Does Kando Collect or Track My Data?

Updated

No. According to Kando's official website, Kando is privacy-first: it has no telemetry, no tracking, and no cloud. Your data stays on your machine. This applies to the core application as described on kando.menu — it does not send your usage data to the developers or any third party.

What "No Telemetry, No Tracking, No Cloud" Means

Kando's site states three specific commitments:

  • No telemetry — Kando does not automatically report usage statistics, feature interactions, or performance data back to its developers.
  • No tracking — there is no analytics or behavioral tracking built into the app.
  • No cloud — Kando does not upload your menus, configuration, or files to a remote server. Your setup lives locally.

The stated design principle is that your data stays on your machine. For a tool that launches apps, runs macros, and opens files, this matters: the menu configuration itself can reveal what you work with, so keeping it local avoids exposing that to a vendor.

Where Your Data Actually Lives

Because Kando is a local, cross-platform desktop app (Windows, macOS, and Linux), the data it works with is on your own system:

Data type Where it stays
Menu configuration (nested menus, icons, themes) Your local machine
Actions and macros you define Your local machine
Files and folders you open through Kando Your local machine
Usage/telemetry data Not collected per the official statement

Kando is also open source, so the claim is independently verifiable — you or anyone else can inspect the code rather than taking the statement on trust. That is a stronger position than a closed-source app making the same promise.

Practical Caveats to Keep in Mind

The privacy statement covers Kando itself. A few things sit outside that scope:

  • Your OS and other software may still log activity independently of Kando.
  • If you download Kando from GitHub, the download and any update checks involve GitHub's own infrastructure, which has its own privacy terms — separate from Kando's in-app behavior.
  • Links on the site (for example, the YouTube video) are third-party services with their own tracking.
  • "No cloud" describes Kando's design, not a guarantee about every file you choose to open — if a file itself lives in a synced folder, your sync provider handles it.

Bottom Line

If your concern is whether Kando phones home with your usage data, the official answer is no: no telemetry, no tracking, no cloud, data stays local. The open-source nature means you can confirm this rather than rely on the claim alone. The main things to watch are the surrounding services — your OS, GitHub, and any third-party links — which fall outside Kando's own privacy design.