Privacy Policy

The short version: Lynx downloads on your computer. We don’t see the links you paste, the files you download or what you watch. You don’t need an account. To run the free trial and Pro licences, the app checks in with our licence service about once a day, using a scrambled device ID that can’t be traced back to your computer’s serial number. The website collects only what you choose to give us — like an email address for a wait-list — and what any web host logs.

This policy covers the Lynx apps (Lynx Download Manager, Lynx Notch and the Lynx browser extension) and the website lynxdownloadmanager.com. “We” means Lynx Download.

The Lynx app

What stays on your computer. Links you paste or copy, your download history and library, your settings, clips, the files you download, and what’s playing on your Mac (for Lynx Notch). None of this is sent to us.

What the app connects to.

• The sites you download from. Lynx fetches video and files directly from them, like your browser would.
• GitHub, to check for and download updates to its download engine (the open-source yt-dlp project) and its JavaScript runtime. These requests contain no information about you beyond what any web request contains, such as your IP address.
• Our licence service, when Lynx starts and about once a day — see below.
• Our update service, when Lynx starts and every few hours, to check for a new version — and GitHub, where the update files themselves are downloaded from. Lynx installs an update only if it carries our signature. With the check it reports how its last update went (downloaded, installed, or failed and why), and which version of the Lynx browser extension each browser has, so we can stop an update that isn’t working.

The app contains no advertising or third-party tracking code.

What the licence service receives, and why. The 14-day trial, Pro licences (one computer at a time) and invites all depend on recognising a computer, so each check-in sends:

• A device ID — a one-way fingerprint of your computer’s hardware ID. Your computer’s actual ID never leaves it, and our server scrambles the fingerprint again with a secret key before storing it. It lets the trial survive a reinstall, and lets a licence know which computer it’s on.
• A key made by this copy of Lynx, so the service can tell its requests apart from forged ones.
• Basic facts about the computer: Mac or Windows, the kind of Mac (for example “MacBook Air” — never the serial number), whether it’s a virtual machine, and the versions of the system and of Lynx, plus your language setting.
• A count of finished downloads — just the number, never what they were.
• Your approximate network: the service sees your IP address like any server does, but stores only its first three parts (for example 203.0.113.x) and your country — enough to spot trial and invite abuse, not to locate you. (Our hosting providers’ request logs keep the full address for a short time, for security.)
• When you activate a licence: a one-way fingerprint of the key and its last four characters (never the key itself), and your computer’s name as it appears in its settings — so if the licence is on another of your computers, Lynx can tell you which one. An invite code, if you enter one.

We use this only to run the trial, licences and invites, to stop abuse, and to count how many copies of Lynx are in use and on which versions. It’s stored with our database provider (Supabase, in the United States). You can ask us to delete it — note that we then can’t tell your computer has already had its trial.

The browser extension talks only to the Lynx app on your own computer. It reads the page you’re on to find videos, and — for downloads it hands to Lynx — the cookies and referrer the site needs, so the download works as it would in your browser. This stays on your computer.

The website

What you give us.

• Email address, if you join the newsletter or a wait-list, or ask us to email you the download link — used only for that, and deleted when you unsubscribe or ask.
• Name, email and message, if you contact support — used to answer you.

What’s collected automatically. Our web host keeps standard server logs (IP address, browser, pages requested, time) for security and to keep the site running, for a limited time. We don’t use cookies for advertising or cross-site tracking.

Purchases

Payments are handled by Paddle.com, our reseller and merchant of record. When you buy Pro, you give your name, email, country and payment details to Paddle, not to us. Paddle shares with us what we need to provide your licence and support you: your name, email, country, what you bought and the order status. We never see your full card number. Paddle’s own privacy policy applies to the checkout.

Who we share with

Only service providers that help us run Lynx — our web host, email provider, database provider and Paddle — under agreements that limit use to providing that service. We don’t sell personal information, and we don’t share it for advertising.

Keeping and deleting

We keep contact messages and purchase records as long as needed to support you and to meet legal and tax obligations. Licence-service records are kept while you use Lynx, so the trial and your licence keep working. To see, correct or delete what we hold about you, email privacy@lynxdownloadmanager.com. We answer within 30 days.

Children

Lynx isn’t directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their information.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we’ll update the date above and, for significant changes, say so on the website.

Contact

privacy@lynxdownloadmanager.com