Privacy policy

Last updated September 29, 2026

Signing in

You sign in on your school's own sign-in page, shown in a Compass window. Compass never sees, reads or stores your password.

Once you're in, Compass keeps the Brightspace session cookies so it can stay signed in. They go in your Mac's Keychain, and they don't sync to iCloud Keychain. If you turn off "Remember sign-ins in Keychain", Compass doesn't put them in the Keychain.

Either way, the sign-in window keeps its own website data and cookies on your Mac, like any browser does, so your school's "stay signed in" works. Signing out of Compass clears them.

What Compass reads from Brightspace

Compass talks to your school's Brightspace site (today that's uottawa.brightspace.com). It only reads, and it never changes anything in Brightspace. It reads:

• your courses, their codes and term dates;
• assignments, quizzes and other items with a due date, and whether you've submitted each one (yes or no, not the submission);
• announcements, including their text;
• the names of grade items, so it can tell you a grade was posted (it doesn't keep the grade itself);
• the titles and dates of course files;
• a course's syllabus file, only when you ask Compass to read it.

When Compass fetches these itself, its requests identify themselves as Compass, so your school can tell them apart from your browser. (The sign-in window shows your school's pages like Safari would.) Compass checks for changes every 15 minutes or more (you choose), when you open it, and when you ask.

What's kept on your Mac

Compass stores what it needs in ~/Library/Application Support/Compass/ (the App Store version keeps the same files inside its own container). These are:

• A copy of your coursework from the list above. It's replaced every time Compass checks. Deadlines cover the last 7 days through the end of term (or the next 3 weeks, if that's later). Announcements, file titles and grade item names stay until you sign out, and so do the names of past courses Compass leaves out.
• Recent updates, such as a moved due date or a new post, for up to 60 days (at most 200).
• Things you add: your own deadlines, course nicknames, colours and order, which items you've ticked off or read, which syllabus dates you picked, and your settings.

Your settings go in ~/Library/Preferences/com.arunsabaratnam.Compass.plist. If you connect Google, that file also holds your Google email address and the IDs of the calendar and sheets Compass made there.

macOS also keeps some files for Compass on its own: the sign-in window's website data (in ~/Library/WebKit and ~/Library/HTTPStorages), and a temporary cache of recent responses from Brightspace and Google (in ~/Library/Caches/com.arunsabaratnam.Compass).

Nothing here leaves your Mac unless you turn on one of the features below.

Reading a syllabus

A syllabus is read entirely on your Mac. If Apple Intelligence is on, Compass uses Apple's on-device model; otherwise it uses its own rules. The file is never saved or sent anywhere, and only the dates you choose to add are kept, as your own deadlines.

Features that send data elsewhere, only if you turn them on

Apple Calendar

Compass can keep your deadlines in a calendar called "Compass" (and "Compass export" if you export there). Each event has the item's title, your name for the course (or its code), the course code and name, a link to Brightspace and a short "Added by Compass" note. For deadlines you added yourself, it also has any notes you wrote. When you turn this on, Compass asks for full access to your calendars, which is what macOS requires for an app to make and update its own calendar. It only ever changes the "Compass" and "Compass export" calendars, and it doesn't read or copy your other events anywhere. If your default calendar account is iCloud, Apple syncs the calendar to your other devices, under Apple's privacy policy.

Google Calendar and Google Sheets

If you connect Google, you sign in on Google's own page in your browser. Compass asks only for access to the calendars and files it creates itself, plus your email address so it can show which account is connected. It can then:

• keep a Google calendar called "Compass" in step with your deadlines;
• when you press Export, write your schedule to a Google Sheet (due date, time, course code, title, type, whether it's submitted, and the Brightspace link) or to a Google calendar (the same details as the Apple Calendar events above).

Google's side of this is covered by Google's privacy policy. The Google sign-in is kept in your Keychain, or only in memory while Compass is open if you turn off "Remember sign-ins in Keychain". You can disconnect in Compass, or remove access from your Google account at any time.

Notifications

Reminders and alerts are made on your Mac and shown by macOS. They can include course names and item titles, and may appear on your lock screen, depending on your Mac's settings.

Updates

Compass from TestFlight or the App Store is updated by Apple. A copy downloaded straight from GitHub instead checks GitHub once a day for a new version. Like visiting any website, that request shows GitHub your IP address (see GitHub's privacy statement). It sends nothing else about you or your Mac.

What we don't do

• No analytics, crash reporting, advertising or tracking of any kind.
• No Compass server: we never receive your coursework, grades, sign-in or anything else from the app.
• We don't sell or share data, because we don't have any.

Compass isn't affiliated with D2L, Brightspace or any school.

Removing your data

• Sign out in Compass to delete its Brightspace sign-in, your coursework copy, recent updates, pending reminders and the sign-in window's website data. What you've added (your own deadlines, nicknames, check-offs, what you've read, syllabus picks and settings) stays, and so do the Google connection and any calendar events already made. The temporary cache is cleared by macOS over time, or by deleting it as below.
• Disconnect Google in Compass to remove its access. The calendars and sheets it made stay in your Google account until you delete them there.
• Turn off calendar sync to stop updates. The "Compass" calendar stays in Calendar until you delete it.
• To remove everything after deleting the app, also delete these, and the "Compass" items in Keychain Access:
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Compass (and ~/Library/Application Support/uNow, if you used Compass back when it was called uNow)
  • ~/Library/Preferences/com.arunsabaratnam.Compass.plist
  • ~/Library/Caches/com.arunsabaratnam.Compass
  • ~/Library/WebKit/com.arunsabaratnam.Compass
  • anything starting with com.arunsabaratnam.Compass in ~/Library/HTTPStorages
  For the App Store version, delete ~/Library/Containers/com.arunsabaratnam.Compass instead; everything but the Keychain items is inside it.

Students

Compass is made for university and college students. It isn't meant for children under 13, and it doesn't knowingly handle their information.

This website

This site has no cookies, analytics or trackers. It remembers whether you picked light or dark mode, in your own browser's storage. The site is hosted by Vercel, which keeps standard server logs, like IP addresses, to run and protect the site (see Vercel's privacy policy).

Reporting a problem

Compass never sends reports on its own. If you choose to report an issue, what you send depends on how:

• TestFlight feedback reaches the developer through Apple, with your note, any screenshot, and details Apple adds such as your Mac's model and macOS version (see Apple's privacy policy).
• GitHub issues are public: anyone can read what you write there, under your GitHub name.
• Email is read only by the developer.

What you send is used only to fix and improve Compass.

Changes and questions

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date. Questions? Email support@trycompass.now.