacy
Vercel Inc.	Website hosting and the update file	vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy
Google Analytics	Website usage statistics	policies.google.com/privacy
Google Fonts	The typeface the site uses	policies.google.com/privacy

We do not sell your personal data. We do not share it with advertisers. We will disclose data if the law requires it, or to protect our rights or the safety of others.

Cookies

The website sets cookies from Google Analytics to count visitors. The checkout on the Buy page is provided by Polar and sets the cookies it needs to complete a purchase. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the website works without analytics cookies. You can also install the Google Analytics opt-out add-on.

How long we keep data

Order, licence and subscription records: for as long as your licence is active, then for up to 7 years for tax and accounting. Polar keeps its own copy of order records under its own retention rules, which we cannot shorten.
Mac activations: for as long as the licence is active. When you deactivate a Mac its record is removed.
Trial email addresses: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them.
Analytics data: for the retention period set in Google Analytics, at most 14 months.
Support email: three years after the last message.
Server logs: for the short period set by Vercel.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

Tell you what personal data we hold about you
Correct data that is wrong
Delete your data, where we are not required to keep it
Send you a copy of your data
Stop sending you marketing emails
Object to or restrict how we use your data

Email hello@lightningxl.com and we will respond within 30 days. We may ask you to confirm your identity first.

If you are in Canada: you have these rights under PIPEDA, and you can also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

If you are in the EU, UK or Switzerland: you have these rights under the GDPR and UK GDPR, and you can also contact your local data protection authority. We are based in Canada and our providers process data in the United States; those transfers rely on our providers' standard contractual clauses and equivalent safeguards.

If you are in California: you have the right to know, delete and correct your personal information, and to opt out of its sale or sharing. We do not sell or share personal information as defined by the CCPA, and we will not treat you differently for exercising your rights.

Security

All traffic between your browser, the app and our providers uses HTTPS.
Card details go directly to Polar. We never see them.
The app stores your licence details in your own user account on your Mac.
Access to our provider dashboards is limited to the people who need it.

No system is perfectly secure. If you think your data has been exposed, email us right away.

Children

LightningXL is a tool for professionals. It is not directed at anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect data from them. If you believe someone under 18 has given us personal data, email us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy we will update the date at the bottom of this page. If a change is significant, we will also tell you by email or with a notice in the app.

Contact

Burnt Hill Data Ltd
hello@lightningxl.com