Chris Hennes developed an opt-in Telemetry addon to help the development team make good decisions and help answer questions like:
How many people are affected by a given bug?
How many people are running an addon that may be affected by an API change?
Which platforms are the most popular and should receive the most development support?
How many people are using a specific translation and would benefit from improving it?
How long should we maintain support and documentation for older releases?
How can we improve the default user experience based on how users customize FreeCAD?
What grant applications should get priority?
To assist with that, the addon transmits select information about your copy of FreeCAD back to a central server.
The addon recently passed initial beta testing. If you are interested in helping developers gain more actionable data, please install it. That’s all you need to do.
FAQ
Is this an opt-in feature?
Yes, you need to manually install the addon via the Addon Manager. You may need to update the cache in the Addon Manager first.
Do you have plans to make this an opt-out feature later on?
No, we have no such plans.
What kind of information does it send?
FreeCAD preferences, including all customizations
Essential system information (platform, architecture)
The list of installed 3rd-party addons
Data about incorrect shutdowns of FreeCAD
Does the addon send any personal information?
No. The addon collects only non-identifying telemetry data. Users get assigned random universally unique identifiers (UUIDs).
Can I get a copy of the data that the addon collected about my copy of FreeCAD?
Yes. Please follow these instructions .
Can I opt out of sending telemetry data?
Yes. Simply uninstall the addon.
Can I request the removal of data that the addon sent from my computer?
Yes. Please follow these instructions .
Is the addon compliant with the GDPR?
We currently use the PostHog service, the data is retained in the EU.
How can I make sure that the addon does what you claim it does?
The source code is available for inspection .
Once we collect a sufficient amount of data, we will start publishing it openly for everyone.
Who is behind this project?
Collecting useful telemetry data was discussed during a recent bi-monthly FreeCAD developer call. The code was written by Chris Hennes, one of FreeCAD’s maintainers. The data is collected and stewarded by The FreeCAD Project Association AISBL .