Surflow
Privacy Policy
Surflow is built privacy-first. By default everything stays on your own computer. The only time any of your data leaves your browser is if you choose to sign in for cloud backup, or if you send us feedback. We never sell your data, show ads, or track your browsing.
Who we are
Surflow is a Chrome extension that manages your browser tabs (workspaces, a tree view, and tags). "Surflow", "we", "us" refers to the developer of Surflow. You can reach us any time through the in-app feedback form or at [email protected].
What Surflow stores, and where
1. On your device (always, no account needed)
The core product runs entirely locally. Your tab tree, tab titles and URLs, tags,
workspaces, snapshots, and preferences are kept in your browser's own storage
(chrome.storage.local). This data never leaves your computer, and we have no
way to access it.
2. In the cloud (only if you sign in)
Cloud backup is optional and off until you sign in with Google. If you enable it, we store:
- Your account identity: the email address and a Google account identifier returned when you sign in. We use these only to identify your account. (Your Google profile name and picture are shown inside the extension for display, but are not stored on our servers.)
- Your backup: a copy of your tabs (titles and URLs), tags, and workspace names — the same data you already keep locally — so you can restore it on another computer. It is tied to your account and overwritten each time it syncs (we keep the latest backup, not a history, on the free plan). On the free plan the backup includes up to 5 workspaces — your most recently used, or the ones you choose with the cloud selector; the rest stay on your device only.
We do not receive your browsing history, cookies, passwords, or any tab you don't have open in Surflow. We do not use your backup for anything other than storing and returning it to you.
3. Feedback you send us
If you use the in-app feedback form, we store what you submit — the message, its type (bug/feature), an optional email address, an optional screenshot you attach, and basic technical context (browser user-agent) — so we can respond and improve Surflow.
Permissions Surflow requests, and why
| Permission | Why it's needed |
|---|---|
| Tabs / tab groups | To read and organize your open tabs — the core feature. |
| Bookmarks | To show and open your bookmarks as tags inside Surflow. |
| Storage | To save your tabs, tags, workspaces and settings on your device. |
| Side panel | To display Surflow in Chrome's side panel. |
| Identity | Only used if you choose to sign in with Google for cloud backup. |
Who we share data with
We do not sell, rent, or trade your data. We use a small number of service providers only to run the features above:
- Google — for optional sign-in. When you sign in, Google confirms your identity to us (email + account id). Your use of Google sign-in is subject to Google's Privacy Policy.
- Cloudflare — hosts our backend and stores cloud backups and feedback. Data is processed on Cloudflare's infrastructure on our behalf.
How long we keep it
- Local data stays until you remove it or uninstall the extension.
- Cloud backups are kept while your account exists. Deleting your cloud data or your account removes them from our live systems immediately.
- Deselected workspaces: if you remove a workspace from your backup selection, it remains part of the cloud backup for a 3-day grace period and is dropped at the next sync after that. It always stays untouched on your device.
- Provider backups: our hosting provider (Cloudflare) keeps short-lived, infrastructure-level database backups for disaster recovery; deleted or overwritten data can persist in those backups for up to about 30 days before it expires automatically.
- Feedback is kept as long as needed to act on it.
Your choices and controls
- Don't sign in — and nothing ever leaves your device.
- Choose what's backed up — the cloud selector in the workspaces bar lets you pick exactly which workspaces are included in the backup.
- Delete cloud data — in Settings → Cloud, one click wipes your backup from our servers.
- Delete your account — removes your account and everything we store for it, immediately.
- Sign out — stops cloud backup; your local data is untouched.
- Export — you can export your data to a file at any time from Settings.
To request deletion or ask a data question, use the in-app feedback form or email [email protected].
Security
Cloud requests are sent over HTTPS. Your backup is tied to your account and reachable only with a valid session issued after you sign in. No database credentials are ever shipped in the extension. That said, no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we can't guarantee absolute security.
Children
Surflow is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as Surflow evolves. Material changes will be reflected here with a new "Last updated" date.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Email [email protected] or use the feedback form inside Surflow.