Privacy Policy

Effective 4 November 2026

Overview

Haul runs on your own computer. There are no accounts and no tracking, and nothing you download is sent to us. Haul sends anonymous usage statistics, which you can turn off at any time, and checks its Haul Pro trial or license with our license server. This policy covers the Haul app, its browser extension and this website, published by Dunebits.

What Haul connects to

Haul makes these connections on its own:

The servers you download from. Haul requests files the way your browser would, with the cookies, referrer and user agent the browser handed over, so those servers see your IP address and those details.
Haul's update server. Shortly after Haul starts and then every six hours, it reads a small file from Haul's update server, and downloads an update when there is one. You can turn this off in Options → General.
Haul's status server. Every few minutes Haul reads a small status file. It lets us pause Haul if a release has a serious problem, or ask very old versions to update. The request carries Haul's version number and nothing else.
Our license server, for yt-dlp updates. With Haul Pro, Haul's copy of yt-dlp may update itself from a copy of yt-dlp's official releases on our server, at most once a day. The request is signed like the license checks. You can turn this off in Options.
A PAC script, if you enter one in the proxy settings.
Haul's statistics server, for the anonymous usage statistics below, unless you turn them off.
Haul's license server, to start a computer's Haul Pro trial and to check a trial or a Haul Pro license every few days, as described under Haul Pro and the license server below.

These requests show your IP address to the companies that host those servers, which handle it under their own privacy terms. Apart from the license server, Haul sends no account or device identifier with them; the only usage data it sends are the statistics below.

Haul Pro and the license server

Haul 2.0 gives each computer a free Haul Pro trial and checks Haul Pro licenses with Haul's own license server. To start a trial and to check a trial or license every few days, Haul sends it:

a device id: a one-way hash of your computer's machine id, not the machine id itself
a public key that Haul makes on your computer, so only that computer can renew its license
your computer's name, so you can tell your computers apart on your license page
Haul's version, your operating system and a fingerprint of the Haul build, so the server only accepts genuine copies of Haul
whether Haul was used on this computer before 2.0, for the longer trial
your license key, when you enter one

The server keeps that per computer, with your license (the key encrypted, plus a hash of it and its last 4 characters) and the payment and customer ids, name and email address it receives from Dodo Payments when you buy. To spot one key shared across many places it keeps a keyed hash of your network's address range, not your IP address. It stores no download addresses, file names or anything about your downloads.

Haul Pro is sold through Dodo Payments, the merchant of record: Dodo takes your payment and card details under its own privacy policy, and we never see your card. We use your email address to send your license key and to help you with your license.

Anonymous usage statistics

Haul sends anonymous usage statistics that help us see which versions and systems are in use and why downloads fail. They are on by default, and Haul says so once in a notice when it starts. You can turn them off in that notice or at any time in Options → General → Send anonymous usage statistics.

Haul sends a short report the first time statistics are on, at most once a day while it runs, and once more from the uninstaller when you remove Haul (not when it updates). A report holds:

a random install number that Haul makes the first time statistics are on. It isn't based on you or your computer, it stays the same when Haul updates, and Haul deletes it when you turn statistics off
whether Haul was already used on this computer before (in the first report only)
Haul's version; the exact Windows release and build (for example 23H2, build 10.0.22631.4317); the Windows edition (Home, Pro, Enterprise, Education or Server); whether the processor is x64 or ARM; and the language Haul's interface uses
in the daily report only: how many downloads finished and how many failed since the last report, why they failed in broad groups (such as “not found on the server”, “connection timed out” or “disk full”), and whether the browser extension connected to Haul

While Haul is open, it also tells the server that it is running about every 15 minutes, with the same anonymous install number, Haul version and system details and no counts. This follows the same switch, and the server keeps these notes for only two days.

Anonymous crash reports are part of the statistics and follow the same switch. If Haul crashes while statistics are on, it keeps a short report and sends it with the statistics: the error message with addresses, file names, folder paths and e-mail addresses removed, the place in Haul's code where it happened, the name of the part of Haul that crashed, when it happened, and the same Haul version and system details as above. Haul keeps at most 20 unsent crash reports, and turning statistics off deletes them.

Never sent: download addresses, file names or folders, page titles, cookies, anything you type, account names, your computer's name or any hardware identifier. Cancelled downloads aren't counted, and the browser extension sends nothing. Like any request, a report shows your IP address to the server, but reports are stored without it.

Turning statistics off stops all counting, deletes the install number and the counts and crash reports Haul hadn't sent yet, and nothing more is sent. If you turn them on again later, Haul makes a new install number.

What stays on your computer

Haul keeps its data in your user profile (Windows: %APPDATA%\com.haul.app; macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.haul.app):

the download list, with each file's address, the page it came from, and the cookies and form data needed to resume it
your settings and a log file
while usage statistics are on, the random install number, and the counts and crash reports not sent yet
a backup of the download list from each of the last five days

Site and proxy passwords are kept in the Windows Credential Manager or the macOS Keychain, not in Haul's files. Deleting a download removes it from the list; the daily backups keep a copy for up to five days.

The browser extension

To hand a download to Haul, the extension reads its address, the page it came from, the browser's cookies for that address, your user agent and language, and the form data when a form starts the download. It also notices the video and audio a page plays, so it can list them.

It sends this only to Haul on the same computer, through the browser's native messaging, and makes no network requests of its own. It stores only its settings and the media found in your open tabs.

The built-in player

The player plays your downloads on your computer and sends nothing about them to us. It keeps where each film was left, by its name, along with your volume and the languages you chose, in Haul's own storage on your computer.

Clipboard, scanning and file tags

With clipboard grabbing on, Haul looks at copied text on your computer for download links. When it finds one, it opens it in the download window and asks that link's server for the file's name and size.

If you set up a virus scanner, Haul passes it the path of each finished file and nothing else. Finished files are tagged with the address they came from (Mark of the Web), so Windows can warn you about them.

This website

This site sets no cookies and uses no analytics. Its fonts are served from this site. The installers are downloaded from this site's own server. That server may keep standard access logs.

The server counts installer downloads: the day, the Haul version and file, whether the download finished, your browser and operating system as your browser reports them (Chrome, Edge and other Chromium browsers also tell the Windows release and the processor type, x64 or ARM, when this site asks), and your country, looked up from your IP address with DB-IP's free country database.

To count how many different people download Haul, your IP address and browser are replaced with a code whose key belongs to one calendar month and is deleted when the month ends. Within a month, your downloads count as one downloader however many there are; the code can't be turned back into your address, and months can't be linked. Your IP address itself is never stored.

Reports and ideas

The Report page and the feedback board run on this site's own server; no other company is involved. What you send is stored there: the type, title and details, the Haul and Windows version you chose, and, if you give one, your email address. Everything except your email address goes on the public board as soon as you send it. Your email is only ever seen by us, to ask you about the report.

Votes are counted with a random number your browser keeps (in its local storage), not an account. To limit spam, the server counts how often an address sends something, under a code it changes every day and never stores; it keeps no IP addresses. Comments you add are public too, with the name you give, if any. Ask us and we'll delete any report or comment of yours.

What we don't do

We don't sell or share personal information, show ads or build profiles. We have no account system. Haul itself sends us only the anonymous usage statistics described above, which you can turn off, and the license checks for a Haul Pro trial or license.

Email

If you email us, we keep the conversation for as long as it helps us support you. Ask us to delete it at any time.

Your choices

Everything Haul stores is on your computer, so you stay in control: delete downloads, turn off update checks, clipboard grabbing or usage statistics, or uninstall Haul and remove its data folder.

Changes

If this policy changes, we update the effective date above and list the change in the changelog when it affects the app.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email contact@dunebits.com.