Privacy policy

Effective October 19, 2026. Awayline is developed by Youtian Lin. For privacy questions, contact linyoutian.loyot@gmail.com.

Your machines and your data

Awayline connects over SSH to machines you choose. Terminal input, commands, agent approvals, and uploaded attachments travel to those machines. Terminal output, transcripts, and files travel back to your device. Awayline does not operate a server that receives this content, and includes no advertising or third-party analytics service.

Remote software, coding agents, model providers, and websites you open have their own data practices. A page displayed in Preview can contact external services or read files within the preview folder. Open only pages and projects you trust.

Credentials and saved connections

Passwords, private keys, and key passphrases are stored in the device Keychain. They do not sync through iCloud or restore onto another device. SSH private-key authentication sends a signature; it does not send your private key to the machine. Saved machine addresses, usernames, preferences, and trusted host fingerprints are stored on your device.

Delete a machine in Machines to remove its saved credential and connection entry. If credential deletion fails, Awayline keeps the entry visible and asks you to retry. Deleting the app may leave Keychain items behind under Apple's Keychain behavior; delete saved machines first when you want to remove their credentials.

Automatic herdr setup

When automatic setup is enabled and herdr is missing, your machine downloads a verified release from the official herdr repository on GitHub. GitHub receives the machine's download request and network address. SSH credentials are not included in that request. The installation and server session remain on your machine after you disconnect or delete Awayline. You can disable automatic setup in the machine's settings.

Files and attachments

Downloaded previews are temporary files on your device. Awayline attempts to delete them when the preview closes and clears leftovers at the next launch. Files you export or save elsewhere remain until you delete them.

Uploaded attachments are stored in a private folder on the selected machine, normally ~/.local/share/shepherd/uploads. Successful attachments remain available to your agent. Awayline removes completed uploads older than 30 days and abandoned partial transfers older than one day when it next connects. Failed transfers are also queued for cleanup on reconnection. These periods are cleanup thresholds, not a guarantee of deletion while the machine is unreachable. You can delete this folder on the machine yourself when its attachments are no longer needed.

Microphone and speech

Dictation requires your permission and uses supported on-device speech recognition. Speech models may be downloaded from Apple. Awayline does not send recordings to its developer. Recognized text is sent to your machine only when you submit it.

Notifications

Notifications and Live Activities may display agent names and questions on your Lock Screen. Control their visibility in system notification settings. Awayline uses local notifications and does not operate a push-notification service. Alerts can be delayed or unavailable while the app is suspended or force-quit.

Support and diagnostics

Diagnostics stay on your device unless you explicitly share them. The report contains app/OS and herdr versions, protocol information, and recent connection stages. It excludes credentials, host addresses, terminal content, prompts, and file contents. Review a report before sharing it.

If you email support, your email address and the information you send are used to respond and investigate the issue. Ask the support address to delete that correspondence; records required for legal obligations may be retained. Apple may provide crash reports according to your device's analytics-sharing settings. App Store purchase and payment information is handled by Apple.

Changes

This policy will be updated when the app's data practices change. The effective date appears at the top. Contact the support address with questions or requests concerning information you have shared with the developer.