Retrace — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-09-28

Retrace is a tab and session manager for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. It is built to be private by default: everything Retrace stores stays on your own computer, and Retrace makes no network requests — it has no servers, no account system, and no analytics. The extension's content-security policy blocks network connections outright, so this is enforced by the browser, not just promised.

What data Retrace handles

Retrace works with the following information, only for the sessions and windows you choose to save or that are shown to you in its interface:

• Tab information — the title and URL of open tabs. Site icons are shown from your browser's own local favicon cache; Retrace never fetches them from the sites.
• Sessions, Spaces and templates you create — the names, groupings, pins, and archive state you assign; any notes you write on a session, a page or a Space; and any auto-filing rules you give a Space (sites and words). Suggestions for which Space a session belongs in are worked out on your device from this same data.
• An activity log — a local list of actions you take in Retrace (saved, reopened, renamed, pinned, archived, deleted), so you can retrace your steps.
• Recovery timeline — every few minutes, the titles and URLs of the tabs open in your normal (never incognito) windows, so you can reopen them after a crash or find a page you closed. Every change in the last 2 hours is kept, then one per hour, for a day (up to 30 days if you choose, with Retrace Pro). You can turn this off or clear it in Settings.
• Music — the songs in your Music library: artist, title, the links you have for it, how often and when you played it, and whether you favourited it. You add songs yourself, or — only if you turn on Listening (Retrace Pro) — Retrace adds a song when a tab on a music site (YouTube, YouTube Music, Spotify, SoundCloud, Bandcamp) has been playing sound with the same title for 20 seconds. It reads only that tab's title and address; it never accesses audio, and nothing is sent anywhere.
• Kept windows — if “Keep my windows automatically” is on (it can be turned off in Settings), the titles and URLs of the tabs in a busy window (5 or more pages, open 10 minutes), kept on your device so you can get them back after closing it. A closed kept window is removed after 14 days (30 or 90 with Retrace Pro), unless you keep it. Incognito windows are never kept.
• Listening history you import — if you choose a Spotify or Google Takeout export file in Music › Import & export, Retrace reads it on your device and keeps the songs and when you played them. The file is never uploaded. With Retrace Pro, Retrace also keeps a list of when each song was played, for the Insights view.
• Tags and reminders you add to sessions, and which session is kept in sync with which open window (held in memory only until the browser closes).
• Settings — your preferences, such as whether pinned sessions reopen on launch and what the toolbar icon opens.
• A license key (optional) — if you buy the Retrace Pro unlock and paste your key, the key is stored locally. It embeds the email you purchased with; that email stays on your device and is never transmitted by the extension.

Chrome classifies tab URLs and titles as “web browsing activity.” Retrace uses this data solely to provide its features to you.

How Retrace uses this data

The data above is used only to provide Retrace's user-facing features: saving a window as a session, summarizing and searching your sessions, reopening them, grouping them into Spaces (including suggesting or filing a Space for a new session, if you let it), sorting a window's tabs into browser tab groups when you ask, showing and tidying your open windows, reminding you about a session on the toolbar icon, recovering windows after a crash, and showing your activity history. That's it.

Sharing

When you share a session or a Space, Retrace copies its links to your clipboard or saves a file (a .retrace file or a web page of links) where you choose. Nothing is uploaded — you decide where that text or file goes. Notes are left out unless you tick “Include my notes”.

On-device AI

When your device supports your browser's built-in on-device AI (Chrome's Gemini Nano, or Edge's own on-device model), Retrace can generate a short summary, title and topics for a session, group related tabs, write a brief, read a search typed as a sentence and turn it into keywords, suggest which of your Spaces a session belongs in, and write a one-line overview of a Space. This runs entirely on your device. No tab data, notes, searches, or any other information is sent to Google, Microsoft, to us, or to any third party for these features. To avoid re-running the model, recent AI results are kept in a local cache on your device. If on-device AI is unavailable, Retrace builds its summaries and suggestions from the tabs' own titles and web addresses — also on your device.

Importing from other tab managers

You can import a file exported by OneTab, Session Buddy, Toby, or your browser's bookmarks. Retrace reads the file you pick, on your device, and saves its web pages as sessions. Nothing is uploaded.

Backup files, the connected file, and your license key

Backup & restore is part of the optional paid Retrace Pro unlock.

• When you export, Retrace writes a file to a location you choose; that file contains your sessions, Spaces, templates, activity log, and settings, and it stays wherever you save it. You can protect it with a password (AES-256 encryption, done on your device). When you import, Retrace reads a file you pick.
• A connected backup file is a file you choose that Retrace keeps in sync while it's open. If you put it in a folder synced by a cloud service (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive…), that service will hold a copy under its own privacy policy — Retrace never contacts it. Encryption is on by default for the connected file so the service only sees ciphertext; the password is never stored, only a derived key that can't be exported, on your device.

None of these actions makes a network request from Retrace.

Your license key is verified entirely on your device, using a cryptographic signature check against a public key built into the extension. No server is contacted to activate or validate it, so the "no network requests" promise holds even for paid users. Purchasing a key happens on a separate checkout page run by our payment provider, which is governed by that provider's own privacy policy; the Retrace extension is not involved in the purchase.

If you buy Retrace Pro

The extension never handles payment. Retrace Pro is sold through Paddle, our merchant of record, which processes your payment under its own privacy policy. To deliver your license key, Paddle shares with us your email address, your order number and what you bought — never your card or payment details.

• Why we have it: to email you your license key, and to help with support, refunds, or resending a lost key. Emails you send to our support address are handled the same way.
• Where it's kept: in our Proton Mail inbox (stored encrypted) and in Paddle's records. Your email is also written into your license key, which stays on your device.
• How long: for as long as you might need your key resent or your purchase supported — or until you ask us to delete it.
• What we don't do: we never use it for marketing and never share it with anyone else.
• Your rights: you can ask to see, correct, or delete what we hold about you by emailing contact@retrace-addon.store. We'll delete it on our side; Paddle may have to keep transaction records for tax law, and a key you already have keeps working.

Where the data is stored

All of the above is stored locally using the browser's chrome.storage.local API (and, for the connected backup file's handle and key, the extension's IndexedDB), on the device where you use Retrace. It is not transmitted off your device, not synced to other devices by Retrace, and not sent to us or any third party. Retrace does not use chrome.storage.sync.

What Retrace does NOT do

• No data is sold, rented, or shared with anyone.
• No advertising, ad targeting, retargeting, or interest-based profiling.
• No account, login, or personally identifying registration.
• No remote code and no external analytics or tracking.
• No transmission of your data over the network — Retrace makes no network requests at all.

Retention and deletion

Your data stays until you delete it. You are in control:

• Deleted sessions go to a trash in Settings for 30 days (so an accidental delete can be undone), then are removed for good. “Delete forever” and “Empty trash” remove them immediately and blank their titles in the activity log.
• Activity history (up to 500 entries) can be cleared in Settings at any time.
• The recovery timeline can be turned off and cleared in Settings.
• Music: remove any song in the Music library; with Retrace Pro, turn Listening off, forget today's plays, or remove all music in Settings.
• Kept windows: forget any of them under Sessions › Kept, or turn keeping off in Settings; closed ones are removed after 14 days (30 or 90 with Pro).
• Notes are removed when you clear them or delete what they're on; the local AI cache holds only recent results and is removed with the extension.
• Removing (uninstalling) the extension, or clearing the extension's site data in your browser, permanently erases everything Retrace has stored.

Because the data never leaves your device, there is nothing for us to delete on our side — we never have it.

Limited Use disclosure

Retrace's use of information received from Chrome APIs adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Specifically, tab and browsing data accessed by Retrace is used only to provide user-facing features described here and in the store listing; it is never transferred to third parties except as required by law, never used for advertising, and never read by a human (there is no server for anyone to read it from — it stays on your device).

Children's privacy

Retrace is a general-purpose productivity tool and is not directed at children. The extension collects no personal information.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this same location with a new “Last updated” date.

Contact

Questions about this policy or Retrace's privacy practices: contact@retrace-addon.store