Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 31, 2026

What the App collects

Game Bridger never sees your store usernames or passwords, and it doesn't send the list of games you own to us.

Steam: you sign in inside the Steam client, directly with Valve.
Epic Games: you sign in on Epic's own page, shown in a window of the App. Epic gives the App a one-time code, which it trades for a sign-in token with Epic through Legendary.
GOG: you sign in on GOG's own page in your browser and paste the address it ends on into the App. The App trades the code in it for a sign-in token with GOG through gogdl, and reads your list of owned Windows games from GOG's servers.

Epic and GOG sign-in tokens are stored only on your Mac, in Game Bridger's folder in ~/Library/Application Support. They are never sent to us. Signing out in the App, or uninstalling it, deletes them.

Games you add on the Other games page stay on your Mac: their names and file locations are not sent to us.

Free trial

So the free trial can't be restarted by reinstalling, the App sends our server a one-way hash (SHA-256) of your Mac's hardware ID, together with the date your trial started. The hash can't be turned back into the hardware ID and isn't linked to your name, email or Apple ID. We keep only the hash and the trial start date. Your IP address is seen by our hosting provider (Vercel) as part of the request.

Founders offer

While the founders offer is open, the App registers your Mac for a free-for-life seat using the same one-way hash of your Mac's hardware ID used for the free trial. We keep only that hash, to count seats and to confirm yours.

Invites

Your invite code is made from the one-way hash of your Mac's hardware ID. When a friend uses it, we store that their Mac (as a hash) joined through your code, to add free days to both of you. We never learn who you or your friends are.

Game ratings

After you start a game from Game Bridger, it may ask how the game ran. If you answer, the App sends the game's Steam ID and name, your answer, and the same one-way hash of your Mac's hardware ID used for the free trial (so each Mac counts once). The totals are shown publicly on our website. Nothing is sent if you skip the question.

Security and fraud prevention

When you claim a founder seat or use an invite code, our server records your country and a salted one-way hash of your IP address, so one network can't claim many free seats or rewards. For the same reason the hash is also kept with game ratings, and most requests to our server are counted per hash for one hour (those counts are deleted daily). The hash can't be turned back into your IP address, and we never store the address itself. Our hosting provider (Vercel) processes IP addresses to deliver the website and API.

Website visitor counter

The website shows how many people are online now, today and in total. To count them, each visit sends our server a salted one-way hash of your network address; we keep only that hash (no cookies, no raw IP address, no browsing history) and show only the totals.

Usage counts

To see where people get stuck, the App counts a few steps (for example "setup finished", "Steam opened", "saw the pricing screen"), once per Mac per day, using a shortened one-way hash of your Mac's hardware ID. Store steps are counted the same way (for example "signed in to Epic", "installed a GOG game"). No game names, files, screenshots or personal data are sent. You can turn this off in Game Bridger → Tools → Send feedback.

Crash and error reports

When the App crashes, or setup, Steam or a game fails to start or crashes, the App sends a report to Sentry (sentry.io, servers in the United States), which we use to find and fix bugs. A report holds what went wrong (for a crash, where in the App's code it happened), the App and macOS version, your Mac's model, a random ID made for this install, recent lines of the App's log, and, for a crashed game, the name of the Windows program and the game's Steam ID. Your user name and home folder are removed from the log lines first. Sentry sees your IP address when a report arrives and keeps only the approximate location from it (country and city), not the address itself. Reports don't include your files, screenshots or Steam account. You can turn this off in Game Bridger → Tools → Send feedback.

Feedback and survey

If you send feedback, we receive your message, the email you choose to add (if any), the App and macOS version and, if you tick the box, the App's log file to help fix problems. If you answer the one-time survey, we store your answer. Only the owner of Game Bridger can read these.

Updates

The App checks gamebridger.com once a day for a newer version, and downloads it from GitHub when you choose to install it. The check sends standard request information such as your IP address and the App and macOS versions.

License checks

When you activate a license, the App sends your license key, your Mac's name and the same one-way hash of your Mac's hardware ID to our server, which verifies the key with Polar's license service (polar.sh) and returns a signed confirmation. The App re-checks the license periodically. We don't store license keys. To limit repeated attempts, our server records a salted one-way hash of your IP address for each check (see "Security and fraud prevention" above).

Downloads

During setup the App downloads Wine from GitHub and the Steam installer from Valve. The first time you use Epic Games or GOG, it downloads Legendary or gogdl from GitHub. Games download from the store you install them from. Cover art comes from Steam's and GOG's image servers. Once a day the App downloads a public list of game compatibility notes from gethighball.com. Those services receive standard request information such as your IP address.

Purchases

Orders are handled by Polar as merchant of record. We receive your email address and order details to provide support; we do not receive your full card details. See Polar's privacy policy for how they process payment data.

Contact

Email ali.jamal.software@gmail.com to ask about or delete your data.