Privacy

Last updated October 15, 2026

This page covers APE Viewer 0.5, with accounts and the internet relay.

APE Viewer is built so that what you do on your PCs stays between your PCs. This page explains what data the app, the account service and this website handle.

Your Screens, Sound, Input And Clipboard

Your stream stays end-to-end encrypted between the two PCs. Direct connections travel between your PCs; relayed connections pass through a relay server, which cannot read their content. The relay section below explains the connection details those servers handle.

Your Account

A free account is needed to sign in. You sign in on this website; the app then gets its own sign-in. We store:

• Your email address, and whether you confirmed it.
• Your password as a salted scrypt hash (never the password itself), or your Google account's ID if you sign in with Google.
• If you turn on two-step sign-in: its secret, and your recovery codes as hashes.
• The devices signed in to your account: their name (the computer's name, or "Chrome on Windows" for a browser), a public key, and when they were added and last seen. Sign-ins are stored as hashes.
• The PCs you share under your account: their name and public key.
• Friends you invited or who invited you, and the access you gave them.
• Your plan: Free or Premium, until when, and your Whop membership ID.
• One-time codes we email you, as hashes. They expire after 15 minutes.
• Your IP address, briefly, to limit repeated sign-in attempts.

The account service runs on Vercel, and the data is stored with Neon (PostgreSQL, in the United States). Sign-in emails are sent by our email provider. If you use Google sign-in, Google tells us your email address and account ID.

You can delete your account on the Account page. That deletes everything above right away; copies can remain in encrypted backups for up to 30 days.

The Relay

When your PCs can't reach each other directly (no Tailscale, not on the same network), both connect to one of our relay servers (in the United States and Germany, on Oracle Cloud), which passes their traffic along. Everything stays end-to-end encrypted between your PCs: the relay can't see your screens, sound, input or clipboard. To work, it sees both PCs' IP addresses and their device keys, checks that your account allows the connection, and logs when a relayed session starts and ends with how much data it carried (shortened device keys, never the content or your email address).

What The App Stores On Your PC

• Your settings (screen layout, quality, window positions), and who may connect to this PC with what access.
• Keys that identify the PC, and your sign-in, encrypted with Windows (DPAPI).
• The list of devices paired with the PC.
• Log files for troubleshooting. They stay on your PC unless you send them to us.

What The App Sends Over The Internet

• Your account: signing in, refreshing your plan (a signed statement of what your account may do), and sharing a PC under your account.
• Update checks: the app asks GitHub for the latest release. GitHub sees your IP address, as with any download.
• Tailscale: if you use it, Tailscale handles your devices' network under its own privacy policy.

There are no analytics, ads or trackers in the app.

Problem Reports

Only when you send one (Report a problem, in the app or on the Help page). A report holds what you write, the problem code if there was one, your account's email or the email you give (optional), the app's version, your Windows version and graphics cards, and, if you leave it ticked, the last part of the app's logs. Before logs are sent, the app replaces your Windows user name, your PC's name, keys and tokens. Logs can still contain IP addresses and the names of your devices. We use reports only to fix problems, and delete them within a year.

Feature Requests

Premium members can send a private feature request from their Account page. We save the title and description with the account and email address so we can review the idea and reply. Requests are kept with our feedback for up to a year. Sending a request doesn't make it public.

Payments

Premium subscriptions are sold through Whop, and donations go through PayPal. They process your payment details under their own privacy policies; we never see your card. Whop tells us when a membership starts, renews or ends, and the email on it.

This Website

It's hosted on Vercel and has no analytics. When you sign in, it sets one cookie (gv_session) that keeps you signed in; it's only sent to our account service. The browser also keeps a random ID for itself so your devices list can name it. Vercel may log visits, as described in its privacy policy. Fonts are served by this website.

Contact

Questions or requests about your data: open an issue on GitHub. You can see and delete your account data yourself on the Account page.