Refreshly Privacy Policy

1. Summary

• Refreshly stores your settings, monitored pages, and keywords locally in your browser, using the standard chrome.storage.local API.
• Refreshly does not operate any server. There is no Refreshly-owned backend that your data is ever sent to.
• No account, sign-up, or login is required to use Refreshly.
• Refreshly does not include any analytics, telemetry, or advertising SDK, and does not track your browsing activity.
• If you choose to turn on email alerts, webhook alerts, or the optional AI helper, the extension sends a request directly from your browser to the third-party service you configured (e.g. your email API provider, your webhook URL, or Google's Gemini API using your own key). Refreshly does not see or relay that data through a server of its own — because none exists.

2. What Refreshly processes

To do its job, Refreshly reads and processes:

• Page content of tabs you choose to monitor — the visible text, HTML source, or specific elements you point it at (via a CSS selector) — so it can detect keyword matches or content changes.
• URLs of monitored tabs, to know which page a refresh or monitoring session applies to.
• Settings you configure — refresh intervals, schedules, keywords, monitoring rules, alert preferences, webhook URLs, and email delivery configuration (including any API key you enter for your own email provider).
• Alert history — a local record of when a match was found, so the popup can show you recent activity.

Refreshly does not read pages you have not asked it to monitor, and does not access your browsing history, bookmarks, passwords, or other browser data outside of what's described above.

3. Where data is stored

Everything above is stored using chrome.storage.local — a storage area provided by your browser that lives only on your device, tied to your local installation of the extension. It is not synced to any Refreshly server, because Refreshly does not operate one. Uninstalling the extension or clearing its storage removes this data from your device.

4. Whether data leaves your browser

By default, no data leaves your browser. Refreshly makes network requests only in these specific cases:

• Refreshing and monitoring the page you're watching. To refresh a tab, or to check a page in the background without a full reload ("background request" mode), Refreshly's background script requests that page's own URL — the same request your browser would normally make by visiting it.
• Delivering alerts you've explicitly configured — see the next section.
• Optional AI assistance you've explicitly enabled with your own API key — see below.

Refreshly does not send your settings, monitored content, or usage patterns to any server it operates, because it does not operate one.

5. Email and webhook alerts

Email and webhook delivery are optional, "bring-your-own" alert channels. If you turn them on, Refreshly sends the alert directly from your browser to the destination you configured:

• Email: you provide the connection details for an HTTP email API (for example SendGrid or Mailgun, or a compatible provider), including your own API key and sender/recipient addresses. Refreshly's background script calls that provider's API directly from your browser using the credentials you supplied. Refreshly never receives or stores a copy of these emails elsewhere — the only copy of your API key lives in your local browser storage.
• Webhooks: you provide a URL (for example a Slack, Discord, Telegram, or ntfy endpoint, or any custom URL). When a match is detected, Refreshly sends an HTTP POST with the alert details directly to that URL from your browser.

In both cases, the request goes from your browser to the third party you chose — not through any Refreshly server. You are responsible for the privacy practices of whichever email or webhook provider you choose to use.

6. Optional AI assistance

Refreshly includes an optional feature that can call Google's Gemini API to help generate monitoring keywords or automation scripts. This feature requires you to supply your own Gemini API key, is off unless you turn it on, and — like email and webhooks — sends requests directly from your browser to Google's API using your key, not through a Refreshly server. Any content you submit to this feature is subject to Google's own privacy terms for the Gemini API.

7. Analytics and tracking

Refreshly does not include any analytics, telemetry, crash-reporting, or advertising SDK. It does not use cookies, tracking pixels, or fingerprinting. We have no visibility into what pages you monitor, how often you use the extension, or any other usage data, because nothing is instrumented to collect or transmit it.

8. Browser permissions

Refreshly requests the following Chrome extension permissions, each used only for its stated purpose:

• tabs — to identify and control the tab you're refreshing or monitoring.
• storage — to save your settings locally, as described above.
• alarms — to schedule refresh cycles and timed checks reliably in the background.
• commands — to support optional keyboard shortcuts (e.g. start/stop refresh).
• webNavigation — to detect when a monitored page finishes loading, so Refreshly knows when to check it.
• webRequest — used read-only, to read the HTTP status code of a monitored tab's own page load, so Refreshly can detect error pages (like a 404 or 500) and pause automatically. It is not used to intercept, modify, or inspect requests on other sites.
• host permissions (all sites) — required because you can choose to monitor or refresh any site; Refreshly only acts on tabs you've started a session on.
• notifications (optional, requested only when you enable alerts) — to show a browser notification when a match is found.
• power (optional, requested only when relevant) — to prevent the display from sleeping while an active refresh or monitoring session is running.

9. Accounts

Refreshly does not require, and does not offer, account creation, sign-up, or login for any core feature. Any provider account you use for email delivery (e.g. a SendGrid account) is between you and that provider.

10. Data retention and deletion

Your settings and alert history remain in local browser storage until you change them, clear them from the extension's options, or uninstall the extension. Uninstalling Refreshly removes its local storage data from your browser. Because this data is never copied to a Refreshly server, there is nothing further for us to delete on our end.

11. Security

Refreshly runs with the security boundaries of Chrome's extension platform. Any custom automation script you write runs inside a sandboxed page with a restricted content-security-policy, isolated from your browsing data and from the main extension context, and can only interact with the page through a controlled messaging bridge. API keys you enter (for email delivery or the optional AI feature) are stored only in your local browser storage and are used only to make the requests you've configured.

12. Third-party services

Refreshly itself does not integrate any third-party analytics or advertising service. The only third-party network activity is the one you explicitly configure: the site you choose to monitor, the email API provider you connect, the webhook destination you set, or Google's Gemini API if you enable AI assistance. Each is governed by that third party's own terms and privacy policy.

13. Children's privacy

Refreshly is a general-purpose browser utility and is not directed at children. It does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, regardless of age, because it does not collect personal information at all in the course of normal use.

14. Changes to this policy

If Refreshly's functionality changes in a way that affects this policy — for example, adding a new integration — we'll update this page and the "Last updated" date above. Material changes affecting how data is handled will be reflected here before or alongside the corresponding extension update.

15. Contact

Questions about this policy or how Refreshly works can be sent to hello@refreshly.app (placeholder — replace with your preferred support address).