Privacy policy

01Who this covers

This policy describes how the Bracketware application for macOS, Windows and the planned Android release handles information. Bracketware is published by Ownerstate, Ontario, Canada.

Effective August 22, 2026. Store and historical direct-purchase information was updated September 29, 2026. Website measurement information was updated October 28, 2026.

This policy covers the application. Any data collected by the storefront that processes your payment, or by this website's host, is handled under their own policies and is described in section 06.

02What the application does not do

The Bracketware application contains no account system, no advertising SDK, no analytics, no cloud synchronization, no telemetry and no crash-reporting service. The production build's content security policy blocks arbitrary network destinations.

There is no sign-up, no licence check-in, and no usage reporting. The application does not need a network connection to do anything it advertises, and does not open one on its own.

03What is stored on your device

All of the following stays in the application's local database and preference storage on your own machine:

• Player roster — name, optional tag, optional email address, region, skill rating, notes, avatar colour, and timestamps.
• Tournament setup — name, description, game, format, scoring and seeding configuration, stages, groups, and timestamps.
• Competition state — participants, seeds, matchups, scores, placements, times, standings, progression, and head-to-head history.
• Preferences — theme, scoring default, animation and sound choices, projector scale, match timer settings, and any custom program name, tagline, accent color or local logo you choose.

Note that the roster can hold personal information about other people — participants' names and, if you choose to record them, their email addresses. You are the one deciding what to enter and you remain responsible for it. If you run events in a jurisdiction with data-protection obligations, that roster is your record, not ours; we never receive it.

The database is SQLite in the application's operating-system data directory. On Android, it is held in private internal app storage. Preferences are stored in local webview application storage. Platform-specific locations are listed on the support page.

04Exports you create

Bracketware can write CSV, JSON, SVG, PNG, printable HTML and full JSON backup files. The released Mac App Store 1.0.1 exports go beneath Downloads/Bracketware/; the direct Mac 1.0.0 and Android versions use their platform's Documents/Bracketware/ folder. The submitted Mac 1.1.0 update, when available, lets you choose the desktop export or backup destination in a native dialog. Files are created only when you ask for them.

Exports and backups can contain participant names, tournament details, results and any optional roster metadata included in what you selected. Once a file exists on your disk, what happens to it — copying, sharing, syncing to a cloud folder, deleting — is under your control and your operating system's, not the application's.

05Keeping and deleting data

Because nothing is transmitted, there is no server-side retention period. Data persists on your device until you remove it.

• Delete an individual tournament or player from inside the app.
• On macOS, delete the local database and preferences by removing the data directory — see removing Bracketware.
• On Android, uninstalling Bracketware removes the private app database and preferences.
• Exports and backups are separate files and must be deleted separately on every platform.

If support ever needs a file from you to reproduce a bug, we will ask explicitly, tell you what the file contains, and delete it once the issue is closed. We will not ask for it as a first step, and you can decline.

06This website and your purchase

Website advertising measurement is separate from the offline Bracketware application. For United States visitors arriving through our labelled Google advertising campaign, we use Google Ads to measure website visits and clicks to the Mac or Windows Store. Google receives advertising click identifiers, browser/device information and ordinary connection information such as an IP address, and advertising cookies may be used to connect these events to an ad. These events do not confirm a purchase inside Apple or Microsoft’s Store. We do not request names, emails, tournament files or payment details for this measurement, or report purchase revenue through these events.

We use Google’s restricted data processing setting and disable personalized advertising and enhanced conversions. A short notice appears on eligible landing pages. You can opt out there or using the control below; the preference applies immediately and remains on this browser until you change it or clear this site's stored settings. Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track requests also keep Google measurement off. Google measurement stays off outside the United States, for ordinary website traffic, for Facebook campaign traffic, and when the visitor country is unavailable. Google handles received data under its privacy policy. The hosting infrastructure separately processes ordinary request information and may use security cookies.

Mac App Store purchases are processed by Apple, and Microsoft Store purchases by Microsoft, under their respective policies. A future Google Play purchase would be processed by Google. Stores may make order and financial-reporting information available to Ownerstate. Existing direct Mac purchases were processed by Stripe. Stripe collected the email address, payment details, billing location, tax information and transaction metadata needed to process those purchases. Ownerstate can see the customer and transaction information Stripe makes available to merchants, but does not receive the full payment-card number. New direct Mac sales have ended; the legacy payment records remain for support and refunds.

The direct download routes on bracketware.com and get.bracketware.com retired on September 29, 2026. They now show migration and support guidance without checking Stripe payments or serving installers, and clear their old download-authorization cookie. Previously, the delivery service verified Stripe payment status and used a short-lived, HTTP-only cookie to authorize downloads; that cookie was never an application licence check. Purchase records remain in Stripe for payment, refund, tax, fraud-prevention and legal obligations under Stripe's and Ownerstate's applicable retention requirements.

07Children

Bracketware is a tool for organizing events and is not directed at children. The application collects nothing from children either. If you are running youth events, the participant details you enter are your record to handle under whatever rules apply to you.

08Changes to this policy

If the application ever gains a feature that changes this picture — an automatic updater, a licensing or activation service, analytics, crash reporting, online bracket sharing, cloud backup or support uploads — this policy will be updated before that feature ships, and the change will be described in the release notes rather than quietly amended.

Questions: support@bracketware.com. Ownerstate is based in Ontario, Canada.