Updates, privacy and support
How Poni keeps itself up to date, what it stores and where, what goes online, how to support Poni, and how to remove it.
Settings → About
Setup or portable
| Version | The difference |
|---|---|
Setup (Poni_x.y.z_x64-setup.exe) | Installs for your Windows account only, in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Poni. Downloads and installs updates by itself. The recommended choice. |
Portable (.exe) | Runs without installing. It can't replace itself, so Poni only tells you when a new version is out. Download the new one and replace the old file. |
Both keep their data in the same folder, %APPDATA%\Poni, so your settings, todos and notes stay when you move from portable to Setup.
Automatic updates
The Updates part of Settings → About shows your Poni version and its status, such as You're up to date or Version … is available.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Check now | Checks for a new version right away. |
| Update now / Download | Shows when a new version is out. In the Setup version, Update now downloads and installs it straight away. In the portable version, Download opens the download page on GitHub. |
| Check for updates automatically | Checks GitHub Releases when Poni starts and every 6 hours. Default: on. |
| Install updates automatically | Setup version only. An update found when Poni starts installs right away. One found later waits until you've been away from the PC for 3 minutes. Poni closes, the installer runs by itself, and Poni starts again. Default: on. |
When Poni won't install an update by itself (the portable version, or Install updates automatically is off), it shows an Update … available notice once per version. While an update downloads, you'll see Updating to ….
Every update is signed. Poni only installs files signed by its author. What changed in each version is in the release notes.
Your data stays on your PC
Poni has no account, ads or telemetry. Everything is stored in %APPDATA%\Poni: settings (settings.json), todos, notes, AI Chat history (chats.json), Screen Time, Health, Pomodoro, the Shelf and the log file (poni.log).
To open the folder, press Win+R, type %APPDATA%\Poni and press Enter. The full path is also shown in Settings → About → Data folder.
What goes online
Poni only goes online for these features:
- Weather (on from the start): your city's coordinates go to Open-Meteo. City search goes through Open-Meteo too. Turn it off in Settings → Weather → Show weather.
- Prayer Times (when you turn it on): in Indonesia, the Kemenag RI schedule for your regency or city comes from api.myquran.com. Elsewhere, your city's coordinates go to Aladhan.
- Calendar: Poni downloads the iCal links you add yourself.
- AI Chat and Translate: your messages and text go to the provider you picked. With Share my day with AI Chat on, your day summary goes with them. Ollama runs on your own PC.
- GitHub: the token you enter is used to read pull requests from GitHub.
- Updates: Poni checks for and downloads new versions from GitHub Releases.
Everything else stays on your PC. The Wi-Fi list is read from Windows and sent nowhere. Windows asks for Location permission to show it, but Poni doesn't use or send your location. The music visualizer analyses sound on your PC and never records it. The Mirror camera only turns on when you click the Mirror tile and turns off as soon as Poni closes.
The full policy is on the Privacy page.
API keys and tokens
- AI API keys and the GitHub token are encrypted with Windows DPAPI, tied to your Windows account. Poni doesn't show them again once saved.
- If you move the data folder to another PC, you'll need to enter the keys again.
- Delete one key with the trash button next to it. Reset all settings in Settings → About puts every setting back to default and also removes calendars, local events and all API keys.
Support Poni
Poni is free, with every feature included. If it helps you, you can treat the developer to a coffee.
- QRIS (Indonesia): GoPay, OVO, DANA, ShopeePay or mobile banking. In Settings → About → Support Poni, click Show QRIS and scan the code. The merchant name is Bos Digital.
- Gumroad (international): card or PayPal. Click Support on Gumroad.
- The cup button in Poni's header, next to the gear, opens a support page inside Poni with the QRIS code and a Gumroad button. Click the cup again to go back.
- Don't want the cup? Turn off Show the Support button in Poni in Settings → About. Default: on.
Uninstalling Poni
- Turn off Launch at login (in the tray icon menu or Settings → General), so Windows stops trying to start Poni when you sign in.
- Right-click Poni's tray icon and choose Quit Poni.
- Setup version: open Windows Settings → Apps → Installed apps (on Windows 10: Apps & features), find Poni and choose Uninstall. Portable version: delete the
.exefile. - The data folder isn't removed, so if you install Poni again, everything comes back. To erase it all, delete the
%APPDATA%\Ponifolder.
If you used Poni back when it was called Notch, an old %APPDATA%\Notch folder may still be there. Poni only copied the data from it and left it as it was.