Nextslide for Mac, iPhone and Apple Watch
Privacy
Nextslide collects no data. There is no account, no server, no advertising and no analytics. Slides, notes and thumbnails only travel between your Mac, your iPhone and your Apple Watch.
Controller
Frank Weigand
Auf dem Zechenacker 21
53842 Troisdorf
Germany
Email: hello@cozysoft.me
Nextslide is a private, non-commercial hobby project. There is no company behind it, and the app makes no money.
What Nextslide reads on the Mac
So that your iPhone and Watch can control the presentation, the Mac app queries PowerPoint or Keynote through macOS automation. It reads:
- the name of the open presentation,
- the number of the current slide and the total number of slides,
- the speaker notes of the current slide,
- whether the presentation is running and whether the screen is black or white.
This only happens while a paired iPhone or Watch is connected. The information goes to those devices and nowhere else.
Two Mac versions
Nextslide for Mac is available as a free download from this website and from the Mac App Store. Both handle data in the same way. The download version can also show slide thumbnails and jump straight to a slide; what that involves is described under “Thumbnails” and “Permissions”. The Mac App Store version does not create thumbnails.
Thumbnails (download version)
For the thumbnails, the download version reads the presentation file that is currently open in PowerPoint or Keynote on your Mac and renders small images of the slides from it. This happens locally only. The images are kept in the Mac app’s cache and are sent over the direct Wi-Fi connection to your paired iPhone only. Nextslide does not read any other files.
Connection between your devices
Mac, iPhone and Apple Watch talk to each other directly. Nextslide uses two paths for this:
Wi-Fi, direct or on the local networkMac and iPhone find each other via Bonjour and, if needed, even without a shared Wi-Fi network over a direct wireless link like the one AirDrop uses. iOS asks once for access to the local network.Bluetooth Low EnergyThe Mac makes itself discoverable over Bluetooth for the iPhone and Watch. iOS, watchOS and macOS each ask once for Bluetooth access.iPhone and Apple WatchThe iPhone passes the pairing on to the Watch and relays its commands to the Mac when needed. This uses the connection iOS sets up between iPhone and Watch.When connecting, the iPhone tells the Mac its device name, such as “Anna’s iPhone”, so you can see in the menu who is connected. Other devices nearby only see the Mac’s name. Only someone who has entered the four-digit pairing code from your Mac menu can control the presentation or see the notes. “Create new pairing code” locks out all previously paired devices.
None of these connections goes to the internet. Nextslide has no server and does not call any internet addresses.
What is stored on your devices
- on the Mac: the pairing code and, with the download version, the cached thumbnails,
- on the iPhone and Watch: the name of the Mac you used last, the pairing codes of your Macs and your settings, such as the text size of the notes.
This data does not leave your devices, and I have no access to it. When you delete the app, the system deletes it too. If you use iCloud or computer backups, the system may include the app’s storage in them; that is handled by Apple.
Permissions
- Automation (Mac): to control PowerPoint and Keynote and read the slide and notes; these two apps only,
- Bluetooth (Mac, iPhone, Watch): for the connection between your devices,
- Local network (iPhone): for the direct Wi-Fi connection to the Mac,
- Accessibility (Mac download version only, optional): so Nextslide can jump straight to a slide in PowerPoint. It then types the slide number and the Return key into PowerPoint, nothing else.
What Nextslide does not do
- no registration and no sign-in,
- no analytics, no tracking, no crash reports sent to me,
- no advertising and no advertising identifier,
- no access to contacts, photos, location, camera or microphone,
- no sharing of presentations, notes or any other data.
That is why Nextslide is listed in the App Store as “Data Not Collected”.
App Store and download
If you download the Mac app from this website, the usual server logs are created, as described in CozySoft’s general privacy policy. When you first open the app, macOS checks its signature with Apple, as it does for every Mac app from outside the App Store.
If you get Nextslide from the App Store, Apple processes its own data, for example for the purchase, download and updates. That is Apple’s responsibility; details are in Apple’s privacy policy. If you share crash reports with app developers, Apple may show them to me without any personal details.
Contacting me by email
If you write to me, I only use your message and address to reply. More on this and on your rights under the GDPR is in CozySoft’s general privacy policy, which also applies to this website.
Changes
If anything changes in how Nextslide handles data, I will update this page before the new version is released.