TimePrivacy Policy
Last updated: 4 September 2026
TimeRetriever does not transmit, sell or share any data. Nothing it stores ever leaves your computer.
What the extension stores
TimeRetriever stores your settings using your browser's own extension storage:
- Which elements you chose to hide, one on/off value per element, plus the hours you set for a network, a group or a single element, whether a site is paused and until when, whether a site is shown in black and white, and whether the arithmetic prompt is on and how hard it is. These are kept in
chrome.storage.sync, so that if you are signed in to your browser, your own browser syncs them across your devices. They are never sent to us. - How long you spent on each supported site, day by day, kept in
chrome.storage.local. These totals stay on your computer. You can erase them at any time with “Reset to defaults”. See “The time counter” below. - An anonymous installation identifier and an installation date, kept in
chrome.storage.local. They stay on your computer. They are not transmitted anywhere, and they are not linked to you, your browser profile, or anything you do on any website. - The sites you add yourself — for each one, the address you typed and the name you gave it. Nothing else: no pages, no record of visiting it, no account. These live in
chrome.storage.syncalongside your other settings, so your own browser carries them between your devices. They are never sent to us.
That is the complete list. TimeRetriever keeps no history of what you watched, no record of the pages you opened, and no record of when you turned anything on or off.
The time counter
TimeRetriever shows how long you spent on each site this week, next to that site's name — the five built-in ones and any site you added yourself. It is part of what the extension does and there is no switch for it — but the totals never leave your computer, and you can erase them whenever you want.
While it is on, the extension adds up the time one of those sites is open in the tab you are actually looking at. It keeps one total per site per day, and nothing else: not which page you were on, not which video, not which account, not what time of day it was. A site you never open has no total. A site you never added has no total either — the extension does not run there at all.
Those totals are kept in chrome.storage.local, on your computer. They are not synced to your other devices, and they are never sent to us — there is still no server for them to be sent to. “Reset to defaults”, at the bottom of the panel, erases them.
Site icons
The extension shows each supported site's icon next to its settings. That icon comes from your browser's own favicon cache, through the browser's favicon permission. No image is downloaded for it, and no request leaves your computer.
What the extension does not do
- It does not read, store or transmit your browsing history. It never looks at a site that is not on your list.
- It does not read, store or transmit the content of any page you visit.
- It does not send any network request to any server operated by us or by anyone else. The extension ships with all the rules it needs.
- It does not send the time counter anywhere. Your browser keeps it on your computer, and there is no server for it to be sent to.
- It does not use analytics, trackers, advertising identifiers or cookies.
- It does not interact with your accounts on any website. It never follows, unfollows, likes, posts, votes or comments for you.
- It does not block advertising.
Permissions
TimeRetriever asks for access to all websites when you install it, and your browser tells you so in plain words. It needs that access because the sites it works on are your choice: five come built in, and any other one you add by typing its address into the extension's panel. Which sites those will be cannot be known when the extension is built, so the access has to be asked for up front.
Broad access is not broad behaviour, and the difference is the whole point. TimeRetriever loads its code on the five built-in sites and on the sites you added, and nowhere else. On every other website on the internet it does nothing at all: no code runs, nothing is read, nothing is stored. Access is what your browser grants; where the extension actually runs is decided by the list you control, in the panel, and you can take any site off it at any time.
On a site that is on the list, it reads the page structure only to find the elements you asked it to hide, and hides them with CSS. It does not read the page's content, your account, or anything you type. If you would rather not grant access to everything, your browser lets you narrow it: open chrome://extensions, find TimeRetriever, and set its site access to the specific sites you want. The extension keeps working on those.
Changes
If a future version ever collects anything, this policy will be updated before that version ships, and the change will be described in the extension's store listing.