Privacy Policy

Effective [effective date]

Clearing is a Chrome extension made by Studio Luna. This policy explains what information Clearing works with and what happens to it.

The short version: everything Clearing does with your tabs happens on your own computer. Your tabs, their addresses and their contents are never sent anywhere, and Studio Luna never sees them. The only information that leaves your browser is what's needed to buy and check a license, described below.

What Clearing works with

To show your tabs as a grid, Clearing reads what Chrome already knows about your open tabs: their titles, web addresses, site icons, and the tab groups you've made, including their names and colors. This information is used to draw the grid and is never saved. It lives only in the page while Clearing is open, and disappears when you close it. The same is true of anything you type into Clearing's search, and of the undo history.

To show a preview picture on each card, Clearing photographs the visible part of a tab while you are looking at it. It only ever photographs the tab you are currently on, never one in the background. Chrome does not allow this on its own settings pages, on the Chrome Web Store, or on other extensions' pages, and Clearing simply shows no preview there.

Clearing also remembers five preferences: your last view, your layout, your background, whether group names are shown, and which tab you came from, so that card can be highlighted.

Where it's kept

Preview pictures and preferences are stored in Clearing's own storage inside your browser, on your device. Your titles, web addresses and group names are never written to storage at all.

Preview pictures are small, and they don't accumulate. When you close a tab, its picture is deleted immediately. Whenever Clearing opens, and whenever your browser starts, it also clears out any pictures left over from tabs that no longer exist.

Clearing does not use Chrome's sync feature, so nothing is copied through your Google account to your other devices. Each computer keeps its own settings and its own previews.

Buying a license

Purchases are handled by Lemon Squeezy, which acts as the merchant of record — it is legally the seller for the transaction. When you buy a license, your details go to Lemon Squeezy rather than to us. Your payment card details never reach Studio Luna at any point.

What Lemon Squeezy collects, and how it handles it, is covered by Lemon Squeezy's privacy policy. From the order, Studio Luna can see your email address, the country used to work out tax, and the license key that was issued. We use that only to support you and to honor refunds.

Checking a license

After the trial ends, Clearing needs to confirm that a license is valid. This is the one part of Clearing that talks to a server.

To check, Clearing sends your license key and an identifier for the machine to Lemon Squeezy's license service. The machine identifier is what allows a license to be counted against the three-machine limit and released again later. [machine identifier detail — confirm what is actually sent: whether it is a randomly generated value created by Clearing, or something derived from the browser or computer.]

The check sends two things: your license key and the machine identifier. Nothing else goes with it, and nothing about your tabs — not their titles, not their addresses, not their pictures.

Lemon Squeezy's reply confirms whether the license is valid. It also includes the order the license belongs to, which carries the name and email address used when buying. That is your own information coming back to software you installed. Clearing does not send it anywhere else, and does not store it. [confirm against the extension: the cached license answer must not include the returned order details]

Clearing remembers the answer so it keeps working offline. If the check can't get through, Clearing carries on rather than locking you out.

[trial recording detail — how the seven-day trial start is recorded, and whether that involves any contact with a server. To be written once the trial mechanism is built.]

What Clearing doesn't do

Clearing contains no analytics, no tracking, no advertising, no user accounts, and no third-party code or libraries bundled into the extension. It doesn't read the text on your pages, what you type, your forms, your passwords, your browsing history, your bookmarks or your cookies.

It doesn't sell your information to anyone, and it doesn't transfer it to anyone except as described above — the purchase, which goes through Lemon Squeezy, and the license check, which contacts Lemon Squeezy's license service. Nothing about your browsing is involved in either.

About the permission warning Chrome shows you

When you install Clearing, Chrome will tell you it can read and change your data on all websites. That warning is the same for every extension that needs it, and it is broader than what Clearing does. Chrome requires this permission before an extension can take a picture of a page, and taking that picture is the only thing Clearing uses it for. Clearing does not read, alter or send the contents of any site you visit.

Site icons

Each card shows the icon of the site in that tab. To display it, your browser requests the icon from that site, just as it does when you're viewing the site normally. Clearing does not use any icon service, so nothing goes through Studio Luna, Google or any other third party. A site can see that its own icon was requested, and nothing about your other tabs is included.

Removing your data

Uninstalling Clearing deletes everything it has stored on your machine. Chrome removes the extension's storage automatically.

Your purchase record stays with Lemon Squeezy as the seller, as their own policy describes, and we keep the order details needed for tax and accounting.

Chrome Web Store commitment

Clearing's use of information complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.

Changes to this policy

If the way Clearing handles information ever changes, this page and the date at the top will be updated before the change takes effect.

Contact

Questions about privacy are welcome at support@getclearing.app.