Privacy policy

Effective 10 November 2026

What PinGate stores on your PC

• Your PIN, as a salted hash (PBKDF2-SHA256, 600,000 rounds). PinGate never stores the PIN itself.
• The apps you lock: their names, an identifier (the package name or the program's file details) and where their icon comes from.
• Your settings, for example Windows Hello and "lock apps again when Windows locks or sleeps".
• Wrong PIN attempts: the time and the app. PinGate keeps the last 100.
• The wait after wrong PINs: how many wrong PINs came in a row and until when PinGate waits.

This file is encrypted with Windows Data Protection (DPAPI) for your Windows account and kept in PinGate's own app folder. Other Windows accounts on the PC cannot read it.

What PinGate watches

To know when a locked app opens, PinGate watches window events on your PC: which program a new window belongs to. It uses this only at that moment, on your PC. It does not record which apps you use, and it does not read window contents, what you type in other apps, or your files.

Windows Hello

If you turn on Windows Hello, Windows does the check. PinGate gets only the answer: verified or not. Your face, fingerprint and Windows PIN stay with Windows.

Internet

PinGate itself does not connect to the internet and sends no data. The Microsoft Store handles the purchase, the trial and updates; Microsoft's privacy statement applies to that. If you let Windows send diagnostic data, Microsoft may give us summary reports about installs and crashes. These reports do not tell us who you are.

Removing your data

Uninstall PinGate (Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps). Windows deletes PinGate's app folder and everything listed above.

Children

PinGate collects no personal data from anyone, including children.

Changes

If this policy changes, we update this page and the date at the top.

Contact

Questions about privacy: pingate@slecastle.com