deskhop
DeskHop Privacy Policy
Last updated: 17 August 2026 · Applies to the DeskHop app for iPhone and iPad, and to DeskHop Host for Mac.
DeskHop lets you see and control your own Mac from your iPhone or iPad. It is provided by Ayda Digital (United Kingdom). This policy explains, in plain English, what DeskHop handles and what it does not. Please read it alongside our Terms of Use.
DeskHop is built to know as little about you as possible: there are no accounts, no sign-in, no analytics, no advertising, no in-app purchases, and we never sell or share your data.
Your Mac's screen and your input
During a session your Mac streams its screen to your phone, and your phone sends pointer moves, clicks and keystrokes back. When the two devices can reach each other directly — for example on the same Wi-Fi — this flows peer-to-peer and never touches our servers. When a direct path is not possible, the stream is carried by our relay server. It is always encrypted in transit using WebRTC's standard DTLS-SRTP encryption.
Nothing from your screen, and none of your keystrokes, is ever recorded, stored, or written to disk by us — not on the relay, not anywhere. There is no session history and no recording feature.
An honest note about the relay. Like most remote-desktop tools, our relay is a trusted middle step: when your devices cannot connect directly, the encrypted stream passes through it. Full end-to-end encryption, where the relay itself could not decrypt the stream even in principle, is on our roadmap and is not in place today. If that matters to you, use DeskHop on a network where the two devices can reach each other directly.
Pairing data
When you pair a phone with a Mac, our relay checks the 4-digit PIN shown on the Mac and issues your phone a private session key for that Mac. We store:
- an identifier your Mac generated for itself, and a hashed copy of its private host key;
- a hashed copy of each device's session key — the usable key exists only on your phone;
- the names the devices report (for example "Mehrdad's iPhone", "Mehrdad's MacBook Pro") so you can tell your devices apart;
- timestamps for when a pairing was created and last used.
PINs live in memory only, expire after 10 minutes, and are never written to disk. Wrong-PIN attempts are counted briefly, per device and per network address, to block guessing (five wrong attempts locks pairing for five minutes).
Connection metadata
Our relay's operational logs briefly record connection details — network (IP) addresses, timestamps, device and Mac names, and connection state — purely for troubleshooting and abuse prevention. They are routinely rotated and deleted.
On your device
The iPhone/iPad app keeps your Mac's name, its identifier and your session key on the device itself. The camera is used only to scan the pairing code shown on your Mac; the image never leaves your phone and is never stored. DeskHop Host on your Mac needs macOS Screen Recording permission (to show the screen) and Accessibility permission (to move the pointer and type). Those grants are managed by macOS and you can withdraw them at any time in System Settings.
What DeskHop does not do
No account creation. No tracking, analytics or advertising SDKs of any kind. No sale or sharing of data with third parties, and no marketing email. We do not read, index, or scan anything on your Mac. The only third parties involved are the network operators that carry the traffic and our own hosting provider.
Where things run and how long we keep them
The relay runs on our own server in London, United Kingdom. Screen data passes through it only when a direct connection is not possible and is never written to disk. Pairing records are kept while the pairing is in use and expire automatically 90 days after a device last connects. Logs are rotated routinely.
Security — and its limits
DeskHop is protected by two things: physical control of your Mac (which shows the PIN) and control of the devices you have paired. That means:
- Anyone holding your pairing PIN while it is live can pair their own device to your Mac. Treat a PIN like a password: never photograph it, screen-share it, or read it out.
- Anyone who can unlock a phone that is already paired can see and control your Mac. Keep a passcode/Face ID on your phone, and use "Forget this Mac" on any device you no longer trust or control.
- Lock your Mac when you walk away, and quit DeskHop Host if you do not want it reachable.
We are not responsible for what someone else does with your Mac, your files, or your information if they obtain your PIN, your paired device, or physical access to your equipment — whether that is a partner, a family member, a colleague, an employer or a stranger. No security measure is perfect, and we cannot guarantee that any transmission or system is completely secure.
Data loss
DeskHop is provided free and "as is". We do not promise that any pairing, setting or connection will be kept, restored or delivered, and we are not liable for lost, deleted or corrupted data — on our servers or on your Mac. Keep your own backups of anything on your Mac that matters (Time Machine or an equivalent), and expect that you may need to pair again.
Children
DeskHop is not designed for or directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has used DeskHop and want the associated pairing records removed, contact us and we will delete them.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you may ask us for a copy of the limited information we hold about your pairings, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to our processing. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in operating a secure, working service. To exercise any right, email us — because we hold no account, we may need you to identify the pairing (for example your Mac's name) so we can find it. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).
You can act on your own at any time: "Forget this Mac" on the phone removes that pairing from the device, and quitting or removing DeskHop Host ends the Mac's registration. To have server-side pairing records deleted, just ask.
Changes
If this policy changes, the "last updated" date above changes with it. Material changes will be noted on this page.
Contact
Questions, deletion requests or anything else: admin@aydayazdani.com.