Privacy, in plain English.

Who we are

Matte is made in the Lab by Studio Nine (Nine Marketing Studios Ltd., trading as Studio Nine). We decide what Matte collects and why, which makes us the “controller” of your data under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

For anything in this policy, write to hello@studionine.agency.

What you give us when you sign up

• Your email address, so we can send your activation code and download link.
• Your name.
• Your company and role, if you choose to add them.
• The widgets you picked, and the ones you add or remove later in the app’s Library, so your Macs can set them up.
• Whether you’d like news about new widgets, if you tick that box. It’s optional and unticked to start with.
• When you agreed to the Terms and this policy, and which version you agreed to.

We also keep a record of when you signed up, when you downloaded Matte, when a code was sent and when a Mac was activated, so we can help if something goes wrong. Your activation code is emailed to you and stored only scrambled (hashed), never as the code itself. Each code works for 14 days.

What we know about each Mac

When you activate Matte on a Mac, the app sends:

• A random device id that Matte makes up. It isn’t your Mac’s serial number.
• The name of the Mac, like “Sam’s MacBook Air”, so you can tell your Macs apart.
• Your Matte version and macOS version.
• When the Mac was last seen, which updates whenever Matte checks in.

Each Mac gets its own sign-in key, which we also store only hashed. We use all this to make your code work on your own Macs, to keep to the limit of 3 Macs per sign-up, and to tell you about updates.

Usage stats

Matte does send us usage stats. We’d rather say so plainly. Every half hour or so, and when you quit, it sends counts for that day, for each Mac, of:

• how many times Matte was launched;
• how many times each widget was opened, used, added or removed;
• how many times a widget was handed a file or an approval (for example, a file dropped on Mappy or a Claude Code request you approved).

Along with those counts, we see which version of Matte you’re running.

We use them to make Matte better: to see which widgets earn their place, to decide what to build next, and to spot problems, like a widget nobody can get to work or a version that keeps crashing.

What Matte never sends us: the contents or names of your files, window titles, your messages, the music you play, your calendar entries, or anything you type. A count says a thing happened, not what it was.

You can stop sending usage stats at any time: in Matte, open Settings and turn off Send usage stats to Studio Nine, under Privacy. Counts not yet sent are deleted on your Mac, and Matte works the same.

Services some widgets use

Most widgets work entirely on your Mac. A few talk to a service directly from your Mac when you use them. We never see what they send:

• Weather sends your approximate location (to about a kilometre), or the city you typed, to Open-Meteo for the forecast.
• Music sends the song and artist to LRCLIB to fetch synced lyrics, if lyrics are on.
• Claude Code, Daily brief, Summarise clipboard, Translate (on macOS 14, or for languages Apple doesn’t cover) and Mappy Drop’s Ask Claude hand what you give them to Claude Code on your Mac, which sends it to Anthropic under your own Claude account and Anthropic’s terms.
• Translate on macOS 15 and later uses Apple Translation, on your Mac.

Emails

We email you your activation code and download link, and important notices about your account or Matte itself, like a change to these terms or a security fix. We may also tell you about Matte updates. If you ticked the box for news about new widgets, we’ll also email you when new widgets land. Every one of those has an unsubscribe link, and you can stop them whenever you like.

Our emails are sent through Resend.

Where it’s kept, and who helps us

We use a small number of companies to run Matte. They process data for us, under contract, and only to provide their service:

• Turso, which hosts the database where your account, Macs and usage stats are kept.
• Vercel, which hosts this website, the Matte download and the service the app talks to.
• Resend, which sends our emails.
• Stripe, which takes payments. Matte is free for now, so Stripe only sees you if you ever choose to pay.

Some of these companies store or process data outside the UK, including in the US. Where that happens, the transfer is covered by the safeguards UK law requires, such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or the UK–US data bridge.

To stop abuse of sign-up, activation and code resends, we keep short-lived counters keyed by your email address and your IP address. They’re cleared out once they’re a day old.

Why we’re allowed to use it

• To give you Matte (your account, code, Macs and emails about them): because it’s needed for the agreement between us, the Terms of use.
• Usage stats: our legitimate interest in keeping Matte working and making it better. You can switch them off.
• Lab news: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
• Keeping a record of when you agreed to the terms: our legitimate interest in being able to show it.

How long we keep it

We keep your account details, your Macs and the widgets you picked while your account is active. Usage stats are kept for as long as they help us improve Matte, and we don’t keep them longer than we need to. If you ask us to delete your account, we delete your details, your Macs and your usage stats. We may keep a payment record where the law says we must (usually six years, for tax).

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you can ask us to:

• give you a copy of the data we hold about you;
• correct anything that’s wrong;
• delete your data;
• stop or limit how we use it, or object to it;
• give you your data in a form you can take elsewhere.

Email hello@studionine.agency and we’ll reply within a month. It’s free. If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk, though we’d like the chance to put it right first.

Children

Matte isn’t meant for children under 13 and we don’t knowingly collect their data. If you think a child has signed up, tell us and we’ll delete the account.

Changes to this policy

If we change what Matte collects or how we use it, we’ll update this page and the date at the top. If it’s a change that matters, we’ll email you before it takes effect.