Volume Atlas is created by Orbit Dynamics LLC, who is responsible for the app and for this policy. This page explains, in plain language rather than legalese, what the app does with your information and the terms you accept by using it.
Last updated: 24 August 2026.
Privacy
Volume Atlas collects nothing. No analytics, no telemetry, no crash reporting, no usage metrics, no advertising identifiers, no personal information. There are no accounts, and there is nothing to opt out of.
No network access
Nothing about you, your Mac, or your files ever leaves your computer. Volume Atlas contains no networking code at all — no analytics endpoint, no update check, no license server, no crash reporter — and it asks macOS for no network permission. On the Mac App Store edition macOS enforces this as well: the app declares no network entitlement, so the system will not let it open a connection.
The only things that ever leave the app are links you click yourself — the website link in the About window, or the support email address — which macOS hands to your browser or mail app.
What the app reads
To show you where your space went, Volume Atlas reads the names, sizes, dates, and folder structure of the drives and folders you point it at. The scan itself never reads the contents of your files. That information lives only in memory while you’re looking at it, and it’s gone when the scan is replaced or the app quits.
When you preview a file with Quick Look, or select one to see its image or media details, macOS reads that file so it can be shown to you — only the file you choose, only while you’re looking at it, and never leaving your Mac.
Places macOS protects, and what Volume Atlas does with each
Some locations are protected by macOS, so the system asks your permission before Volume Atlas can look at them. Granting access is entirely your choice, and you can review or withdraw it at any time in System Settings › Privacy & Security. Here is exactly what the app does with each one:
- Desktop, Documents, and Downloads — reads the names, sizes, and dates of the items in each folder so they can appear in your storage breakdown. For example, it can show that a 4 GB video is the largest single item on your Desktop, so you can decide whether to move or delete it.
- Your Music library — measures how much disk space the library takes up as a whole, so it can appear in your breakdown (for example, “Music is using 42 GB”). Volume Atlas treats the library as one item: it never opens, plays, or changes your songs, playlists, or library database.
- Your Photos library — measures how much disk space the library takes up as a whole, so you can decide whether to offload originals. As with Music, it is treated as a single item; your individual photos are never opened or altered.
- External and removable drives — reads the names, sizes, and dates of items on drives you connect, such as a USB stick or an external SSD, so you can find what is filling them up.
- Network volumes — reads the names, sizes, and dates of items on shares you have already mounted, such as a NAS or SMB share. Volume Atlas never connects to a server itself; it only reads what macOS has already mounted for you.
In every one of these cases Volume Atlas is reading how big your files are and how they are arranged — not what is inside them. The only exception is the file you explicitly preview or select, described above.
What stays on your Mac
Two things are saved, both locally, in the app’s own preferences:
- Your settings — units, colours, text size, thresholds, and similar choices.
- Your recent locations — the folders you last scanned, so they’re easy to return to. On the Mac App Store edition this also stores a macOS security-scoped bookmark for each folder you granted, which is what lets the app reopen that folder later without asking you again.
Scan results themselves are never written to disk. They exist only in memory while you’re looking at them, and are gone when the scan is replaced or the app quits. Anything you export — CSV, JSON, or PDF — is written only to the place you choose to save it.
Nothing is shared with anyone
Volume Atlas contains no third-party code: no analytics or advertising SDKs, no crash-reporting service, no cloud storage, no payment or licensing provider. Nothing about you is shared with Orbit Dynamics LLC, with any affiliated company, or with any other party — there is no mechanism by which it could be, since nothing is collected and nothing is transmitted.
Keeping and deleting your information
We hold nothing about you. There is no account to close, no record on any server to retain, and no deletion request for you to make. Everything Volume Atlas saves stays on your Mac, and you can remove any of it at any time:
- Recent locations, and the folder grants stored with them — choose Clear Recents in the app.
- Every setting the app has saved — sandboxed copies from the Mac App Store keep these in
~/Library/Containers/com.OD.VolumeAtlas; the edition from our website keeps them in~/Library/Preferences/com.OD.VolumeAtlas.plist. That edition also has an uninstaller which removes the app along with its preferences, caches, and logs. - The permissions you gave macOS — open System Settings › Privacy & Security and switch off anything you’d like to withdraw. Worth knowing: macOS remembers these decisions even after an app is deleted, so if you remove Volume Atlas entirely, clear its permissions here as well.
Your choices
Because no personal information is collected, there is nothing for you to request access to, export, correct, or have erased — and nothing we could produce if you asked. Permission to read any protected location is always yours to give and yours to take back, at any time, in System Settings › Privacy & Security. Withdrawing it doesn’t break the app; it simply stops measuring what it can no longer see, and tells you when a total is incomplete for that reason.
Children
Volume Atlas is a general-purpose disk utility. It is not directed at children, and it collects no information from anyone, of any age.
Changes to this page
If this policy changes, the revised version ships inside the app and the date at the top changes with it. Anything materially different will also be noted in the release notes.
Terms of use
Your files are yours to manage
Volume Atlas can move items to the Trash when you ask it to. It always confirms first, and items go to the Trash rather than being erased, so you can put them back if you change your mind. Even so, you know your files far better than we do. Please be sure you understand what something is before you remove it, and keep a current backup — sound advice with any tool that deletes things.
About the numbers
Volume Atlas reports real on-disk (allocated) sizes and works hard to be accurate. But macOS withholds anything the app hasn’t been granted permission to read, so totals can under-report what’s actually on your drive. Treat the results as a dependable guide for finding what to clean up, rather than as an accounting record.
How you may use it
Volume Atlas is for personal and business use alike. You may install and use it on the Macs you own or manage — your own machine, or a fleet you administer on behalf of your organization. Please don’t redistribute or resell it. If you got the app from the Mac App Store, Apple’s Licensed Application End User License Agreement applies in addition to these terms.
No warranty
Volume Atlas is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. You use it at your own risk.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Orbit Dynamics LLC accepts no responsibility or liability for data loss, lost profits, business interruption, or any other damages arising out of the use of, or inability to use, this software.
Getting in touch
Questions, bug reports, and feedback are genuinely welcome — including anything about privacy or about this policy, which reaches the same address.
- Email: VAS@orbitdynamic.com
- Web: orbitdynamic.com/VolumeAtlas
Copyright © 2026 Orbit Dynamics LLC. All rights reserved.