Privacy policy

Effective date: October 8, 2026.

This policy covers the Shoal app for macOS, distributed through the Mac App Store, and this website, shoalwallpaper.com. Shoal and shoalwallpaper.com are published by Kamino Holdings, LLC (“we”), which is responsible for the personal data it receives: messages to our support address and the website's request data (see This website below).

Data collection

Shoal collects no data. It has no accounts, no sign-in, no analytics, no tracking and no crash reporting of its own. The app's privacy manifest declares no tracking and no collected data types.

Network access

The aquarium works offline: its images, sounds and code ship inside the app, and Shoal's own code opens no network connections.

The system component that draws the aquarium needs macOS's outgoing-network permission in order to run at all, so the app carries it; Shoal doesn't use it to send or fetch anything. Inside the aquarium page every web request is blocked, and the page may load only the app's own files. If that blocking rule can't be set up, the aquarium doesn't load, and the menu says so.

Buying or restoring Shoal Pro uses Apple's services, as described under Purchases.

What stays on your Mac

Everything Shoal keeps stays on your Mac, in its own app folder (its sandbox container) or, for the widget, a folder the app shares only with its widget. Shoal never sends any of it anywhere:

Your settings: the scene and its look (fish count, species, graphics quality, lighting, plant density, seasonal decorations), the living tank and reminder choices, the pause choice, the frame-rate limit, the sound settings, whether Shoal should open at login, and whether you've seen the Welcome window.
A few counters for the app's own use: when it was first launched, how many feedings it has counted, which version last asked for a rating, a note of your Pro status, and the list of stills handed to macOS as desktop pictures.
The names you give the fish and, with Living Tank on, their hunger and growth, the tank's running time and when it was last fed, the days you fed them, your streak and the reminder's schedule. Nothing is written until something changes.
Your tank's history, with or without Living Tank: the dates you fed the fish, the stage the tank has reached, your sightings of each visitor, the visit schedule, a kept betta and its name, which fish hold your three free names, and the milestones and first sightings reached, which decide when Shoal may ask for a rating.
Pictures and clips from Share Your Tank: the last five you shared. One you don't share is deleted when you close its window.
For the widget: a small picture of the tank and a short status (when it was updated, how many fish there are and how many are hungry, the days fed, the next milestone and any visitor), in the folder shared with the widget.
Still images: Set as Desktop Picture saves a PNG of each display the aquarium is showing on, in the app's folder, and hands it to macOS. Save Still Image… saves a PNG only where you choose.

Shoal sends nothing anywhere. A picture or clip leaves your Mac only when you choose Share… and pick a service, such as Mail or Messages; that service then handles it. What you share comes with a link to shoalwallpaper.com that carries only the fish count and species, lighting, the tank's stage, the season, a kept betta and, if you include names, up to 12 fish names. They sit in the part of the address after the “#”, which browsers never send to a server, so opening the link tells this website none of them.

What Shoal reads from your Mac

To decide how fast to draw, and whether the desktop is in view for the fish's greeting and for spotting visitors, Shoal reads the list of windows on screen, the power source and Low Power Mode, whether the screen is locked or asleep, and the Reduce Motion setting. From the window list it reads only each window's position and size, layer, owning process and opacity, to work out how much of the desktop shows and, when you choose Show Desktop (or Feed, a clip, a visitor or the Welcome window's Show Me the Aquarium while windows cover the aquarium), which apps to hide; it never reads window titles or contents, and it doesn't ask for screen-recording access. So the fish can react, and a named fish can show its name when you rest the pointer on it, it reads the pointer's position. None of this is stored or sent anywhere.

Notifications

Shoal sends no notifications unless you turn on Feeding Reminder in Settings › Fish, which asks macOS for permission first. Reminders are scheduled locally on your Mac, one at a time, and say only that the tank is ready for a pinch of food. Turn the switch off, or turn off Shoal's notifications in System Settings, and no more arrive.

Purchases

Apple handles the one-time Shoal Pro purchase and keeps its record; Shoal never sees your payment details. Restore Purchases asks Apple to check your purchases and may show Apple's own sign-in window. Apple's privacy policy applies to purchases. Shoal may ask you to rate it, at most once per version and only within two days after the tank reaches a new stage or you spot a kind of visitor for the first time; that prompt is Apple's and follows Apple's rules.

This website

shoalwallpaper.com sets no cookies and uses no analytics, advertising or third-party scripts, fonts or embeds. It's hosted by Cloudflare, which processes technical request data, such as IP addresses and browser details, to deliver and protect the site. The live preview, including a tank someone shared with you, runs entirely in your browser and sends nothing back.

Our support mailbox is hosted by Google Workspace. If you email us, we use your address and message only to reply and help, and we don't add you to any list. You can ask us to delete your messages at any time.

Google and Cloudflare are US companies, so this data may be processed in the United States. Cloudflare also handles each request in one of its data centers around the world, usually one near you.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it, by writing to support@shoalwallpaper.com. If you live in the EU or the UK, you can also complain to your data-protection authority.

Changes to this policy

Changes are published on this page with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about privacy: write to Kamino Holdings, LLC at support@shoalwallpaper.com. Help with the app is on the support page.