Error reports and privacy

When something goes wrong, Nifty can send the error to our team so we know exactly what happened and can get it fixed. We don't send any of your personal data. Reports are off unless you turn them on, except in beta releases.

Turn them on or off

Choose Nifty → About Nifty, and then turn Send error reports on or off. Setting up a new server also asks.

In the Mac or Windows app, the setting is also in Nifty → Desktop Settings… → Updates (Desktop settings… on Windows), and the first run asks.

• When your data is on this computer, there's one setting, and About Nifty and Desktop Settings change it.
• When you use Nifty on a server, the setting in Desktop Settings covers the app's own errors. The setting in About Nifty covers the server's.

When reports are sent

• Stable releases send reports only while you've turned them on. They're off to begin with.
• Beta releases always send reports, and About Nifty says Beta releases always send error reports. Turning off Beta releases doesn't stop them straight away. They stop when a stable release newer than yours is installed (Channels).
• A server you run also sends reports, under its own Send error reports setting.

Send a test report

On a beta release, choose Send test crash report to check that reports get through. In Nifty → About Nifty, it sends a test error from the browser and one from the server. In Desktop Settings… → Updates, it sends a test crash from the app. Each test is named TestCrash and holds nothing about you.

What a report holds

• Nifty's version and your system, which is macOS, Windows or Linux, and its processor type.
• Which part went wrong, which is a browser window, the server or the desktop app. For a browser, the report gives its name (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge or other) but not its version.
• The kind of error, such as TypeError, its message with personal details taken out (see below), and when it happened.
• Where it happened in Nifty's code, as function names, files and line numbers.
• If the desktop app's own server stops, the last few lines it printed, with personal details taken out.

A server sends the same error no more than once an hour, and no more than 50 reports a day, including its browsers' reports. The desktop app sends a report of its own crash once, the next time it opens.

What's taken out first

Before a report leaves Nifty, Nifty replaces the following in the message, and our relay does it again.

• Anything in quotes, which is often your text, is replaced. For example, "Plans" becomes "[redacted]". JavaScript property names stay.
• Web addresses become [url], and email addresses [email].
• Your home folder's name becomes ~, so /Users/sam/… becomes ~/…. A drive's name becomes [redacted], so /Volumes/Backup/… becomes /Volumes/[redacted]/….
• IP addresses become [ip], and host names such as nifty.example.com become [host].
• Record IDs, and the codes that name your stored files, become [id].
• Phone numbers and other long numbers become [number].

Files in the code's locations keep only their path, without a server address, a query or your home folder. A browser's locations are cleaned in the same way as messages. The message is cut to 1,000 characters.

What's never sent

• Your notes, people, projects, tasks, documents, calendar or settings.
• Your name, username, email, or what you typed or searched.
• Any ID for your install. We can't tell whether two reports came from the same Nifty.

Where they go

Reports go to our relay at errors.thenifty.app, which checks and scrubs each one and passes it on to Sentry, the service we use to track errors. Your IP address arrives with every report, as with any request on the internet. The relay uses it only to limit how many reports arrive, and never stores it or passes it on. A browser's reports go through your Nifty, so the relay sees your Nifty's address, not the browser's.

Development builds of Nifty never send reports.