English
PageEcho is a smart new-tab browser extension that uses actual browser activity to generate shortcuts, continue-using suggestions, daily destinations, and suggested page groups. It also provides optional local full-text search and idle-tab management. This policy explains what PageEcho processes in supported desktop browsers, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox, why it is processed, where it is stored, and how users can control or delete it.
1. Core privacy principles
- Analysis, recommendations, and full-text indexing run locally on the user's device.
- PageEcho does not require an account.
- Browsing history, bookmarks, page text, effective usage time, page relationships, and search indexes are not sent to servers operated by the PageEcho developer.
- PageEcho does not sell, rent, or share browsing data and does not use it for advertising or cross-site tracking.
- PageEcho currently has no third-party analytics SDK, advertising SDK, remote crash reporting, or cloud synchronization service.
- PageEcho does not process or record pages opened in Incognito, InPrivate, or Private Browsing windows.
2. Data processed locally
2.1 Browsed pages and usage activity
After the user explicitly enables browsing-activity tracking, PageEcho may process locally:
- page URLs, normalized URLs, titles, hostnames, and browser-provided favicon information;
- visit counts, recent visit times, active dates, and time-of-day buckets;
- the active tab, window-focus state, and active, idle, or locked state reported by the browser;
- effective foreground usage time and local navigation, opener, and co-session relationships;
- for enabled idle-tab cleanup, the URL, title, favicon, and closing time of tabs closed by PageEcho so the action can be undone.
Focus, active-tab, and idle state are used to exclude time when a page is left open while the user is away. PageEcho does not read keyboard input, mouse input, clipboard contents, local files, or operating-system account information.
2.2 Optional history and bookmarks
The history and bookmarks permissions are
optional. After consent, PageEcho may read recent history URLs, titles,
visit counts and times, and local bookmark URLs, titles, identifiers,
and creation times. These are used for first-run cold start, initial
shortcuts, usage patterns, and suggested groups.
PageEcho filters internal pages, unsupported protocols, known login, verification-code and OAuth transition pages, and other sensitive or low-value candidates. Users may decline or revoke these permissions; basic new-tab and manual shortcuts remain available.
2.3 Optional page-text indexing
Page bodies are not read by default. After the user enables page-text indexing and grants optional site access, PageEcho extracts visible text from the active page in a normal window and builds a local index for its title, URL, and text. It stores up to approximately 24,000 characters per page and up to approximately 500 recently indexed pages.
Incognito, InPrivate, or Private Browsing pages, recognized sensitive URLs, and pages containing password or one-time-code fields are skipped. Extracted text is not uploaded. Turning indexing off attempts to revoke site access and removes extracted page bodies while preserving title and URL search.
2.4 User-created and technical data
PageEcho stores user-created shortcut names, URLs and order; confirmed group names and members; recommendation feedback; exclusions; work schedule; language; retention period; and feature settings. It also stores limited local database versions, migration checkpoints, revision values, current-session state, and background-task checkpoints needed for reliable operation and upgrades.
3. Purposes
Local data is used only to:
- generate and rank shortcuts, continue-using suggestions, and daily destinations;
- distinguish work and personal contexts and suggest pages used together;
- calculate effective usage while excluding idle, locked, and unfocused periods;
- provide local title, URL, and optional page-text search;
- provide user-enabled idle-tab cleanup and undo;
- save settings, corrections, and exclusions;
- export or restore a user-requested local backup; and
- migrate and protect existing data during extension updates.
PageEcho does not use this data for credit decisions, sale of profiles, targeted advertising, insurance or employment decisions, or unrelated purposes.
PageEcho handles information received from browser APIs in accordance with applicable platform requirements, including the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy and Limited Use requirements, Microsoft Edge Add-ons policies, and Mozilla Add-on Policies.
4. Storage and transmission
Data is stored in browser-assigned IndexedDB and the extension
storage.local area, plus storage.session when
supported. PageEcho currently has no
developer-operated backend, account system, or cloud sync, so it does
not intentionally transmit this data to the developer.
A user-requested export creates a local JSON file that may contain browsed pages, metrics, groups, text indexes, and settings. Users should protect it like browsing history. PageEcho cannot control copying, uploading, or sharing performed after export.
5. Browser permissions
PageEcho uses WebExtension permissions whose availability may vary by browser.
| Permission | Purpose |
|---|---|
storage | Store local data, settings, indexes, and migration state. |
tabs | Identify active tabs, open page groups, and provide enabled idle-tab management. |
idle | Detect idle or locked state and exclude ineffective usage time. |
alarms | Persist activity segments and perform local maintenance and enabled tab checks. |
webNavigation | Determine navigation and opener relationships locally. |
tabGroups | On Chrome and Edge, open confirmed groups as native browser tab groups on request. |
favicon | On Chrome and Edge, display browser-provided icons; Firefox uses favicon information exposed with tabs. |
scripting | Extract visible text only after indexing and optional site access are enabled. |
Optional history | Read recent history after consent for cold start and recommendations. |
Optional bookmarks | Read local bookmarks after consent for initial shortcuts. |
| Optional site access | Build a local visible-text index after separate consent. |
Optional permissions can be revoked in PageEcho settings or the browser's extension management interface.
6. Sharing and third-party services
PageEcho does not sell or share local browsing data with the developer, advertisers, data brokers, or other third parties.
- Submitting a query in Google mode opens Google; the browser sends the query directly to Google under Google's privacy policy, not to a PageEcho server.
- Opening a shortcut, result, or group visits the chosen site, whose own privacy policy applies.
- Handling of a backup that the user exports, uploads, or shares is outside PageEcho's control.
If cloud sync, accounts, payments, remote AI, analytics, or another server feature is added later, this policy will be updated before activation and additional consent will be requested when required.
7. Retention and deletion
- Usage segments, daily metrics, page relationships, and some snapshots are locally pruned according to the retention setting, which defaults to 180 days.
- Idle-tab recovery records default to a maximum of 50.
- Page text is limited to approximately 500 recent pages; disabling indexing removes extracted bodies.
- Shortcuts, confirmed groups, feedback, exclusions, and settings remain until changed, cleared, or uninstalled.
- Users can export a backup, clear all PageEcho data, revoke permissions, or disable tracking.
- The browser normally removes extension-local storage after uninstall, but the browser and operating system control uninstall and device-backup behavior.
Clearing PageEcho does not delete browser history or bookmarks and does not remove backup files previously exported by the user.
8. User choices
Users may decline or revoke permissions, disable activity tracking, independently control page-text indexing, choose a retention period, hide or reject pages and sites, export a backup, clear local data, or uninstall PageEcho.
9. Security
PageEcho uses local storage, permission minimization, sensitive-page filtering, private-window exclusion, and backup validation. No local storage method is absolutely secure; someone with access to the browser profile, operating-system account, or exported backup may be able to access the data.
10. Children's privacy
PageEcho is not designed for children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from children. Contact us if you believe a child has provided personal information to the PageEcho developer.
11. Changes
This policy may be updated for product, legal, or browser-store policy changes. Material changes will update the date above and, when appropriate, be communicated through the extension or store release notes.
12. Contact
Email: [email protected]