Is AdChanger safe?

Who operates AdChanger

AdChanger is operated by its founder, Yiğit Ali Kurt, who is the data controller under UK and EU data protection law and answers personally for how personal data is used.

The one contact address for everything, including privacy requests and complaints, is yigit@adchanger.net.

AdChanger's database runs on Supabase, in London. Whop handles card payments, payouts and ID checks. This website is hosted on GitHub Pages, sets no cookies and runs no analytics.

AdChanger has not launched yet: the Mac app is being built and the download is not public yet.

Permissions the app asks for, and does not

AdChanger asks for no Screen Recording, Accessibility, Input Monitoring, microphone or camera permission. Without them, macOS does not let an app capture your screen or read what you type in other apps.

The app is built to run inside Apple's App Sandbox. Beyond that, it asks macOS for only two things: to connect to the internet, and to open a file you pick yourself, read-only (such as an advertiser's bar image).

To tell whether your Mac is in use, it asks macOS how many seconds have passed since the last keyboard or mouse input. That number says nothing about which key was pressed or what is on screen.

You can check the permissions yourself on any Mac with AdChanger installed:

• Open System Settings, then Privacy & Security.
• Open Screen & System Audio Recording (called Screen Recording on older versions of macOS): AdChanger is not in the list.
• Open Accessibility, then Input Monitoring: AdChanger is not in either list.
• Open Microphone and Camera: AdChanger is not in those lists either.

On macOS 13 or later, AdChanger adds itself once to the apps that open at login, so the bar keeps its place in the menu bar. You can turn this off in the app's Settings (Open at login) or in System Settings, General, Login Items, and it stays off.

What data is collected, and what never is

To count a minute, the app only checks that the ad is on screen and that your Mac is awake and in use.

It collects your account details (email, age band, country), a random ID for each Mac, the minutes each ad ran, clicks, and your optional answers about what you do and what you plan to buy. Words you type in your own answers stay on your Mac.

It never collects your screen, keystrokes, microphone or camera, what is inside your apps, your browsing or search history, your contacts, your exact location, a list of your installed apps, or what is on your clipboard.

It never asks about health, medicines, pregnancy, mental health, religion, politics or sexuality.

Advertisers only see totals. They never get your name, your email or a list of people. AdChanger does not sell data or share it with ad networks or data brokers.

The full list, with the legal reason for each item and how long it is kept, is in the privacy notice.

How money is handled

• Whop takes advertisers' card payments and sends earners' payouts. AdChanger never sees or stores card or bank details.
• Advertisers pay before a campaign runs. Their budget is set aside in full and spent one verified minute at a time, and they are never charged more than their budget.
• AdChanger's server checks every minute and accepts each one once. Its count is the one that pays, so the same minute cannot be paid twice.
• An earner's share of each minute waits 3 days so invalid activity can be checked, then becomes available to withdraw through Whop.
• Minute, click, payment and earnings records are never edited once written, so the money always adds up.

How much a minute pays, and the full split, is on Earn on your Mac and in the terms.

Every ad is reviewed

A person reviews every ad, its link and the page it opens before it runs. An approved ad that is changed is reviewed again.

AdChanger does not accept ads for gambling or betting, adult sexual content or services, prescription medicines, politics or elections, or speculative crypto or token investments.

Ads for things only adults may buy, such as alcohol or dating, are never shown to anyone under 18. People aged 13 to 17 never see ads for alcohol, gambling, tobacco, dating or adult content.

Every ad is a still image with a secure https:// link: no animation, no sound and no pop-ups. A link opens only when you click the bar.

You stay in control

• Pause: click the bar, then Pause. It stays paused until you start it again.
• Snooze: for 1 hour, 3 hours or until tomorrow; the bar comes back on its own.
• Stop: turns the ads off. No minutes count while the bar is paused, snoozed or stopped.
• Your answers: change or clear them in Settings at any time, and switch off "Match the bar to what I'm doing".

Quitting the AdChanger window does not remove the bar: like Wi-Fi, the icon stays in the menu bar while you are logged in. To turn the ads off, press Stop.

To remove AdChanger completely: press Stop, turn off Open at login (in the app's Settings or in System Settings, General, Login Items), log out or restart so the app is no longer running, then move AdChanger from Applications to the Bin.

To close your account, withdraw any available earnings first, then write to yigit@adchanger.net from your account's email address.

Security practices

• Each person can read only their own records, and each advertiser only their own business's.
• Money, minutes and clicks can only be written by AdChanger's server, never by the app directly.
• AdChanger holds no passwords: you sign in with an email link, Google or GitHub.
• The advertiser pages in the app open only after Touch ID or your Mac's password.
• Staff actions are logged.
• Fake activity (scripts, bots, virtual machines, several accounts) is against the terms, and minutes from it are not paid.

Your rights and reporting a problem

Under the UK GDPR and the EU GDPR you can ask to see, correct, delete or move your data. Write to yigit@adchanger.net from your account's email; you will get an answer within one month.

To report an ad, a bug or anything that looks wrong, email yigit@adchanger.net. You can also send a bug report from inside the app.

If you are unhappy with how your data is handled, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK, or to the data protection authority where you live in the EU.

Questions about safety