Privacy policy

Effective date: October 13, 2026.

This policy covers the Shoal app for macOS, available on the Mac App Store, and this website, shoalwallpaper.com. Both are published by Kamino Holdings, LLC (“we”). We're responsible for the personal data we receive: messages to our support address and the website's request data (see This website below).

Data collection

Shoal collects no data. It has no accounts or sign-in, and no analytics, tracking or crash reporting of its own. The app's privacy manifest declares no tracking and no collected data types.

Network access

The aquarium works offline. Its images, sounds and code ship inside the app, and Shoal's own code opens no network connections.

The system component that draws the aquarium won't run without macOS's outgoing-network permission, so the app has that permission. Shoal doesn't use it to send or fetch anything. Inside the aquarium page, every web request is blocked and only the app's own files can load. If that block can't be set up, the aquarium doesn't load, and the menu says so.

Buying or restoring Shoal Pro uses Apple's services, as described under Purchases.

What stays on your Mac

Everything Shoal keeps stays on your Mac, in its own app folder (its sandbox container) or, for the widget, in a folder the app shares only with its widget. Shoal never sends any of it anywhere. It keeps:

Your settings: the habitat and its look (fish count, species, graphics quality, lighting, plant density, seasonal decorations), while you switch habitats which one you left and when, the living tank, Game Mode and reminder choices, whether hungry fish come to the glass, whether you've seen the living tank's care sheet, the pause choice, the frame-rate limit, the sound settings, whether Shoal should open at login, and whether you've seen the Welcome window.
A few counters for the app's own use: when it was first launched, how many feedings it has counted, which version last asked for a rating, how many times you closed the note Shoal shows when you open it yourself, a note of your Pro status, the list of stills handed to macOS as desktop pictures, and the process number of the copy of Shoal that is running, so a second copy can hand over to it. That file is named with a code worked out from this Mac's hardware identifier, so each Mac sharing a home folder keeps its own; the identifier itself isn't stored or sent.
The names you give the fish and, with Living Tank on, their hunger, weight, health and growth, the time those were last brought up to date, the tank's running time and when it was last fed, the days you fed them, your streak and the day it last grew, the dates of any holiday feeder, and the reminder's schedule. With or without Living Tank, it also notes when Riverscape's tank was set aside for another habitat and the days it rested. Nothing is written until something changes.
Your tank's history, with or without Living Tank: the dates you fed the fish and the time of the last feeding, the stage the tank has reached, your sightings of each visitor, the visit schedule, a kept betta and its name, which fish hold your three free names, and the milestones and first sightings reached, which decide when Shoal may ask for a rating.
Pictures and clips from Share Your Tank: the last five you shared. One you don't share is deleted when you close its window.
For the widget: a small picture of the tank and a short status (when it was updated, how many fish there are and how many are hungry, the days fed, the next milestone and any visitor and, with Living Tank on, each shown fish's hunger, weight and health, when those were last brought up to date and the dates of any holiday feeder, so the widget can tell how they're doing while Shoal is closed), in the folder shared with the widget.
Still images: Set as Desktop Picture saves a picture of each display the aquarium is showing on, in the app's folder, and hands it to macOS: a PNG, or with Shoal Pro one HEIC file holding the tank at dawn, day, dusk and night. Save Still Image… saves a PNG only where you choose.

Shoal sends nothing anywhere. A picture or clip leaves your Mac only when you choose Share… and pick a service, such as Mail or Messages, and that service handles it from there. Whatever you share from Riverscape comes with a link to shoalwallpaper.com that holds only the fish count and species, the lighting, the tank's stage, the season, a kept betta and, if you include names, up to 12 fish names. These sit after the “#” in the address, a part browsers never send to a server, so opening the link tells this website none of them. What you share from Coral Reef, Koi Pond or Betta links to the home page and holds nothing about you.

What Shoal reads from your Mac

To decide how fast to draw, and whether the desktop is in view for the fish's greeting and for spotting visitors, Shoal reads the list of windows on screen, the power source and Low Power Mode, whether the screen is locked or asleep, the Reduce Motion setting, how hot the Mac is running, and whether macOS is short of memory. From the window list it reads only each window's position and size, layer, owning process and opacity, and the window numbers of Shoal's own windows. That tells it how much of the desktop shows, and which apps to hide when you choose Show Desktop. The same goes for Feed, a clip, a visitor or the Welcome window's Show Me the Aquarium while windows cover the aquarium. Shoal never reads window titles or contents, and it doesn't ask for screen-recording access. It also reads the pointer's position, so the fish can react and a named fish can show its name when you rest the pointer on it. None of this is stored or sent anywhere.

Notifications

Shoal sends no notifications unless you turn on Feeding Reminder in Settings › Fish, which asks macOS for permission first. Reminders are scheduled on your Mac, one at a time, and say how your fish are doing, such as that they're hungry or getting thin, or that your streak is waiting. A reminder's Feed button feeds the fish without opening anything, unless it can't feed them: then it opens Your Tank in Settings. Turn the switch off, or turn off Shoal's notifications in System Settings, and they stop.

Purchases

Apple handles the one-time Shoal Pro purchase and keeps the record of it. Shoal never sees your payment details. Restore Purchases asks Apple to check your purchases and may show Apple's own sign-in window. Apple's privacy policy applies to purchases. Shoal may ask you to rate it, at most once per version, and only within two days after the tank reaches a new stage or you spot a kind of visitor for the first time. That prompt is Apple's and follows Apple's rules.

This website

shoalwallpaper.com sets no cookies and uses no analytics, advertising or third-party scripts, fonts or embeds. It's hosted by Cloudflare, which processes technical request data, such as IP addresses and browser details, to deliver and protect the site. The live preview, including a tank someone shared with you, runs entirely in your browser and sends nothing back.

Our support mailbox is hosted by Google Workspace. In the app, Send Feedback… in the fish menu or Settings › About opens an email already filled in with the app version, macOS version, Mac model, graphics, memory, quality setting, display count and the fish menu's first line, which you see before sending and send only if you choose to. Copy Details copies the same details for you to paste. If you email us, we use your address and message only to reply and help, and we don't add you to any list. You can ask us to delete your messages at any time.

Google and Cloudflare are US companies, so this data may be processed in the United States. Cloudflare also handles each request in one of its data centers around the world, usually one near you.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it, by writing to support@shoalwallpaper.com. If you live in the EU or the UK, you can also complain to your data-protection authority.

Changes to this policy

Changes are published on this page with a new effective date.

Contact

For questions about privacy, write to Kamino Holdings, LLC at support@shoalwallpaper.com. For help with the app, see the support page.