Privacy Policy

Overview

Haul runs on your own computer. There are no accounts and no tracking, and nothing you download is sent to us. Haul sends anonymous usage statistics, which you can turn off at any time. This policy covers the Haul app, its browser extension and this website, published by Dunebits.

What Haul connects to

Haul makes these connections on its own:

• The servers you download from. Haul requests files the way your browser would, with the cookies, referrer and user agent the browser handed over, so those servers see your IP address and those details.
• Haul's update server. Shortly after Haul starts and then every six hours, it reads a small file from Haul's update server, and downloads an update when there is one. You can turn this off in Options → General.
• Haul's status server. Every few minutes Haul reads a small status file. It lets us pause Haul if a release has a serious problem, or ask very old versions to update. The request carries Haul's version number and nothing else.
• yt-dlp's release server. When you save a video from a site, Haul's copy of yt-dlp may update itself from its official releases, at most once a day. You can turn this off in Options.
• A PAC script, if you enter one in the proxy settings.
• Haul's statistics server, for the anonymous usage statistics below, unless you turn them off.

These requests show your IP address to the companies that host those servers, which handle it under their own privacy terms. Haul sends no account or device identifier with them; the only usage data it sends are the statistics below.

Anonymous usage statistics

Haul sends anonymous usage statistics that help us see which versions and systems are in use and why downloads fail. They are on by default, and Haul says so once in a notice when it starts. You can turn them off in that notice or at any time in Options → General → Send anonymous usage statistics.

Haul sends a short report the first time statistics are on, at most once a day while it runs, and once more from the uninstaller when you remove Haul (not when it updates). A report holds:

• a random install number that Haul makes the first time statistics are on. It isn't based on you or your computer, it stays the same when Haul updates, and Haul deletes it when you turn statistics off
• whether Haul was already used on this computer before (in the first report only)
• Haul's version; the exact Windows release and build (for example 23H2, build 10.0.22631.4317); the Windows edition (Home, Pro, Enterprise, Education or Server); whether the processor is x64 or ARM; and the language Haul's interface uses
• in the daily report only: how many downloads finished and how many failed since the last report, why they failed in broad groups (such as “not found on the server”, “connection timed out” or “disk full”), and whether the browser extension connected to Haul

Never sent: download addresses, file names or folders, page titles, cookies, anything you type, account names, your computer's name or any hardware identifier. Cancelled downloads aren't counted, and the browser extension sends nothing. Like any request, a report shows your IP address to the server, but reports are stored without it.

Turning statistics off stops all counting, deletes the install number and the counts Haul hadn't sent yet, and nothing more is sent. If you turn them on again later, Haul makes a new install number.

What stays on your computer

Haul keeps its data in your Windows user profile (%APPDATA%\com.haul.app):

• the download list, with each file's address, the page it came from, and the cookies and form data needed to resume it
• your settings and a log file
• while usage statistics are on, the random install number and the counts not sent yet
• a backup of the download list from each of the last five days

Site and proxy passwords are kept in the Windows Credential Manager, not in Haul's files. Deleting a download removes it from the list; the daily backups keep a copy for up to five days.

The browser extension

To hand a download to Haul, the extension reads its address, the page it came from, the browser's cookies for that address, your user agent and language, and the form data when a form starts the download. It also notices the video and audio a page plays, so it can list them.

It sends this only to Haul on the same computer, through the browser's native messaging, and makes no network requests of its own. It stores only its settings and the media found in your open tabs.

Clipboard, scanning and file tags

With clipboard grabbing on, Haul looks at copied text on your computer for download links. When it finds one, it opens it in the download window and asks that link's server for the file's name and size.

If you set up a virus scanner, Haul passes it the path of each finished file and nothing else. Finished files are tagged with the address they came from (Mark of the Web), so Windows can warn you about them.

This website

This site sets no cookies and uses no analytics. Its fonts are served from this site. The installers are downloaded from this site's own server. That server may keep standard access logs.

The server counts installer downloads: the day, the Haul version and file, whether the download finished, your browser and operating system as your browser reports them (Chrome, Edge and other Chromium browsers also tell the Windows release and the processor type, x64 or ARM, when this site asks), and your country, looked up from your IP address with DB-IP's free country database.

To count how many different people download Haul, your IP address and browser are replaced with a code whose key belongs to one calendar month and is deleted when the month ends. Within a month, your downloads count as one downloader however many there are; the code can't be turned back into your address, and months can't be linked. Your IP address itself is never stored.

Reports and ideas

The Report page and the feedback board run on this site's own server; no other company is involved. What you send is stored there: the type, title and details, the Haul and Windows version you chose, and, if you give one, your email address. Everything except your email address goes on the public board as soon as you send it. Your email is only ever seen by us, to ask you about the report.

Votes are counted with a random number your browser keeps (in its local storage), not an account. To limit spam, the server counts how often an address sends something, under a code it changes every day and never stores; it keeps no IP addresses. Comments you add are public too, with the name you give, if any. Ask us and we'll delete any report or comment of yours.

What we don't do

We don't sell or share personal information, show ads or build profiles. We have no account system, and the only thing Haul itself sends us is the anonymous usage statistics described above, which you can turn off.

Email

If you email us, we keep the conversation for as long as it helps us support you. Ask us to delete it at any time.

Your choices

Everything Haul stores is on your computer, so you stay in control: delete downloads, turn off update checks, clipboard grabbing or usage statistics, or uninstall Haul and remove its data folder.

Changes

If this policy changes, we update the effective date above and list the change in the changelog when it affects the app.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email contact@dunebits.com.