Privacy statement

Last updated 28 October 2026

Mantel has no servers and sends no telemetry. The app talks only to the services you use, everything it keeps stays on your PC, and nobody behind Mantel ever receives your data.

This statement covers the Mantel app for Windows and this website, playmantel.com. Mantel is open source, so you can check everything below in its code.

What the app reads on your PC

To build your library, Mantel reads what your stores have already installed: Steam's library folders and app manifests (including the playtime Steam keeps in its own files), Xbox / Microsoft Store packages that ship a MicrosoftGame.config, the Epic Games launcher's manifests and catalog cache, and GOG and Ubisoft Connect entries in the Windows registry. It also keeps the shortcuts and programs you add by hand. Mantel times your play sessions itself.

Accounts

Signing in is optional. Mantel works with installed games without any account.

Steam

You sign in on Steam's own page inside Mantel. Mantel never sees your password, and email Steam Guard codes work. Mantel then reads your owned games and their playtime with the same short-lived token the Steam store page uses.

Xbox

You sign in on Microsoft's own page and allow Mantel to read your Xbox profile (the XboxLive.signin and XboxLive.offline_access permissions). Mantel never sees your password. It reads your play history and minutes played from Xbox Live.

Services the app talks to

• Steam: the Steam store (game details and search) and the Steam Web API (your owned games, only when you're signed in), plus Steam's image servers for artwork.
• Microsoft and Xbox Live: Microsoft's sign-in service and Xbox Live, only when you're signed in to Xbox.
• GOG: GOG's public API, for artwork and game details.
• SteamGridDB: only if you add your own SteamGridDB key, for artwork the stores don't have.
• GitHub: to check for a new version of Mantel, shortly after it starts and then every few hours, and to download an update when you choose to install it.

These requests ask for game information and artwork. As with any internet request, the service sees your IP address; its own privacy policy applies to that. Mantel sends nothing to anyone else.

Where your data is stored

Everything stays on your PC in %APPDATA%\com.playmantel.launcher\:

• user.json holds your settings, favorites, playtime and the account tokens.
• cache.json holds the last library scan and what Mantel looked up online. It can be deleted at any time; Mantel rebuilds it.

Like a browser, Mantel's built-in web view keeps its own cache and cookies in %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.playmantel.launcher\. That includes artwork it has already shown and, while you're signed in, your Steam session.

Signing out and deleting your data

• Sign out: Settings → Accounts signs you out and deletes the tokens. Signing out of Steam also empties the web view's cookies.
• Remove Mantel's access to your Microsoft account: you can also do this from your Microsoft account, under apps and services you've given access.
• Delete everything: uninstall Mantel and delete the %APPDATA%\com.playmantel.launcher\ and %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.playmantel.launcher\ folders.

This website

playmantel.com is a static page with no cookies, no analytics and no trackers. Its font is served from this site, not from a font service. The site is hosted on Vercel, and its domain's DNS runs on Cloudflare; like any web host, they process standard request data such as your IP address to deliver the page. Download links go to GitHub, where GitHub's privacy statement applies.

Children

Mantel doesn't collect personal data from anyone, including children.

Changes and contact

If any of this changes, this page will be updated along with the date at the top. Questions are welcome as an issue on GitHub.