Trust

Nothing to take on faith.

A menu‑bar manager sees your whole screen's worth of icons, so it's fair to ask what it does with that access. Here is the complete answer — the permissions Foyer needs, every connection it makes, and how to confirm all of it with tools you already trust.

Permissions

PermissionGranted?Why
AccessibilityYes — requiredThe one permission Foyer needs. It's how macOS lets Foyer rearrange and hide menu‑bar items.
Screen RecordingNever askedFoyer does not request it. Many menu‑bar managers do — to tint the bar or read it as pixels — which is what trips the "this app is watching your screen" indicator. Foyer skips that feature to skip that permission.
Full Disk / Contacts / LocationNever askedFoyer has no reason to touch your files, contacts, or location, so it never requests them.

Every connection Foyer makes

Two, both to foyer.nyrai.ai, both optional. There is no third.

Outbound — complete list
ALLOWED foyer.nyrai.ai update check · turn off in Settings ▸ General
ALLOWED foyer.nyrai.ai license activation · offline after that
BLOCKED google‑analytics · amplitude · sentry · any tracker not in the binary

1 · Update check

Foyer asks foyer.nyrai.ai whether a newer version exists, sending only your current version number (a standard Sparkle appcast request). You can turn automatic checks off entirely in Settings ▸ General.

2 · License check

When you activate your license, Foyer sends your license key and an anonymous machine fingerprint to our own license server at foyer.nyrai.ai — self‑hosted, so no third‑party licensing company ever sees it. The fingerprint exists only to enforce the 2‑Mac household limit; it isn't tied to your name, email, or hardware serial in any readable form. After activation, Foyer works offline and only re‑checks occasionally, with a 30‑day offline grace period, so a dropped connection never locks you out of your own menu bar.

How to verify this yourself

Little Snitch capture — published with each release
[ screenshot added at v1.0 launch — foyer.nyrai.ai only ]

If anything ever changes

Ownership: if Foyer is ever sold or transferred, we'll post notice here at least 30 days before it takes effect. Telemetry: if we ever intend to add any data collection, we'll post notice at least 30 days before it ships — and the version you already installed will never gain telemetry retroactively. The full commitment is in the Foyer Pledge.

Read the Pledge   Get Foyer — $14.99