Privacy

Short version: HearthPDF works entirely on your computer. We never see your documents, we don’t track you, and there is no account.

The app

• Your documents stay on your PC. HearthPDF opens and saves files only where you choose. It never uploads, copies or sends them anywhere.
• It never connects to the internet. There are no online features, no automatic update checks and no usage statistics. It works exactly the same with no network connection.
• No account, no personal data. You don’t sign up or sign in, and we have no way of knowing who uses the app.
• Links only when you click them. The Help menu has links to this website, the user guide and the donation page. They open in your own web browser, only when you choose them.

What the app keeps on your PC

A small settings file in %AppData%\HearthPDF, which never leaves your computer. It contains:

• your recent files list (the last 10 files you opened), which you can switch off with Help ▸ Remember recent files;
• the name shown on your comments (your Windows user name to start with).

Help ▸ Privacy and your data shows what is stored and deletes all of it in one click. Uninstalling the app leaves your PDFs untouched.

This website

• No cookies, no adverts and no tracking scripts. Nothing on this site follows you around the web.
• The site runs on our own server, which doesn’t keep a log of the pages you visit. Like any website, the server briefly sees your IP address in order to send you the page, and may record errors to keep the site running and secure. We don’t use this to identify anyone.
• Downloads come from GitHub, which has its own privacy statement.

Donations

If you choose to buy us a coffee, the payment is handled by Buy Me a Coffee on their own website, under their privacy policy. We only see what you choose to share there, such as a name or message.

Questions

Ask on GitHub.

Last updated: November 2026.