Privacy policy

In short

• No account, no analytics, no advertising, no tracking and no remote code.
• The extension makes no network requests of its own. Page content is read and compared only on your device.
• Your rules, settings and change log are stored in Chrome on your computer and are deleted when you remove the extension.

What RefreshWatch handles

• Tab addresses. To refresh a tab, match it against your saved rules, and notice when it leaves the site it started on, RefreshWatch reads the address of the tabs it refreshes.
• Page text. When you turn on watching, RefreshWatch reads the visible text of the page, or of the one element you picked, after each refresh and compares it with the previous refresh. With a keyword watch it checks whether your keyword is present.
• Your choices. Intervals, the element you picked (stored as a CSS selector), keywords, alert choices, saved rules and default settings.
• The change log. For each detected change: the time, the page address, the rule (if any), and up to 300 characters of text before and after. At most the last 50 changes are kept.

When you click a button you picked for “click a button after reload”, RefreshWatch clicks it in your own browser, as you would.

Where it is stored, and for how long

• While a tab is running, its timer state and the last compared text are kept in Chrome's session storage (chrome.storage.session). Chrome clears this when the browser closes or the extension is updated or removed.
• Rules, default settings and the change log are kept in Chrome's local extension storage (chrome.storage.local) on this computer until you delete a rule, select Clear log, or remove RefreshWatch. They are not synced.

Collection and sharing

RefreshWatch does not transmit page content, addresses, settings or usage information to the developer or anyone else. It has no server, analytics, advertising, tracking or account system. Alerts are shown with Chrome's own notifications and played on your computer. RefreshWatch does not sell or share user data.

Permissions

• Alarms time the refreshes. Storage keeps your rules, settings and log. Notifications show alerts. Offscreen plays the alert sound.
• Active tab lets the popup work with the tab you're on when you open it.
• Scripting runs RefreshWatch's own packaged scripts on a site you have allowed: to read the watched text, run the element picker, click the button you picked, and keep the scroll position.
• Site access is optional and asked for one site at a time, only when you turn on watching, clicking, keep-scroll or a saved rule for that site. You can remove it any time in Chrome's extension settings. Plain auto refresh needs none.

Limited use

RefreshWatch uses website content and tab addresses only to provide its single purpose: refreshing the tabs you choose and alerting you when their content changes. This use complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Your control

Stop any tab from the popup. Delete rules and clear the change log on the options page. Remove site access in Chrome's extension settings. Removing RefreshWatch deletes everything it stored.

Children

RefreshWatch is a general-purpose browser tool. It collects no personal information from anyone, including children.

Changes to this policy

If a future version handles data differently, this page will be updated before that version is published, with a new effective date.

Contact

For privacy or support questions, see the support page or email support@refreshwatch.com.