HomeTab Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2 November 2026

HomeTab is a Chrome extension that replaces the new tab page with your bookmark folders, chosen by where you are. It is built so that your data stays in your browser.

What HomeTab stores, and where

Everything HomeTab stores lives inside your Chrome profile on your own device (chrome.storage.local and IndexedDB). Nothing is sent to the developer or to any server operated by the developer. HomeTab has no backend, no accounts and no analytics.

Stored locally:

• Your settings: locations (names, coordinates, radius), blocks, layouts, themes and backgrounds you chose.
• Thumbnails of bookmarked pages that you asked HomeTab to capture or fetch, and images you chose from a file for a card.
• Cached feed entries (kept for a short time to avoid refetching).
• Background images or videos you picked from a local file.

Removing the extension removes all of it. Thumbnails can also be deleted from the settings drawer.

Browser data HomeTab reads

• Bookmarks (bookmarks permission): read to show the folders you pick on the new tab page, and to match the page you are on against your bookmarks when you use the toolbar button. Bookmarks are never modified or uploaded.
• Tabs and windows (tabs permission): used to open links, to open a bookmarked page in a small window while a thumbnail is captured, and to capture the tab you are looking at when you click the toolbar button.
• Page content for thumbnails (scripting and host permissions): when you ask for a screenshot, HomeTab runs a small script in that page that only waits for the page to finish rendering, then captures an image of it. The image is downscaled and stored locally. HomeTab does not read or store the page's text or form data.
• Most visited sites, history and recently closed tabs (topSites, history, sessions): optional. Chrome asks for each of these only when you add a block that needs it. They are read to display the block and are not stored by HomeTab.
• Location (browser geolocation): optional. If auto-detect is on, your current position is compared with your saved locations to pick which one to show. The position is used in the moment and is not stored or transmitted. You can turn auto-detect off and switch locations by hand.

Network requests HomeTab makes

HomeTab only contacts third-party sites to do what you configured. Those sites see your IP address and the request, as any website visit would.

• Feeds: the RSS/Atom URLs or sites you enter in a feed block.
• Site preview images: when you choose "Use site preview image", the bookmarked page and its og:image are fetched to get the picture.
• Embedded pages: a web page block loads the URL you entered in a frame.
• Search: a search block sends your query to the search engine you chose, by opening its results page.
• Train departures: Rejseplanen's API, with the access key you entered.
• Map: OpenStreetMap tiles and Nominatim address search, only while the location editor is open.
• Favicons: provided by Chrome's own favicon service, not fetched by HomeTab.

No request includes identifiers added by HomeTab.

Data sharing and sale

HomeTab does not collect, share, sell or transfer user data to anyone. The developer has no access to your data.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be published at the same address and the "Last updated" date will change.

Contact

Jeppe Bårris — jeppe@barris.dk