Privacy Policy

AEShot PDF for Mac · Effective 23 October 2026

In short: your documents never leave your computer unless you save or share them somewhere. AEShot PDF goes online only when you sign with a certificate and timestamps are on, to look for a new version and to count its installations anonymously. A review you write in the app is sent only when you send it.

What AEShot PDF does with your documents

AEShot PDF reads and changes a document only when you open it in the app, and saves it where you choose. Recognizing text on scanned pages happens on your computer; the pages are not sent anywhere. Nothing about your documents, not even their names, is sent to me.

What AEShot PDF does not do

No account: AEShot PDF works without signing up.
No ads, no third-party SDKs and no tracking of what you do in AEShot PDF. The only thing counted is the number of installations, anonymously, as described below.
No uploads: your documents, signatures and certificates are never sent anywhere, including to me.
No sale or sharing of data. The little I receive is used only for what this policy describes.

Signatures and certificates

Your drawn and typed signatures, and a certificate you create in the app, are kept in your computer’s keychain, readable only by AEShot PDF. When you sign with a certificate, the certificate goes into the signed document, as every certificate signature requires: whoever receives the document can read what it says about you, such as your name, email address, organization and department. Its private key never leaves your keychain, smart card or certificate file.

Timestamps

When you sign with a certificate and timestamps are on, AEShot PDF asks a public timestamp server (Sectigo unless you choose another in its settings) for the time. It sends only a fingerprint of the signature, never the document; like any server, the timestamp server sees your computer’s internet address. You can turn timestamps off.

Counting installations

AEShot PDF counts its installations, so that I know how many are in use. It does so anonymously:

What is sent: about a minute after AEShot PDF starts, and then once a day while it runs, it sends aeshot.com an installation number, together with the name of the app, its version, the platform (Mac, Windows or Linux) and the system version, such as 15.1. The number is made on your computer from the system’s own computer ID with a one-way code: it stays the same when you update or reinstall AEShot PDF, so each computer counts once, but it says nothing about your computer and cannot be turned back into its ID. The computer ID itself never leaves your computer.
What I keep: for each installation, a one-way code made from its number (never the number itself), the app, the platform, the app and system versions of its latest count and the first and last day it was counted; and for each day, how many installations were counted. I do not keep your IP address: to limit abuse, the server counts requests per address for one hour, under a one-way code. Nothing about who you are, and nothing about your files.
How long: an installation not counted for 180 days is deleted, with everything kept for it. The daily totals, which are only numbers, are deleted after 400 days.
Turning it off: in AEShot PDF, choose Settings › General and turn off “Count this installation”. From then on it sends nothing for the count.

Reviews

If you write a review in AEShot PDF (Write a Review…) or on aeshot.com with its installation ID, it is sent to aeshot.com only when you send it:

What it sends: your rating, the name you choose, your text, the app and its version, your system (macOS, Windows or Linux) and its version, the app’s language and the installation’s anonymous number. No email address and no account.
What I keep: the review with these details, and the installation’s number only as a one-way code, so that each installation can send one review of each app. To limit abuse, the server counts the reviews sent from an internet address for one hour, under a one-way code of the address; it never keeps the address itself.
What is shown: nothing until I have read the review. Once approved, it appears on the app’s page and on the home page of aeshot.com with your name, stars, text, system and date; the list of reviews the pages load also carries the app’s version and language, never the installation’s number or your system’s version. For the check, the review reaches me by email and as a notification on my phone, delivered through Apple’s push notification service.
Removal: write to support@aeshot.com with the app, the name and the date of your review, and I delete it. What stays is only the one-way code of the installation, so that it cannot send another review of that app. How reviews work

Looking for updates

About once a day, AEShot PDF asks aeshot.com whether a new version is available. The request contains nothing about you or your computer, and my server keeps no logs. You can turn this off in AEShot PDF’s settings. A copy from the Mac App Store gets its updates from the App Store instead, and it does not count its installations.

What the app keeps on your computer

Your settings and the list of recent documents, with small pictures of their first pages, are stored in the app’s own container on your computer; deleting the app removes them. Your signatures and your own certificate are kept in your login keychain, and the installation number described above on your computer.

Permissions

AEShot PDF needs no special permissions. It opens only the documents you choose, and remembers recent ones with bookmarks that only it can use. To sign with a smart card or a USB token, you are asked for its PIN.

This website

aeshot.com uses no cookies, analytics, advertising or third-party content, and the server keeps no access logs.

Children

AEShot PDF is not aimed at children. Apart from the anonymous count of installations, it collects no data about anyone, including children. A review you write in the app is sent only when you send it.

Changes

If this policy ever changes, the new version will be published on this page with a new effective date.

Contact

Responsible for the data described here: Christos Kyriakis, Switzerland. Questions about privacy: support@aeshot.com