The documents, written to be read.

The principle

Your usage data lives on your Mac. Whatever is synced between your devices is encrypted on your side, and we cannot read it. One exception, which you turn on yourself: the AI features of Shale Pro.

Shale runs offline. The journal, the sessions, the calculations and the application’s preferences are written to a local file on your machine.

When you are signed in to your account, an encrypted copy of that data is transmitted to our servers in order to sync your devices. The encryption happens on your machine, using a key derived from your password, which we do not hold: we therefore store data we cannot read, not even when handling a support request. Syncing can be stopped on a given device from the application’s settings.

One exception, and only if you turn it on: the artificial intelligence features of the Shale Pro plan. They are off by default. When you run one, the content concerned — the note to summarise, the tasks to break down, the file you choose — is transmitted to our servers, then to Google, whose Gemini model writes the response. During that transfer, this content is not covered by end-to-end encryption: the model has to be able to read it in order to respond. The rest of your data is not affected. We keep neither what is sent nor what comes back, and Google undertakes, under the terms of its API, not to use it to improve its products. The AI changes nothing on its own — every suggestion waits for your approval — and can be turned off at any time from the application’s settings, entirely or by group of features.

The other data we process concerns the contractual relationship (your account, your subscription) and the shaleapp.com website: its traffic, measured without cookies, and, only if you accept it, an advertising tracker from Meta. That tracker concerns the website only: the application contains none, and nothing you write in it is passed to an advertising network.

Data controller

The data controller is Antonin Estanie, whose details appear in the legal notice. For any question about your data: privacy@shaleapp.com.

Data collected and purposes

Account, payment, cookie-free analytics, advertising on the site if you accept it, the encrypted copy we cannot read — and, if you turn it on, what you submit to the AI.

We apply a minimisation principle: no data is collected unless it is necessary for a specific purpose.

• Email address — account creation, licence issuance and validation, service emails (invoice, expiry, security incident). Legal basis: performance of the contract.
• Email address left on the waitlist — with no account and no payment, through a form on the site. Purposes: telling you when Shale launches, giving you the free first month offered to people on the list, and sending you a few development updates until launch. Along with the address, we keep the date of your consent and where your visit came from: the campaign parameters (“utm”) found in the page address and the name of the site that sent you, so we know which channel makes Shale known. The address is entrusted to our email provider, Resend (see “Processors and recipients”), is neither sold nor transferred, and serves no other purpose. Legal basis: your consent, given by ticking the box on the form and withdrawn with a simple message to privacy@shaleapp.com. Every email sent to the waitlist includes a way to unsubscribe.
• Protection of the waitlist form — when you send your address, a fingerprint of your IP address, computed so that the address cannot be recovered from it, is kept for one hour to limit the number of sign-ups from a single connection, then erased. The domain name of your email address is checked against a list of disposable email services. None of this is passed on to anyone. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in protecting the list and our emails against bots.
• Encrypted copy of your usage data — tasks, notes, goals, journal and preferences, encrypted on your machine before being sent. We store it without being able to read its contents: the key is derived from your password and is never transmitted to us. Purpose: syncing your devices. Legal basis: performance of the contract.
• Content submitted to the AI features (Shale Pro, opt-in) — the text or file on which you run a feature: a note, tasks, a goal, a PDF, an image. It is transmitted for as long as it takes to produce the response, and we keep no copy of it. We keep a count of actions and a technical log — the feature used, the date, the size and the cost of the exchange — with no text at all. Purpose: producing the response you ask for. Legal basis: your consent, given when you turn on the AI in the application and withdrawable at any time by turning it off.
• Billing data — name, country, payment details processed directly by Stripe. We never have access to the card number, which does not pass through our systems. Legal basis: performance of the contract and statutory accounting obligations.
• Site analytics — pages viewed, referring site (its domain name only), country, browser and system type, screen width, counted with GoatCounter, with no cookie and nothing stored on your device. Your IP address and your browser’s signature are not recorded: they are used, in memory only and for 8 hours at most, to avoid counting the same visit twice. Campaign parameters in the address are not sent to this tool. The statistics are totals, with no link to your account or to the advertising tracker, and the account area is not measured. Legal basis: legitimate interest in measuring site traffic. To object, write to privacy@shaleapp.com; your browser’s Global Privacy Control signal is enough too.
• Advertising on the site (Meta pixel) — only if you click “Accept” in the site’s banner. A Meta script is then loaded on the public pages of shaleapp.com, never in the account area. It sends Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd the address of the page you view and of the previous page, the date and time, your IP address, the characteristics of your browser and device, an identifier stored in a cookie (“_fbp”, and “_fbc” if you arrive from an ad) and two events: a page view and, where applicable, signing up to the waitlist. We send Meta neither your email address nor anything you type on the site. Purposes: measuring the effect of our ads and showing you ads for Shale on Facebook and Instagram; Meta may match this information with your Facebook or Instagram account if you have one. Legal basis: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time with the “Cookies” link at the bottom of every page. Declining changes nothing to your access to the site.
• Support exchanges — the content of your messages when you write to us. Legal basis: legitimate interest in replying.
• Crash reports — only if you explicitly send them from the application. They contain technical state, never the content of your journal.

Processors and recipients

Our providers, named, and Meta if you accept advertising on the site. Nothing is sold.

Your data is neither sold, nor rented, nor passed to data brokers. Data from your account, your subscription and the application is never passed to an advertising network. It is accessible to a small number of providers strictly necessary to the service, governed by processing agreements compliant with Article 28 of the GDPR.

One exception concerns the website, and only with your consent: Meta’s advertising tracker. For the collection of this data on the site and its transmission, we are joint controllers with Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd (Dublin, Ireland), under the Controller Addendum provided by Meta (facebook.com/legal/controller_addendum). We are in charge of informing you and collecting your consent; Meta answers for your rights over the data it holds, and is solely responsible for what it then does with it. Its privacy policy (facebook.com/about/privacy) gives its contact details, those of its data protection officer, its legal bases and how to exercise your rights with it.

Accounts and encrypted syncing

Supabase — eu-west-3 region (Paris, France)

AI features (Shale Pro, opt-in)

Supabase (relay, nothing kept, run in Paris, eu-west-3 region), then Google (Gemini API) — United States, and any country where Google maintains facilities

Payment and billing

Stripe — Ireland / United States

Site analytics

GoatCounter (Martin Tournoij, Ireland) — servers in Finland and Germany

Emails (service and waitlist)

Resend — United States

Site hosting

Vercel — United States

Advertising on the site, with your consent (joint controller)

Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd — Ireland / United States

Transfers outside the European Union

Some payment data, email addresses and, if you accept advertising, the Meta tracker’s data, and what you submit to the AI if you turn it on, may pass through the United States, under safeguards.

Shale is distributed internationally. Where a provider processes data outside the European Economic Area — Stripe for certain operations, Resend for sending emails, Vercel for hosting the site, Google for the AI features of Shale Pro if you turn them on and, if you have accepted the advertising tracker, Meta — the transfer is governed by the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses and, where applicable, by the Data Privacy Framework. A copy of those safeguards is available on request.

Retention periods

For the life of the contract, then the statutory periods.

Once those periods end, the data is deleted or irreversibly anonymised.

Account and licence

duration of the subscription + 12 months

Waitlist

until you unsubscribe, and at most 3 years after you signed up or our last exchange

IP address fingerprint (form protection)

1 hour

Invoices

10 years (accounting obligation)

Support exchanges

24 months after the last message

Analytics

aggregate totals, 25 months at most

Site advertising tracker (with your consent)

your choice: 6 months; “_fbp” and “_fbc” cookies: 90 days; event data held by Meta: up to 2 years, under its terms

Encrypted synced copy

as long as the account exists; erased with it

Content submitted to the AI features

not kept by us; Google may log it for a limited period, which it does not specify, solely to detect abuse

Count and technical log of AI actions

no text at all; kept as long as the account exists, erased with it

The app’s local data

on your Mac, under your sole control

Your rights

Access, rectification, erasure, portability, objection. Answered within a month.

Under Articles 15 to 22 of the GDPR you have a right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability and objection to the processing of your data, as well as the right to leave post-mortem instructions.

• Exercising your rights — an email to privacy@shaleapp.com is enough; we answer within one month. No identity document is required by default: we verify the email address associated with the account.
• Deleting your account — possible in one click from the Account area. The application’s local data stays on your Mac; only you can erase it.
• Withdrawing your consent to advertising — the “Cookies” link, at the bottom of every page of the site, reopens the banner: “Decline” stops the transmissions to Meta and deletes its cookies. For data Meta has already received, your rights are exercised with Meta; if you write to us about it, we forward your request to them.
• Complaint — you may lodge a complaint with the CNIL (cnil.fr) or with the supervisory authority of your country of residence.

Residents outside the European Union

United Kingdom, Switzerland, California: the same rights, under other names.

We apply the GDPR standard to all our users, whatever their country. Residents of the United Kingdom exercise their rights under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018; Swiss residents under the Federal Act on Data Protection.

California residents have, under the CCPA as amended by the CPRA, the right to know which categories of data are collected, to request their deletion, and not to be discriminated against for exercising those rights. We do not sell personal data. On the website, Meta’s advertising tracker is used for targeted advertising, which that legislation calls “sharing”: it is only loaded after your explicit consent, whatever your country, and without consent nothing is shared. You decline or withdraw that consent with the “Cookies” link at the bottom of every page, and your browser’s Global Privacy Control signal is treated as a refusal.

Whatever your country of residence, a request sent to privacy@shaleapp.com is handled within one month.

Security

Encryption in transit, restricted access, no database of your content.

Exchanges with the site and the licence API are encrypted with TLS. Access to our systems is restricted, logged and protected by two-factor authentication. The risk surface is deliberately small: we store none of your content in readable form — the sync copy is encrypted on your machine — and no card number. In the event of a data breach likely to result in a high risk, we inform you as soon as possible and notify the competent authority within 72 hours.

Minors

The service is not intended for people under 18. We do not knowingly collect data relating to minors; where that happens, it is deleted as soon as we become aware of it.

Changes

This policy may be updated to reflect a change in the service or in the applicable regulations. Each version carries its date. A substantial change is flagged to account holders, by email or in the application.

Purpose and acceptance

These rules apply the moment you use Shale.

These terms govern access to the shaleapp.com website and use of the Shale application. Together with the terms of sale and the privacy policy, they form the entire agreement between you and the publisher. Installing the application or creating an account constitutes unreserved acceptance.

User account

One account, one person. Your credentials are your responsibility.

Creating an account requires a valid email address. You undertake to provide accurate information and to keep it up to date. The account is personal: you are responsible for keeping your credentials confidential and for all activity carried out from your account. Any fraudulent use must be reported to us without delay.

Licence to use

You are renting a personal right of use; you are not buying the software.

Subject to payment of the subscription, the publisher grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable licence to use the application on machines of which you are the primary user, up to three devices. This licence is granted for the duration of the subscription and transfers no ownership right.

Prohibited uses

No resale, no reverse engineering, no licence circumvention.

• Redistributing the application, reselling it, renting it, sub-licensing it or making it available to a third party.
• Decompiling it or carrying out any form of reverse engineering, save within the mandatory limits allowed by law.
• Circumventing the licence, trial or subscription-verification mechanisms.
• Automating access to the service in ways liable to compromise its stability or security.
• Using the service for unlawful purposes.

Service availability

The app works offline. The site and the licence service may be temporarily unavailable.

The application works without a connection and remains usable if our online services are interrupted, subject to the periodic subscription check. The website, the Account area and the licence service are provided with no guarantee of continuous availability; interruptions for maintenance, updates or incidents may occur.

Your content

What you write stays with you and belongs to you.

The content you create in the application remains your exclusive property. It is stored locally, on your machine. When you are signed in to your account, an encrypted copy, which we cannot read, is kept on our servers to sync your devices. We do not access your content and acquire no licence over it. You alone are responsible for backing it up. We strongly recommend including the Shale data file in your usual backup routine. One exception: if you turn on the AI features of Shale Pro, the content you submit to them is transmitted for as long as it takes to respond, under the conditions described in the privacy policy. You keep all your rights over that content and over the responses you obtain, and you make sure you have the right to submit what you entrust to them, in particular where it concerns third parties.

Liability

A personal organisation tool, supplied with no guarantee of results.

The application is provided as is. The publisher does not warrant that it is free of errors or that it meets any particular performance objective.

The publisher cannot be held liable for financial losses, loss of unbacked-up data, or indirect damage arising from use of, or inability to use, the service. Nothing here limits the publisher’s liability in the event of gross negligence, wilful misconduct or personal injury, nor the mandatory statutory warranties available to consumers.

The AI features of Shale Pro produce suggestions, which may be inaccurate or incomplete. None of them changes your data without your approval: it is up to you to review them before accepting them.

Suspension and termination

You may stop using the service at any time and delete your account from the Account area. The publisher may suspend or terminate access in the event of a serious breach of these terms, after a formal notice that has remained without effect for fifteen days, except where urgency relating to security or manifestly unlawful use requires otherwise.

Changes to these terms

These terms may be amended. Users holding an account are informed by email at least fifteen days before the new terms take effect. Continuing to use the service after that date constitutes acceptance.

Governing law and disputes

French law; your local consumer rights are preserved.

These terms are governed by French law. If you are a consumer resident in another country, you keep the benefit of the mandatory protective provisions of your country of residence. Failing an amicable settlement, the dispute may be brought before the competent courts in accordance with the jurisdiction rules applicable to consumers.

Language of the contract

The French version prevails; the English one is a courtesy translation.

These terms are drafted in French, and an English translation is supplied for information. In the event of any discrepancy between the two versions, the French version prevails.

Purpose

These terms govern the sale of subscriptions to the Shale application, concluded at a distance between the publisher and the customer. They apply to the exclusion of any other terms, subject to the mandatory provisions protecting consumers.

Plans and prices

Monthly or annual subscription. Public sales are paused. Prices are net: no VAT. Shale Pro adds capped AI features.

Public sales are paused: Shale is on a waitlist, and no subscription can be taken out without an invitation. These terms apply to subscriptions in progress and to those taken out by invitation.

Shale is offered as a monthly or annual subscription, renewable. The prices in force are those given to the customer before the order. They are net of tax: no VAT is charged, the publisher being under the small-business exemption (see the “VAT” article). Any price change is without effect on subscriptions in progress and is notified at least thirty days before it applies at renewal.

The Shale Pro plan includes artificial intelligence features, off by default and turned on by the customer. Their use is capped at a number of actions per month, shown in the application and, when sales are open, on the Pricing page. They rely on a third-party provider (Google, Gemini API) and may be suspended if that provider is unavailable. Their responses are suggestions, whose accuracy is not guaranteed, without prejudice to the statutory guarantees consumers benefit from. The Shale and Shale Business plans do not include them.

VAT

No VAT is charged: the publisher is under the French small-business exemption.

The publisher benefits from the VAT exemption for small businesses provided for by Article 293 B of the French General Tax Code. No VAT is therefore charged or collected, and invoices carry the statement “TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI” (VAT not applicable).

The prices shown on the Pricing page are the prices actually paid: no tax is added at checkout, whatever the customer's country of residence.

Any taxes, duties or withholdings due from the customer in their own country remain their responsibility and give rise to no reduction in price.

Should the publisher cease to qualify for this regime, prices and tax statements would be updated and customers informed under the terms set out in the “Plans and prices” article.

Applicable regime

small-business VAT exemption (Art. 293 B, French GTC)

VAT charged

none

Statement on invoices

TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI

Billing currency

EUR

Trial period

7 days, on the Shale plan. Card saved at subscription, first charge on day 8. People on the waitlist: 30 days instead of 7, first charge on day 31.

The trial applies to the Shale plan; Shale Pro and Shale Business are billed from the moment you subscribe. The trial lasts seven days from the moment you subscribe and is granted only once per customer. A valid payment method is saved when you subscribe; no amount is charged during the trial.

At the end of the seven days, the chosen subscription starts automatically and the payment method is charged the amount matching the plan and billing period selected, as given before subscription. The exact amount and the date of the first charge are given to the customer before the order is confirmed, then repeated by e-mail on subscription.

The trial can be cancelled at any time from the Account area, without reason or penalty. A cancellation made before the seven days are up prevents any charge: no amount is due. The application then becomes read-only; data stays accessible and exportable.

People who added their email address to the Shale waitlist before sales opened, ticking the box provided, get a thirty-day trial instead of seven, on the Shale plan. To benefit, the subscription must be taken out within seven days of sales opening, from an account created with the confirmed address that is on the list. After that, the usual trial applies. The offer is valid once per person and per address; it cannot be transferred or combined with any other offer, and applies neither to Shale Pro nor to Shale Business. Nothing is asked in return: sharing feedback during the month is an invitation, not a condition. A valid payment method is saved when you subscribe; nothing is charged during the thirty days. When they end, the subscription starts automatically and the payment method is charged the price of the billing period selected, as shown before the order is confirmed; for an annual subscription, the yearly price is charged on that date. You can cancel at any time from the Account area, without reason or fee: cancelling before the thirty days are up prevents any charge.

Order and payment

Card payment via Stripe. Invoice sent by email.

The order is deemed firm once the payment process is complete and the confirmation is displayed. Payment is made by bank card or any other means offered, through our provider Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd. An electronic invoice is sent by email and remains available in the Account area.

Payment provider

Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd.

Accepted methods

Bank card, Apple Pay, SEPA

Reference currency

EUR (converted according to country)

Billing

at the end of the trial (8th day after subscription; 31st with the launch offer), or on subscription for Shale Pro and Shale Business, then at each renewal date

Term and renewal

Renews automatically, cancellable at any time in one click.

The subscription is entered into for the period chosen and renews tacitly at expiry for an identical period, unless cancelled. Under Article L. 215-1 of the French Consumer Code, consumer customers resident in France are informed in writing, at the earliest three months and at the latest one month before the cancellation deadline, of their right not to renew.

Cancellation

One click in the Account area. Effective at the end of the paid period.

Cancellation is available at any time from the Account area, with no reason and no penalty. It takes effect at the end of the current period: the subscription stays active until that date and is not renewed. Your local data is unaffected by cancellation.

Right of withdrawal

14 days to change your mind — unless you ask for immediate access and expressly waive it.

The consumer customer has fourteen days from the conclusion of the contract to exercise their right of withdrawal, with no reason and at no cost, by simply writing to support@shaleapp.com or by using the model withdrawal form.

Under Article L. 221-28 of the French Consumer Code, this right can no longer be exercised for digital content supplied immediately, where the customer expressly requested performance before the end of the period and acknowledged losing their right of withdrawal. That waiver is collected explicitly at the time of the order; failing which, the right of withdrawal remains intact.

This statutory right of withdrawal is available to consumers resident in the European Union and the European Economic Area; consumers resident in the United Kingdom have an equivalent fourteen-day right under UK law. Customers resident elsewhere do not have this statutory right, but do benefit from the thirty-day commercial refund guarantee described below.

Business customers

No right of withdrawal, no consumer mediation.

Where the subscription is taken out for the purposes of a business activity, the customer is neither a consumer nor a non-professional within the meaning of French law. The right of withdrawal, the consumer mediation scheme and the mandatory provisions of the Consumer Code do not apply to them.

The other provisions of these terms — in particular the commercial refund guarantee, service availability and the limitation of liability — remain enforceable against them in the same terms.

Refunds

Valid withdrawal: refunded within 14 days. A goodwill refund remains possible beyond that.

Where withdrawal has been validly exercised, the refund is made within fourteen days using the same payment method as the one used for the order. Outside that framework, a pro-rata refund may be granted as a commercial gesture, in particular where the service has been unavailable for a prolonged period through the publisher’s fault.

Statutory guarantees

The text French law requires us to reproduce: your subscription is covered for its whole term.

The Shale subscription is a digital service supplied continuously. It benefits from the statutory guarantees below for its whole term. To rely on them: support@shaleapp.com. The French text is the one prescribed by law; this translation is provided for convenience.

The consumer is entitled to rely on the statutory guarantee of conformity where a lack of conformity appears during a period equal to the term of the subscription, starting from the supply of the digital content or digital service. During that period, the consumer only has to establish that the lack of conformity exists, not the date on which it appeared.

The statutory guarantee of conformity entails an obligation to supply all the updates needed to keep the digital content or digital service in conformity throughout the term of the subscription.

The statutory guarantee of conformity entitles the consumer to have the digital content or digital service brought into conformity without undue delay following the request, free of charge and without significant inconvenience.

The consumer may obtain a price reduction while keeping the digital content or digital service, or may end the contract and be refunded in full in return for giving up the digital content or digital service, if: 1. the trader refuses to bring the digital content or digital service into conformity; 2. bringing it into conformity is unduly delayed; 3. it cannot be brought into conformity without costs imposed on the consumer; 4. bringing it into conformity causes the consumer significant inconvenience; 5. the lack of conformity persists despite the trader's unsuccessful attempt to remedy it.

The consumer is also entitled to a price reduction or to termination of the contract where the lack of conformity is so serious that it justifies an immediate price reduction or termination. The consumer is then not required to ask first for the digital content or digital service to be brought into conformity.

Where the lack of conformity is minor, the consumer is entitled to cancel the contract only if the contract does not provide for payment of a price.

Any period during which the digital content or digital service is unavailable while being brought back into conformity suspends the remaining guarantee period until the digital content or digital service is supplied in conformity again.

These rights result from Articles L. 224-25-1 to L. 224-25-31 of the French Consumer Code.

A trader who obstructs the statutory guarantee of conformity in bad faith is liable to a civil fine of up to 300,000 euros, which may be raised to 10% of average annual turnover (Article L. 242-18-1 of the French Consumer Code).

The consumer also benefits from the statutory guarantee against hidden defects under Articles 1641 to 1649 of the French Civil Code, for two years from discovery of the defect. That guarantee entitles the consumer to a price reduction if the digital content or digital service is kept, or to a full refund in return for giving it up.

Updates and product evolution

The subscription includes all corrective and functional updates released during its term. The publisher may change, replace or withdraw features; where a substantial feature is removed, the customer may cancel at no cost and obtain a pro-rata refund for the remaining period.

System requirements

macOS 14 or later. Check before subscribing.

Shale requires macOS 14 or later, on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 and later); no Intel build is distributed. It is for the customer to make sure their hardware is compatible before subscribing; the free trial period exists for that check.

Complaints and mediation

We settle it between us first; failing that, a free mediator.

Any complaint must be addressed to support@shaleapp.com. Failing resolution, a consumer may refer the matter free of charge to a consumer mediator: CM2C — Centre de la Médiation de la Consommation de Conciliateurs de Justice, 49 rue de Ponthieu, 75008 Paris, France — cm2c.net. The European online dispute resolution platform is also available to consumers in the Union.

Governing law

These terms are governed by French law, without prejudice to the more protective mandatory provisions of the consumer customer’s country of residence.

Language of the contract

The French version prevails; the English one is a courtesy translation.

These terms are drafted in French. An English translation is made available for your convenience. In the event of any divergence of interpretation between the two versions, only the French version prevails.

Your consent, and how to withdraw it

Only one tracker needs your consent: Meta’s. Declining is as easy as accepting.

On your first visit, a banner at the bottom of the screen asks whether you accept Meta’s advertising tracker. Until you click “Accept”, nothing is loaded or sent to Meta: continuing to browse does not count as consent, and declining removes no feature of the site. Your choice, whether you accept or decline, is kept for 6 months in your browser, after which you are asked again. You can change it at any time with the “Cookies” link at the bottom of every page: withdrawing your consent stops the transmissions and deletes the tracker’s cookies.

The other items stored on your device are strictly necessary to run the site, or reflect a preference you expressed — two categories exempt from consent under the ePrivacy Directive and the CNIL’s guidelines. The banner does not appear in the account area: the tracker is never loaded there.

What is actually stored

Five items without prior consent, set by us or by Stripe; two more, set for Meta, if you accept advertising.

The session cookie is only set if you log in to an account. Stripe cookies are only set on payment pages, for fraud-prevention purposes. The two cookies of Meta’s tracker are only set after your consent, and never in the account area.

shale-theme

localStorage · light/dark preference · permanent

shale-langue

cookie · chosen language (French or English), set only if you click FR or EN · 12 months

shale-consent

localStorage · your choice about the advertising tracker, with no identifier · 6 months

shale-session

cookie · authenticated session · 30 days

__stripe_mid

Stripe cookie · payment fraud prevention · 12 months

_fbp

cookie · only with your consent · identifier for your browser, read by Meta’s tracker (advertising) · 90 days

_fbc

cookie · only with your consent, and if you arrive from a Facebook or Instagram ad · click identifier (advertising) · 90 days

Meta’s advertising tracker

Loaded only after your consent. It tells Meta that you visited the site.

If you accept it, a script from Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd (the “Meta pixel”) is loaded on the public pages of the site. It sends Meta the address of the page you view and of the previous page, your IP address, the characteristics of your browser, the identifier of the “_fbp” cookie and two events: a page view and signing up to the waitlist. The script’s automatic readings (button clicks, page content) are switched off.

It serves two purposes: measuring whether our ads bring visitors and sign-ups, and showing you ads for Shale on Facebook and Instagram. We send Meta neither your email address nor anything you type on the site, and the application is not concerned. Meta may match this information with your account if you have one, and uses it under its own privacy policy (facebook.com/about/privacy). How responsibilities are split between Meta and us is described in the privacy policy, “Processors and recipients”.

Cookie-free analytics

GoatCounter: no cookie, nothing stored on your device, totals only.

Site traffic is counted with GoatCounter, a service operated in Ireland by Martin Tournoij and hosted in Finland and Germany. It sets no cookie and stores nothing on your device. For each public page viewed, the site sends it the page’s path, its title, the domain name of the site you came from and your screen width; the country and browser type are derived from the request. Your IP address and your browser’s signature are not recorded: they are used, in memory only and for 8 hours at most, to avoid counting the same visit twice. Only totals remain, which cannot be used to follow you from one day to the next, or from one site to another. This measurement is only used to know the site’s audience: it is neither cross-referenced with your account nor passed to Meta, and the account area is not measured.

Refusing or clearing

The “Cookies” link for advertising; your browser for the rest.

• Advertising — the “Cookies” link, at the bottom of every page, reopens the banner. “Decline” withdraws your consent: transmissions to Meta stop and the “_fbp” and “_fbc” cookies are deleted.
• Clear — deleting site data in your browser immediately removes the theme preference, signs you out and erases your choice about advertising: you will be asked again.
• Block — you can refuse all cookies in your browser settings; browsing still works, only account log-in and payment will be prevented.
• GPC signal — if your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a refusal: the advertising tracker is not loaded, the banner is not shown, and your visit is not counted in the analytics. You can still expressly accept the tracker with the “Cookies” link.

The application

No cookies. It exchanges with our servers for your licence, for encrypted syncing and, if you turn it on, for the Shale Pro AI.

The macOS application uses neither cookies nor tracking technology. It contacts our servers to check periodically that the subscription is valid, to look for updates and, when you are signed in, to sync your devices. Synced data is encrypted on your machine before being sent, and we cannot read it; see the privacy policy. If you have turned on the AI features of Shale Pro, it also transmits the content you submit to them, under the conditions described in the privacy policy.

Updates to this policy

Any change to the list above is published on this page with a new update date. No new tracker requiring consent is added without the banner asking you beforehand.