Privacy

Hermes BBS Terminal does not collect your data. There is no account with us, and the app contains no ads, analytics, tracking or crash reporting. On iPhone and iPad, the app sends nothing to us at all.

This page covers Hermes BBS Terminal for iPhone, iPad and Mac, the Hermes BBS server software, and this website. “We” means Will Price, who makes Hermes BBS.

Hermes BBS Terminal

Where it connects

The app connects only to the boards you choose, over Telnet, Telnet over TLS or SSH.

Every Hermes board is run independently by its own sysop. What you post, mail or upload on a board is sent to that board and kept there under its sysop’s rules. Board and game logos are downloaded over HTTPS from the board itself.

What stays on your device

• Logins are stored in your device’s Keychain. If you use iCloud Keychain, Apple syncs them between your devices; that is Apple’s service, not ours.
• Contacts are read only if you give permission, and only on your device, to suggest recipients when you write email. They are never uploaded.
• Notifications, such as new mail or your move in a game, come from the boards you are signed in to. We run no push notification server.

The Mac app’s update check

The Mac version you download from this website checks for updates once a day and whenever you choose Check for Updates. Each check sends the app’s build number, your macOS version and a random install ID to our update server at hermesbbs.com. The install ID is created on your Mac and identifies nothing about you. We use these checks only to offer updates and to count installs. As with any internet request, our server sees the IP address the check comes from.

The iPhone and iPad app makes no update check; it updates through the App Store.

Hermes BBS server software

If you run a board, your callers’ accounts, messages and files stay on your own Mac. You are the sysop, and their data is yours to look after. The server checks for updates the same way the Mac app does, sending its build number, macOS version and a random install ID.

This website

To understand which pages are useful, hermesbbs.com uses two analytics services:

• Google Analytics, which sets cookies and collects information such as the pages you visit, your approximate location and your browser.
• Vercel Web Analytics, which counts page views without cookies.

Pages also load fonts from Google Fonts and scripts from the Tailwind CSS and jsDelivr content networks, so those providers receive your IP address. The live terminal on the home page connects to a board only when you click it.

Children

We don’t knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children.

Changes

If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and its effective date.

Contact

Questions about privacy: info@hermesbbs.com.