Who is responsible
Remote Rat is provided by David Wilkinson, trading as Rat Systems, in the United Kingdom. Privacy questions can be sent to support@ratsystems.uk.
Your Remote Rat session
Remote Rat sends screen video, Mac audio and control input directly between your Mac and iPad, whether they connect over the same local network, Remote Rat's built-in peer-to-peer internet route or an optional user-managed network such as Tailscale. Your Mac creates the stream and sends it directly to your iPad. Rat Systems does not operate a hosted screen relay and does not receive or store the contents of your desktop, keystrokes, pointer input, dictation audio or streamed Mac audio.
Peer-to-peer connections away from home
When your devices are on different networks, Remote Rat may contact Rat Systems enrolment, discovery and lighthouse services to establish a direct peer-to-peer connection. These services receive a small amount of device identity, public networking metadata and reachability signalling needed to introduce the devices and negotiate that direct route. They do not relay screen video, audio, control input or other Remote Rat session traffic. If the networks prevent a direct connection, Remote Rat reports that limitation instead of routing the session through Rat Systems.
Private device discovery
The native apps use private CloudKit records to let an iPad find Macs associated with the same iCloud account. These records contain connection and host identifiers needed for discovery. They are stored in the user's private iCloud database and are not available to Rat Systems as ordinary developer data.
iPad app data
The iPad app stores connection choices, display preferences and control settings on the device. Saved Mac passwords, when the optional password control is used, are stored in the iPad Keychain. Remote Rat does not use third-party advertising or tracking SDKs.
Dictation and optional model downloads
Parakeet transcription runs on your iPad. Downloading its optional model contacts Hugging Face and its download infrastructure, which receive your IP address and ordinary download request information under their privacy policy. The model download does not send your recordings or transcripts to Hugging Face. You can remove the downloaded model in dictation settings. Apple Dictation uses Apple speech services; processing may depend on your device, language and system settings. Completed text is sent to your connected Mac when you stop dictation.
Website and purchases
The public website may receive ordinary security and operational request data, such as IP address, browser details, requested page and time. Stripe processes checkout and payment details as an independent payment provider. Rat Systems receives order identifiers, purchase status and the customer email needed to provide the download, handle refunds and support the purchase; it does not receive full card details.
Licence activation
The first activation sends the licence code, a random installation identifier and the Mac's device name to Rat Systems. The service stores a protected hash and encrypted recovery copy of the code, a protected hash of the installation identifier, the device name, activation times and the purchase relationship to enforce the three-Mac limit and provide support. The signed entitlement is saved in the Mac Keychain. Subscription installations periodically send that entitlement and installation identifier to refresh access. We store the billing customer, subscription status and paid-through date. These requests do not include your screen, audio, dictation or control input.
Retention and disclosure
Purchase and accounting records are retained for the periods required for support, fraud prevention, tax and legal obligations. Shorter-lived operational logs are retained only as long as reasonably needed to secure and diagnose the service. Data may be shared with infrastructure and payment providers only where needed to operate the service, comply with law or protect users and the service.
Your choices
You can stop a session at any time, remove the apps and revoke their macOS or iPadOS permissions. To ask about access, correction or deletion of personal information held by Rat Systems, email support@ratsystems.uk. Some purchase records may have to be retained to meet legal obligations.
Changes
Material changes will be posted on this page with a new effective date. The policy in force when you use the service applies to that use.