Privacy Policy

The short version. Qwerto runs entirely on your computer. It has no telemetry, requires no account, and never records what you type. The only time any data leaves your machine is when you choose to, by submitting a layout to the Community or sending feedback, and even then only the information you put in that form is sent.

Who we are

Qwerto (“Qwerto”, “we”, “us”) is a keyboard-customization application for Windows, published by Formal Noise. This policy explains what data the desktop app, this website, and our optional online services process, and why. For any privacy question, contact privacy@formalnoise.com.

The desktop app is local-first

Everything you do in Qwerto happens on your device:

• Your presets and settings are stored in a local folder on your PC that you can open, move, back up, or delete at any time (Settings → Data & privacy).
• No telemetry. Qwerto does not collect analytics, usage statistics, or crash pings, and does not phone home in the background.
• Keystrokes never leave your device. Qwerto uses a local keyboard hook to remap keys. The keys you press are processed in memory on your computer to apply your bindings and are never transmitted, logged to disk as content, or shared.
• No account. You don’t sign in to use Qwerto.

This website

The Qwerto website is a static site served by Cloudflare. It sets no tracking or advertising cookies. Your theme and accent-color choice are stored in your browser’s localStorage purely so the site remembers your preference between visits, this never leaves your browser. As with any website, our hosting provider (Cloudflare) may process standard, short-lived request logs (such as IP address and user-agent) to deliver the site securely and prevent abuse; see Cloudflare’s privacy policy.

Community Layouts

Browsing and downloading community layouts does not require an account. When you download a layout, our service records an anonymized, de-duplicated download count (a rough per-day, per-network tally) so we can show “most downloaded”, it is not used to identify you.

When you submit a layout from inside the app, you choose what to include. A submission may contain:

• The layout itself (the key bindings you created) and optional metadata you enter: layout name, author name, description, category, tags, and language.
• An optional email address, only if you provide one, used to let you know when your submission goes live and, if you tick that box, to send occasional product updates. Email is never required to submit.

Submitted layouts are reviewed before publication. Published layouts (and the metadata you chose to include, such as author name) are publicly visible. Please don’t include personal or sensitive information in a layout, its metadata, or its bindings.

Feedback, bug reports & ideas

If you use the Feedback form, we process what you submit, your message and any optional title, category, reproduction details, ratings, or attachments, to read, triage, and act on it. Providing your name and email is optional; if you include them and opt in, we’ll use your email only to reply about that report or, separately, to send product updates you asked for (you can unsubscribe any time).

• Reports are retained for up to 24 months and attachments for up to 12 months, after which they’re deleted.
• Diagnostics are opt-in and inspectable: if a report includes technical details, you can see exactly what’s attached before sending, and they never include your keystrokes or file contents.
• The feedback service uses basic anti-abuse measures (such as rate limiting) to keep the form usable for everyone.

Service providers

We keep the stack deliberately small. Our website and online services (the Community API and the feedback service) run on Cloudflare, which stores submitted layouts, feedback, and related data on our behalf. We don’t sell your data or share it with advertisers.

Your choices & rights

• App data: you fully control it, it lives in a local folder you can back up or delete, and uninstalling Qwerto returns your keyboard to normal.
• Email: any product-update emails include an unsubscribe link, and you can ask us to stop contacting you.
• Access & deletion: to request access to, correction of, or deletion of data you submitted (a layout or a feedback report), contact privacy@formalnoise.com with enough detail (such as a submission reference) for us to locate it.

Children

Qwerto is a general-purpose utility and is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Qwerto evolves. Material changes will be reflected here with a new “last updated” date.

Trademarks

Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation; macOS is a trademark of Apple Inc.; and other product names (e.g. Excel, Teams, Zoom, OBS, Vim, Dvorak, Colemak) are the property of their respective owners. Qwerto is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of these companies. References are descriptive only.

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Questions? Email privacy@formalnoise.com or use the feedback form. See also the Terms of Use.