Some users have expressed privacy concerns over our use of Freemius, so we’d like to provide more information on how this works and how you can opt out.
We have more information on why we use Freemius here as well.
While there have been privacy issues with Freemius in the past, they have systematically addressed these concerns, and there are no major outstanding privacy issues as of March 2023. This has been verified by independent analysis (read more here).
One change they’ve made is the ability to completely opt out of tracking even with paid versions of the plugin, and that’s what we’ll cover here.
How to opt-out of Freemius
If you are using the free version of Independent Analytics, then you were presented with this screen upon activating the plugin:
If you chose to Skip this step, then your site has never shared data with Freemius.
If you agreed to data sharing by accident or you changed your mind, you can visit the Plugins menu, locate our plugin, and click the blue Opt Out link pictured here:
You’ll see a popup allowing you to opt out of sharing your basic profile info, site info, and themes/plugins installed.
Opting out of these data sharing options won’t have any impact on Independent Analytics ability to run. We use this data primarily in aggregate to see things like the PHP versions that are most popular among our users, and the languages being used.
Opting Out for PRO users
If you are using Independent Analytics Pro, the steps are almost identical. You will still click the Opt Out link in the Plugins menu, but the popup is different in two ways.
The first difference is that you’ll notice there is no option to opt out of basic profile info. This is because this data was collected at checkout and was required to facilitate the sale.
The other difference is the Required section at the top, which shows that your site shares data about the license key and the plugin’s state. If you click on the Opt Out link there, you’ll see the following warning:
This is letting you know that opting out of sharing licensing data means that your site will no longer receive automatic updates.
It’s perfectly fine to opt out if you would like. You will just have to login to your account and download a new copy of the plugin whenever it’s updated. You’ll receive a zip file you can then upload through the Plugins > Add New menu to update.
Since you won’t receive update notifications, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit to get notified when we release a new update. Alternatively, you can keep the free version installed but deactivated and use that to get update notifications. We keep the free and pro versions in sync, so if you see a new update for the free version, that means there’s a new pro update available for download too.