Privacy policy

Who we are and what this covers

WakeBeacon helps you wake and manage your own computers, and those of an organization you belong to, and, when enabled, access their desktops remotely. This policy covers the website, web dashboard, phone apps, desktop agent and optional WakeBeacon Remote Access and activity-monitoring services.

Questions about this policy go to hello@wakebeacon.com.

What we collect

The data depends on the features you use:

• Account: your email address, account identifier and sign-in provider. Email sign-in sends your password to Firebase Authentication, which stores its password representation rather than making the password available to WakeBeacon. Google or Apple sign-in can supply an account identifier, email address, name and profile information. Apple may supply a private relay email address. Authenticator-based two-step verification processes its enrollment secret and verification codes through Firebase. If you add a passkey, we store its public key, the device name shown in Security settings and when it was last used. Your face, fingerprint and device passcode never leave your device.
• Computers: the name you give each computer, operating system, network adapter hardware (MAC) address, local IP address and subnet, public address seen during check-in, settings, capabilities and check-in times, and a keyed fingerprint of the router each computer connects through, used only to tell which of your computers share a network. The router's own address is not stored. Presence history records check-in periods and evidence of startup, sleep and resume.
• Computer software and updates: the WakeBeacon version and build revision, installed and bundled remote-agent versions, update status and timestamps, and the computer's time-zone identifier. These help us deliver updates, diagnose version problems and display computer times accurately.
• Installer downloads: when you download the desktop installer from the dashboard we record your account, the installer platform and version, and the time the download was authorized, and we increment aggregate download counters. Network addresses and browser user agents are not stored in these records. A download link is authorized by a temporary token that expires after ten minutes. Counts measure authorized download starts rather than completed transfers, and a retried token is counted only once. Public installer links and update checks are served by our storage provider and can appear in its own technical request logs.
• Wake and power requests: the target computer, requested action, time, delivery or acknowledgement status, and observed outcome or failure reason. Power requests can also record whether you explicitly requested a forced Windows action. Sending or acknowledging a request does not by itself prove the computer completed it.
• Saved commands: for each script you save for a computer, its name, optional description, icon, script text, shell, working folder and time limit, and whether that computer has approved it; and for each run, who asked for it, when, from which kind of device, and the result the computer reported. The text a script prints is stored so you can read it from your other devices. Scripts and their output can contain anything the script reads or prints, so do not paste passwords or tokens into a script; have it read them from a file on the computer instead.
• Remote access: enrollment and session records connect your account to the computer. Screen and keyboard/mouse input travel through the remote-access service during a session. The remote session stream itself is not recorded. Separately enabled activity monitoring can save still screenshots, as described below.
• Optional desktop activity monitoring: foreground application names and identifiers, sampled activity duration, idle periods and collection gaps. Monitoring is off by default for each computer and is enabled in that computer's desktop Settings. Periodic screenshots of the foreground window require activity monitoring and a separate screenshot setting that also defaults to off. Screenshots can contain any personal information visible in that window. The activity collector does not separately record keystrokes, clipboard contents, window titles or visited URLs. You can pause collection, disable it or exclude applications. Activity history is reviewed in the web dashboard; the phone app does not collect the phone's screen or installed-app activity.
• Diagnostics: the web dashboard, admin console, backend, desktop app and phone app send filtered error reports to Sentry. The phone app also reports when a problem in the app makes it close. Reports can contain error messages, stack locations, application version, operating system and operation names. The filter is configured to remove user/request objects, credentials, email and network addresses, and extra context. Phone reports do not include an identifier for your phone, and the phone app does not record the steps you took before a problem. Reports do not attach monitoring screenshots, remote session content, native memory dumps or session replay. Phone app versions 0.7.0 and earlier send no error reports; their server requests can still produce backend diagnostics.
• Website and dashboard analytics: when analytics is configured, Google Analytics receives page or feature interaction events, including installer downloads, and associated browser/device information. The website disables advertising-personalization signals. The website and dashboard skip their analytics initialization when the browser sends Do Not Track. The native phone app does not initialize Google Analytics.
• Subscriptions, when mobile purchases become available: an opaque billing customer identifier, product and store, verified subscription status and expiry. App Store or Google Play processes payment; WakeBeacon does not receive your payment card details.
• Contact form: your name, email address, optional company, topic and message, plus a hashed network address and browser type for abuse prevention and replies. Hosting and authentication providers also process technical request information, including IP addresses and user agents, for service operation and security.

Why we use it

To deliver wakes and permitted power commands, run the saved commands a computer has approved when you ask, show computer status, open remote sessions you request, and provide activity history when you enable monitoring.

To authenticate you, manage your account, restrict access to your computers, limit abuse, deliver software updates, and diagnose service failures and version problems. Optional website and dashboard analytics help us understand feature use.

To reply to contact-form messages and commercial licensing requests.

We do not show advertising, and we do not sell or rent personal data.

Where it is processed

Accounts, computer records, requests and monitoring records are processed using Google Firebase and Google Cloud. Server functions run in the European Union (europe-west1). Optional monitoring screenshots use a separate private storage bucket with owner-authenticated access.

The optional remote-access service runs on a server we operate. Screen and input data pass through it during a session. Google and Apple process sign-in requests when you choose their sign-in methods.

When mobile purchases are available, subscription verification uses RevenueCat and the store through which you purchase. RevenueCat receives the billing customer identifier and purchase information needed to verify and restore your subscription. Activity history and screenshots are not sent to RevenueCat.

Error reporting uses Sentry's US ingestion service. Google Analytics processes website and dashboard usage when configured. The website loads its typeface from Google Fonts, which receives the browser's network address when the font is requested; phone fonts are bundled with the app.

How long we keep it

Account and computer configuration remain while the account or computer exists. Wake, power-command and presence history are scheduled for deletion after about 30 days. Saved commands remain until you delete them or remove the computer; records of their runs are scheduled for deletion after about 30 days, and the output text they printed after about 7 days. Remote-access links expire at the deadline shown for the session.

Monitoring metadata and viewing audits follow the applicable plan retention period. Screenshot access expires after at most 7 days. Cleanup runs periodically, so physical deletion can occur after access has expired. Desktop monitoring uploads may queue locally for up to 24 hours; disabling or changing the relevant setting prevents older queued data from being accepted under the new settings.

Monitoring retention depends on the plan displayed in your account. Launch allowances are five days for Free activity and screenshots, and thirty days for Plus activity with seven days for screenshots. Expired records cannot be viewed. Automatic deletion may finish later; a downgrade can hide older records before their original deletion deadline. Increasing a limit cannot restore data already deleted.

Turning capture off does not delete unexpired monitoring history. You can delete that history in the dashboard. Account deletion removes local subscription records but does not cancel a subscription with Apple or Google; manage cancellation in the store. Store and subscription providers retain their own purchase records under their policies.

Deleting monitoring history removes its records and screenshots. Removing a computer or deleting the account also removes its monitoring data. Account deletion revokes remote enrollments and sessions, revokes Firebase sessions, removes computer, wake, power and saved-command records, and deletes the Firebase sign-in identity. Minimal deletion markers remain to reject stale requests. If cleanup fails, the account remains marked for deletion and the operation can be retried.

Organization invitations are deleted about 90 days after they were sent. Contact-form messages are kept for up to 24 months. Installer download-event records and their aggregate counters are retained for release statistics. Hosting logs, diagnostics, analytics and provider backups follow their respective retention settings; account deletion does not immediately erase those separate systems. Backups of our main database (accounts, computers, requests, saved commands and monitoring records) are kept for up to 30 days and then deleted automatically. Deleting your account does not remove your data from backups made before the deletion; it is removed when those backups expire.

Who we share it with

Service providers process data needed for hosting, authentication, optional analytics and error reporting, as described above. Remote access and monitoring features send information only as part of the enabled service. We disclose data beyond these purposes when the law requires it. We do not share data with advertisers or data brokers.

Delete your WakeBeacon account and manage your data

In the WakeBeacon phone app, open Account, choose Delete account, type delete my account and continue. Confirm your identity using your sign-in method and, if enabled, your authenticator code. Apple-linked accounts confirm with Apple so its access can be revoked before deletion. The web dashboard also offers Delete account on its Account page.

If you cannot access the app or dashboard, request account deletion by emailing hello@wakebeacon.com from the email address on your WakeBeacon account. Do not send your password or authenticator codes. We may need to verify that the request concerns your account.

Account deletion removes the service records described in the retention section and cannot be undone. An organization's computers stay with the organization: deleting your account removes your membership, any assigned to you become unassigned, and any signed in with your account need someone else to sign in on them. Deleting the app alone does not delete the account. You can instead remove an individual computer or delete monitoring history through the corresponding service controls.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, export or erase personal data, object to or restrict processing, and complain to a data protection authority. Send requests not covered by the app to hello@wakebeacon.com from the address on your account.

Security

Connections to the production sign-in, database and server APIs use HTTPS/TLS. Remote-access links use HTTPS. Wake-on-LAN is different: it sends an unencrypted UDP magic packet containing the target computer's MAC address, either on your local network or to the router address you configured. This packet does not contain your password or account token.

Verified customers can read their own computer records and, for an organization's computers, its admins can read all of them and a member those assigned to them. Authorised administrators can read account, computer and request records for service operations. Monitoring history and screenshot APIs are owner-only, and for an organization's computers available to its admins only when the organization has switched monitoring on; a WakeBeacon administrator role alone does not grant that access. Saved-command scripts, their run records and their output are owner-only in the same way (an organization's admins, never its members). A saved command runs only after someone at that computer approves its exact text there, and WakeBeacon never asks for elevated privileges to run it. Server functions validate writes. Phone sign-in persistence uses operating-system protected storage, and the desktop agent does not store your password. Remote access requires local setup and permissions, uses time-limited sessions and displays a notice on the computer.

Organizations

An organization is an account for a company or team. WakeBeacon sets one up under a written agreement, and its admins invite people by email. You can belong to an organization and keep your own computers alongside it; they stay yours and its admins do not see them.

For an organization we store its name, limits and settings, and for each member their account identifier, their verified email address, their role, and when and by whom they were added. An invitation records the invited email address, the role, who sent it and whether it was delivered. When an admin switches monitoring on for the organization, we record which admin confirmed that the people using its computers were told, when, and the wording they confirmed.

An organization's admins see all of its computers and their records: computer names, network details, check-in and online times, wake, power-command and saved-command history including the output scripts printed, and remote sessions, which they can end. They also see the members' email addresses and roles, and the invitations. Activity history and screenshots of an organization's computers are available to its admins only, and only when the organization has switched monitoring on and it is turned on for that computer.

A member sees the organization's name, its admins' email addresses, and the computers assigned to them with their wake, power-command and schedule records; they can wake those computers, send them power commands and open remote sessions to them. A member does not see the organization's other computers, its saved commands or its monitoring history.

When a wake is relayed through another of the organization's computers on the same network, that computer receives the target's network adapter address and broadcast address. The desktop agent on an organization's computer shows which organization it reports to. When a member leaves, is removed or deletes their account, the organization's computers stay with it together with their records; any assigned to that member become unassigned.

Cookies and local storage

The web dashboard stores its sign-in session in browser local storage. The website and dashboard can use Google Analytics browser storage when analytics is configured. The phone stores its Firebase session using secure storage. Android Google sign-in also keeps SDK-managed local state; signing out clears its active session/token, but some cached profile metadata can remain in the SDK's app storage. This state is not used to silently sign you back into WakeBeacon.

Children

WakeBeacon is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy we update the date at the top. For material changes we also notify account holders by email before they take effect.