Legal · Desktop App

Privacy Policy

This policy covers the Patrins desktop app for Windows only. Everything the app does to your computer is documented here — nothing omitted.

Last updated: August 2026  ·  Applies to Patrins Desktop v1.1.0 and later

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1. What the app is

Patrins Desktop is an Electron application — a thin wrapper that loads patrins.com in a Chromium-based window, and additionally mounts your Patrins cloud storage as a Windows drive letter (e.g. P:) so you can use it like any other folder in File Explorer.

There is no separate backend built into the app. Every feature — uploading, downloading, sharing, account management — runs through the patrins.com website and our servers. The app adds several things: a native window, the Windows drive mount, and from v1.1.0: Windows Explorer context menu integration, background Watch Folders, a system tray dropzone, and Local Network (LAN) peer-to-peer transfers.

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2. What is stored on your computer

Everything the app writes to your computer is listed below. Uninstalling the app removes all of it automatically.

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3. Windows system changes the app makes

The app modifies your Windows system in a small number of specific ways to enable the drive mount. Every single change is documented below.

Changes that require administrator permission (one-time UAC prompt)

The first time you sign in, a UAC dialog asks for administrator permission. This runs once and makes three changes to HKLM (system-wide registry):

Changes that do not require administrator permission

These are written silently every time the drive mounts, to your own user account only (HKCU). They don't affect other users on the same computer.

Context menu shell extension (v1.1.0+, no UAC required)

The first time the app runs after v1.1.0, it registers "Upload to Patrins" right-click menu entries in HKCU — your own user account only, no administrator permission required.

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4. What is sent to our servers

When you use the app, the following data travels from your computer to patrins.com, hosted on Hetzner in Frankfurt, Germany:

• Your Google OAuth session token — used to authenticate you. Comes from Google after you sign in. We store a session token server-side; we never store your Google password or any Google account data beyond your email address and display name.
• File bytes — when you upload or download files, the raw bytes are transferred over HTTPS. We don't inspect file contents beyond reading the file extension to determine MIME type.
• WebDAV protocol messages — when you browse the drive in File Explorer, standard WebDAV requests (PROPFIND, GET, PUT, DELETE, MOVE) are sent. These contain file names and folder paths. For browsing, only metadata (name, size, date) is read — not file contents.
• Standard HTTP request headers — with a generic Chrome user-agent string. Your IP address is not logged or stored by our servers (server access logs record no IP addresses anywhere on the platform); logs of timestamps and request paths are rotated and deleted within 30 days.
• Anonymous diagnostic events (v1.0.21+) — when an error occurs (drive mount failure, sync upload failure, page load failure, app crash), the app sends a small anonymous event. Each event contains: an event name (e.g. dav_mounted, sync_upload_error), the app version, a random device ID (a UUID generated locally on first run — never tied to your account or email), a timestamp, and an optional short error message with file paths automatically stripped. File names, folder paths, your email, and your account identity are never included. Events are batched and sent every 5 minutes and on app close. You can disable this entirely in the tray icon menu → Send Diagnostics. The preference is stored locally in %APPDATA%\Patrins\config.json.

Local Network (LAN) transfers (v1.1.0+) — data that stays on your local network

When the LAN transfer feature is active, the following happens entirely within your local Wi-Fi network — nothing is sent to patrins.com servers:

• UDP discovery beacon — the app broadcasts a small JSON packet on port 34872 every 5 seconds so nearby devices running Patrins can discover each other. The packet contains your device's hostname, a random peer ID (generated locally, not tied to your account), your local IP address, and the local HTTP port. This is broadcast only within your local network segment.
• Local HTTP server — when active, the app opens a small HTTP server on a random port (assigned by the OS). This server accepts incoming file transfer requests from other devices on the same network that have been explicitly accepted by you via a dialog prompt. It does not accept connections from the internet.
• Received files — files received via LAN transfer are saved to your system's Downloads folder (%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\) under the original file name. You are shown a dialog asking permission before any file is accepted.
• Sent files — when you initiate a send, the raw file bytes are streamed directly from your disk to the receiving device over your local network. The data does not pass through our servers at any point.

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5. What our servers do with your data

Your files are stored on servers we rent from Hetzner (Frankfurt, Germany). We operate these servers ourselves — your files are not in AWS, Google Cloud, or any third-party cloud storage.

• File storage: Files are saved as-is on disk with a randomly generated UUID filename — not guessable by URL.
• Thumbnail generation: Our server generates a 300×300 pixel JPEG preview for each image and video using ffmpeg and sharp. This runs on our CPU, not yours. Thumbnails are cached on our server after the first request.
• File metadata: File name, size, MIME type, upload date, and folder location are stored in our database so your folder structure appears correctly.
• WebDAV token: A random hex token is generated per user for authenticating drive mount requests without prompting for a password. Stored in our database.

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6. What the app never does

• No usage analytics or behavioral tracking — we do not track which features you use, how often you open the app, or any behavioral patterns. No data is sent to third-party analytics services.
• No identifiable crash reporting — starting with v1.0.21, if an error occurs the app sends an anonymous event code and sanitized error message. Your account identity and file details are never included. This can be disabled at any time. See section 4 for the full list of what is and isn't sent.
• No unsolicited background file scanning — the app does not scan, index, or read files on your local drives without your explicit action. Exception (v1.1.0+): if you configure a Watch Folder, the app monitors only that specific folder for file changes using the OS file-watcher API. It reads only files within the folder you chose, only when they are created or modified, and only to upload them to your Patrins drive. No other part of your file system is accessed. Watch Folders are opt-in and can be removed at any time from the tray menu.
• No CPU or GPU usage for processing — thumbnail generation, compression, and all compute tasks run on our servers. Your hardware is not used for any of this.
• No access to files outside Patrins Drive or chosen Watch Folders — the app cannot read your C: or D: drive arbitrarily. It only touches files you explicitly upload, download, or designate for a Watch Folder.
• No microphone, camera, or clipboard access — the app does not request or use any of these.
• No keylogging or screen capture — the app is a web view with no ability to capture keystrokes or screenshots outside its own window.
• No selling or sharing of data — we do not sell, rent, or share your data with advertisers, data brokers, or any third party.
• No ads — the app contains no advertising of any kind.

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7. Third parties

Google (sign-in only)

We use Google OAuth to authenticate you. When you sign in, your system browser opens Google's sign-in page — authentication does not happen inside the app. We receive your email address and display name only. We never receive your Google password, contacts, calendar, or other Google data. Google's privacy policy →

Hetzner (infrastructure)

Our servers are on Hetzner Online GmbH, Frankfurt, Germany. Your files and account data are on these servers. Hetzner provides the hardware only — we operate all software and they do not have access to your files. Hetzner's privacy policy →

Google Fonts

The app UI loads the Geist typeface from Google Fonts, which may log a request to Google's servers. If unavailable, the UI falls back to your system font.

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8. How to remove everything

Uninstall the app

Go to Windows Settings → Apps → Patrins → Uninstall. The uninstaller automatically removes:

• The app itself
• All data in %APPDATA%\Patrins\ — config, logs, session cookies, web cache, Watch Folder state files, UI cache, context menu version file
• The Trusted Sites zone entry for patrins.com
• The context menu shell extension registry entries (HKCU\Software\Classes\*\shell\Patrins and related)
• Any mapped Patrins drive letters (P:, Q:, etc.)

After a clean uninstall, reinstalling will start completely fresh — you'll need to sign in again.

Revert system-level registry changes (optional)

The HKLM WebClient settings (file size limit, connection count) are not reverted on uninstall since they only improve Windows' WebDAV behavior and are harmless to leave. If you want to revert them, open an administrator Command Prompt and run:

reg delete "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters" /v FileSizeLimitInBytes /f
reg delete "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters" /v MaxConcurrentConnectionsPerServer /f
sc config WebClient start= demand

Remove context menu entries manually (optional)

If you want to remove the Windows Explorer right-click menu entries without uninstalling the full app, open a Command Prompt (no administrator needed) and run:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\*\shell\Patrins" /f
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Directory\shell\Patrins" /f
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\shell\Patrins" /f

Delete your account and files from our servers

To delete your Patrins account and all files stored on our servers, go to patrins.com/dashboard → Settings → Delete Account. This permanently removes your account, all uploaded files, and all metadata. This action is irreversible.

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9. Contact

Questions about this policy or data deletion requests: privacy@patrins.com or the contact form. We aim to respond within 48 hours.