Privacy Policy

Thank you for using Fluent New Tab. Your privacy is and always will be critically important. This policy explains what data the extension handles and why, ensuring you have full transparency and control.

1. The Golden Rule: No Personal Data Collection

Fluent New Tab does not collect, store, transmit, or sell your personal data. Period.

We do not use any tracking scripts, analytics, or telemetry. We have no way of knowing who you are, how you use the extension, or what you search for.

2. Your Data Stays On Your Device

All your settings—including preferences, custom shortcuts, and uploaded wallpapers—are stored locally on your computer using the browser's built-in storage (localStorage and IndexedDB). This data is yours and yours alone; we have no access to it.

3. Third-Party Services: How Features Work

To provide features like weather and dynamic content, the extension needs to request information from external services. This communication happens directly between your browser and the service provider. No data ever passes through our servers.

Below is a list of all third-party services used and why:

• Search Suggestions: When you type in the search bar, queries are sent to your chosen search engine (e.g., Google) to provide auto-completion suggestions.
• Weather Information: If you enable the weather widget, the location you provide is sent to Open-Meteo to fetch current weather data and forecasts.
• Dynamic Wallpapers: If you enable a dynamic wallpaper, the extension fetches a new image daily from one of the following sources:
  • Bing Wallpaper: peapix.com
  • NASA Picture of the Day: api.nasa.gov
  • Wikimedia Picture of the Day: commons.wikimedia.org

4. Permissions Explained

To ensure full transparency, below is the full `manifest.json` file, which declares all permissions the extension requires. Following the file, you'll find a detailed explanation of each permission requested.

General Permissions

• storage: This permission is essential for saving your personal settings, such as your preferred theme, custom shortcuts, and widget configurations, directly on your local device.
• unlimitedStorage: This permission allows the extension to store larger files locally, such as high-resolution custom wallpapers that you upload from your computer. It prevents the browser from deleting your wallpapers if it runs low on storage space.
• search: This permission enables the "System default" search engine option. It allows the extension to utilize the browser's native search API to use your system's default search provider, fulfilling the Chrome Web Store's Single Purpose Policy.
• alarms: An optional permission that is only requested when the "Weather Alerts" feature is active. It is used to schedule API calls and trigger the alerts for this feature.

Optional Host Permissions

To give you maximum control, all external host permissions are optional by default. You are no longer required to pre-approve these hosts when installing the extension. Instead, you will be prompted to grant permission individually only when you activate a feature that requires it.

These optional permissions allow the extension to communicate with specific external services to fetch dynamic content. No data is ever sent to our servers.

• Search Suggestions (e.g., google.com): Used to provide auto-completion suggestions in the search bar.
• Dynamic Wallpapers (e.g., peapix.com, nasa.gov, wikimedia.org): Used to fetch daily background images from your selected source.
• Weather Widget (e.g., open-meteo.com): Used to fetch geographic coordinates and current weather forecast data.

5. You Are in Control

Because all data is stored on your device, you have complete control. You can delete all your data at any time by:

1. Using the "Reset to Defaults" option in the extension's settings.
2. Clearing your browser's local storage for the extension.
3. Uninstalling the extension, which automatically removes all its associated data.

6. Open Source and Verifiable

Fluent New Tab is 100% open-source. We invite you to review the source code on GitHub to verify that the extension operates exactly as described in this policy.

7. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect new features or clarify our practices. Any changes will be posted on this page with a revised "Last Updated" date.

8. Contact Me

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how your data is handled, please open an issue on our snw-mint@outlook.com.