Privacy & security
What CacheFlo can access on your Mac, the few times it goes online, and how it protects your files. Written plainly, so you can check it before you buy.
In short: CacheFlo scans your Mac on your Mac. It has no account, no analytics, no telemetry and no built-in crash reporting. Nothing about your files, apps or scan results is ever sent. It connects to the internet only for licensing and the features listed below, and each one is labelled in the app under Settings › Internet features.
What CacheFlo can access
You decide on each of these, and macOS asks you before granting its own permissions. CacheFlo's Permissions screen lists each one, what uses it and when it was last used, and lets you turn it off.
| Permission | Why CacheFlo needs it | If you turn it off |
|---|---|---|
| Full Disk Access | To see caches, logs and app data that macOS hides from apps by default, so scans are complete. | Scans still run but miss protected folders. |
| Your approval (Touch ID or password) | Asked before anything is removed, moved or changed. You can let CacheFlo remember it for a few minutes, but emptying the Trash and uninstalling apps always ask again. | Nothing can be changed. Scanning still works. |
| System Events | To list and switch off login items in Boost. | Boost can't change login items. |
| Location Services | macOS requires it to show Wi-Fi network names in the Wi-Fi analyser. CacheFlo never reads or stores your location. | Wi-Fi names are hidden. |
| Reminders | Only if you choose to have scheduled tasks added as reminders instead of running. | Reminder tasks are unavailable. |
| Notifications | To tell you when a scheduled scan finishes or space runs low. | No notifications. |
Every time CacheFlo goes online
This is the complete list. Anything not here works fully offline. Any service CacheFlo contacts necessarily sees your IP address in order to reply.
| Feature | Contacts | What is sent | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free trial check | CacheFlo's licence server cacheflo-licence.micallefowen.workers.dev | A one-way hash of this Mac's hardware ID and the app version. Never the Mac's name, serial number or your name. | On first launch, until the server has confirmed the trial once. |
| Licence activation, renewal and deactivation | CacheFlo's licence server, which checks the key with Lemon Squeezy | Your licence key, the activation ID for this Mac, the same one-way hash and the app version. | When you activate or deactivate, and about once a week to renew. Can't be switched off, because cleaning depends on it. |
| Speed test | The server you choose: Cloudflare speed.cloudflare.com, Apple's servers through macOS's own test, or a server you add | Test data only. Results and the Wi-Fi name stay on your Mac. | Only when you start a test. Can be switched off. |
| Security list | CacheFlo's list server cacheflo-feed.micallefowen.workers.dev | A plain request for the signed list. No identifiers, no cookies. Your apps are matched against it on your Mac. | At most once a day. Can be switched off. |
| App updates | The app developer's own download link, named in the signed list | A normal download request. | Only when you press Update for an app. |
| CacheFlo update check | CacheFlo's list server | A plain request for one signed file. No identifiers. | Off until you choose when: on opening, at login, daily or weekly. |
| macOS update check | Apple, through macOS's own Software Update | Handled by macOS as for any update check. | When Protect checks your Mac. Can be switched off. |
How licensing works, and what it can and can't see
To protect a small independent product from misuse, CacheFlo checks its free trial and licences with its own licence server, a service run by us on Cloudflare. The app never contacts Lemon Squeezy directly: only the licence server does, to confirm that a key is genuine and to count how many Macs use it.
- What identifies your Mac: a one-way hash of its hardware ID, created on your Mac. It can't be reversed into the hardware ID, your serial number, your Mac's name or your identity. CacheFlo uses the same hash for every licence request, so we treat it as personal data under the GDPR.
- What the server stores: only the date each Mac's free trial started, filed under a second, secret-keyed hash of that identifier, so a trial can't be restarted. It stores no names, email addresses, IP addresses or anything about your files or apps.
- What Lemon Squeezy receives: your licence key, and when you activate, a label for the activation that starts "CacheFlo Mac" followed by part of the hash, so you and we can tell your Macs apart. Lemon Squeezy already holds your order details as the seller.
- No logs: the licence and list servers keep no request logs. To stop abuse, the licence server limits each internet address to 20 requests a minute; it counts under a hashed form of the address, kept in memory for that minute only.
- Signed answers: the server's replies are digitally signed, and CacheFlo accepts only replies made for your Mac.
- Offline use: a confirmed licence keeps cleaning available for 14 days without a connection, and renews quietly about once a week when you're online. A refunded or disabled key stops working at the next check. Scans, Health and Protect's checks never depend on the licence server.
What we never collect
- No analytics or usage statistics, in the app or on this website.
- No crash reporting built in. If you've allowed macOS to share crash data with app developers, Apple may pass CacheFlo crash reports to us. You can turn that off in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements.
- No file names, paths, file contents, metadata, scan results or app lists, ever. Licence checks carry only the details listed above.
- No advertising, no cookies on this website, no third-party scripts.
The only personal data we receive is what you give us when you buy (through Lemon Squeezy) or email support, and the pseudonymous licensing details described above. The privacy policy covers it in full, including your GDPR rights.
How CacheFlo protects your files
- Removed items go to the Trash (or a quarantine folder for malware), so they can be put back until the Trash is emptied. Scheduled clean-ups also use the Trash.
- You approve every change with Touch ID or your password. You can let CacheFlo remember an approval for a few minutes, but emptying the Trash and uninstalling apps always ask again.
- Folders it never touches: macOS system folders, your keychains, iCloud Drive and cloud storage folders, and the top level of your home folder.
- No surprises from links. Removals are refused for any path that goes through a link or points outside the folders CacheFlo is allowed to clean.
- It acts only on what it scanned. The app removes items from its own list of scan results, never from paths it is handed later.
- Protect can't be blinded. Malware scanning ignores your exclusion list, so a changed exclusion can't hide a threat.
- Signed and checked. Released versions of CacheFlo are signed with an Apple Developer ID, notarised by Apple and run with the hardened runtime. It checks its own files at launch and refuses to start if they were changed.
- Reviewed. Every release goes through a security review before it ships.
This website
This site sets no cookies, loads no fonts or scripts from other companies and contains no trackers, so there is no cookie banner. It is hosted on Cloudflare, which processes your IP address to deliver pages and protect the site from attacks. Buy buttons take you to Lemon Squeezy's checkout, which has its own privacy policy.
Report a security issue
If you find a vulnerability in CacheFlo or this website, email security@cacheflo.net. We'll reply within a few working days, keep you updated while we fix it, and credit you if you'd like. Please give us a chance to release a fix before disclosing it publicly.
Last updated 9 October 2026.