Slipway has no backend. There's no Slipway account and no Slipway server, and the app contains no analytics or telemetry. It talks to Apple with your own App Store Connect API key, and to an AI provider only if you configure one. This page covers where your keys are stored and exactly what leaves your Mac.
Your App Store Connect key#
When you add a team, Slipway saves the contents of your .p8 private key in the macOS Keychain:
- It's stored as a generic password under the service
app.slipway.asc-key, with the Key ID as the account name. - It's only readable while your Mac is unlocked, and it stays on this device. It doesn't sync through iCloud Keychain and doesn't move to another Mac through a backup.
- The Issuer ID, Key ID and team name are not secret. They're stored in Slipway's preferences (UserDefaults).
The private key itself is never sent anywhere. For each request to App Store Connect, Slipway uses the key on your Mac to sign a short-lived token:
- The token is an ES256 JSON Web Token with the audience
appstoreconnect-v1. - It lasts 18 minutes, and Slipway mints a new one 60 seconds before the old one expires.
- Only this signed token goes to Apple, in the request's
Authorizationheader.
There's one exception. Build & Upload has to hand a key file to Apple's xcodebuild and altool tools. For the length of that run, Slipway writes the key to a private temporary folder, then deletes the folder when the run ends. See Builds.
To delete a key, go to Settings ▸ Accounts, click Remove… and confirm. This removes the key from your Keychain. You'll need the .p8 file to add that team again.
Your AI key#
The AI provider key you enter under Settings ▸ AI is stored in the Keychain the same way, under the account slipway.ai.key. The provider, model and base URL are not secret and are stored in Slipway's preferences.
What leaves your Mac, and to whom#
| Destination | What is sent | When |
|---|---|---|
Apple: App Store Connect API (api.appstoreconnect.apple.com) |
Signed API requests: reads, and the changes you make | Whenever you use Slipway, plus a background refresh about every 10 minutes for the menu bar |
Apple: public iTunes Search and Lookup (itunes.apple.com) |
Bundle IDs and search terms | To fetch app icons, suggest a team name from your seller name, check keyword ranks and draw the store preview |
Apple: xcodebuild / altool |
Your archived build | When you run Build & Upload |
| Your AI provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, your Ollama server or your custom endpoint) | Text only: your listing (name, subtitle, keywords, what's new, description), screenshot headlines and hints, review text, rejection notes, and for Ask AI your instruction, app details and step results. Images are never sent. | Only when you use an AI feature, or when Settings ▸ AI lists the provider's models |
| GitHub (Slipway's release feed) | A request for the update feed, appcast.xml |
When Sparkle checks for updates, automatically or from Check for Updates… |
| GitHub (Slipway's issue tracker) | A prefilled issue with diagnostics, and optionally the start of a crash log | Only when you choose Report a Bug… or Report on GitHub, and only once you submit it in your browser |
slipwaymac.com |
An ordinary web page visit | When you choose Help ▸ Slipway Help |
AI requests go straight from your Mac to the provider you picked. Nothing goes through a Slipway server. The provider's own privacy terms apply to what you send it.
Data stored on your Mac#
- Studio projects, captures and renders:
~/Library/Application Support/Slipway/<app ID>/, with rendered PNGs in itsrendersfolder. When you drop a capture in, Slipway copies it into this folder. - Cached app icons:
~/Library/Application Support/Slipway/icons/. - Preferences: settings, account identifiers, a saved vendor number per key, the keywords you track on the Optimize tab, saved review insights, and which reviews you've already been notified about.
- Notifications: alerts for status changes and low ratings are posted locally by macOS. See Menu bar and notifications.
Crash reports and diagnostics#
When macOS records a Slipway crash, Slipway reads the report at the next launch, from ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports, and offers to share it. The report stays on your Mac unless you click Report on GitHub. If you do, Slipway includes only the first 60 lines and removes the lines with device identifiers (crashReporterKey, deviceIdentifierForVendor).
Help ▸ Copy Diagnostics and Report a Bug… collect:
- Slipway and macOS versions.
- The number of connected accounts and their Key IDs. Keys themselves are never included.
- Your AI provider's name. Your AI key is never included.
- For each account, whether a token could be signed and whether a test request to
GET /v1/appssucceeded. - Whether
xcodebuildis available. - The last App Store Connect error. This includes the request URL, which can contain app or version IDs.
Read it before you post. See Support.
Signing and sandboxing#
Slipway is distributed directly, not through the Mac App Store. It's signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple. It isn't sandboxed, because Build & Upload has to run xcodebuild and altool. See Install and update.
For the website's privacy policy, including the waitlist, see Privacy Policy.