Privacy Policy

Stowshelf is operated by Stowshelf. It's local-first: your picks, notes, images and collections are stored in your browser on your device. If you sign in, they're also synced to your account so they show up on your other devices. We don't sell your data, show ads, or use tracking cookies. We count page visits with privacy-friendly analytics (see below).

Everything you save (links, notes, images, tags, collections, favorites) lives only in your browser's local storage and IndexedDB. Clearing your browser data or uninstalling the app deletes it. We can't see it or recover it.

When you're signed in, a copy of your picks and collections, including images you save, is stored with our database provider, Supabase, linked to your account. Database rules let only your account read it, except collections you choose to share (see Shared collections). It's encrypted on its way to and from our servers, but it isn't end-to-end encrypted: our team could technically access the database, and we do so only to fix a problem you report or when the law requires it. When you delete a pick, its synced copy is erased at the next sync; only a marker that it was deleted is kept, so your other devices remove it too. Your name and theme stay on your device.

Photos and screenshots you add from your device are resized and re-saved inside the app before they're stored, which removes hidden metadata such as GPS location, camera details and the time the photo was taken. A photo's file name can become the pick's title; you can edit it. What's visible in the image itself stays: a screenshot of a bank statement still shows the statement. Stowshelf isn't a password manager or a secure vault, so please don't save passwords, ID documents, card numbers, health records or anything else you couldn't afford to have exposed. On a shared computer, anyone using the same browser can open what you've saved there.

When you save a link, our server fetches that page once to read its title, description, image, icon and text. The text is kept with your pick (on your device, and in your account if you sync) so search can find it. The server receives the URL you saved, but doesn't store it or tie it to you. The preview image and icon then load from the original site in your browser (see Sharing).

We use Vercel Web Analytics to count page views and see which pages are used. It sets no cookies and stores no personal identifiers: it records the page, referrer, country and device type, and tells visitors apart within a day using a hash that's discarded after 24 hours. It never sees what you save.

When you share a collection, anyone with its link can see its name, description and picks: titles, links, descriptions, tags and preview images, the photos and screenshots you uploaded, the full text of your notes, and the addresses and map locations of your places. The private note you add to a pick and the page text saved for search are never shown. The first time you share a collection that holds photos, notes or places, the app says so and asks before making the link. Choose Stop sharing to turn the link off; anyone who already used Save to my Stowshelf keeps their copy.

You can use Stowshelf without an account. If you sign in with email or Google, Supabase stores your email address and basic sign-in details so you can log in and sync. We use them only to run your account, not for marketing.

The extension keeps picks you save in your browser's extension storage until the Stowshelf app is open, then hands them over and clears them. It reads the page you're on only when you click its button, use its shortcut or right-click to save. The selection pill and hover button are off until you turn them on in Options, which asks your browser for permission to run on every site; turning them off removes that.

Payments are processed by Razorpay Software Private Limited (India), which collects your payment details; we never see your full card or bank details. We receive the plan you bought, its status, the amount and the email you paid with.

We don't sell or rent personal data. Here is everyone else who receives any of it, and what they get:

• Vercel hosts the site and our server, so it handles every request to stowshelf.com, and runs the page-view analytics above.
• Supabase (if you sign in) stores your email, sign-in details and plan, and your synced picks and collections, including saved images and page text. Search by meaning sends your picks' text (title, notes, tags and the start of the page text, never Private picks) and what you search for to a Supabase function that turns them into numbers for matching; it keeps nothing. If you sign in with Google, Google learns that you signed in to Stowshelf and passes your email address to Supabase.
• Razorpay (if you buy a plan): see Payments.
• Resend sends our emails: one welcome email when you create an account, and the weekly email, which new accounts get until they turn it off (a link in every email, or Settings). It gets your email address and the email's contents: the titles, domains and preview images of the picks it mentions.
• The sites you save: our server fetches the page when you save it, and every couple of weeks while you use the app checks that it's still there (that site sees our server, not you). In the app, the page's preview image and icon load from that site directly, so it can see your IP address (cards and link previews send no referrer, so those requests don't tell it they came from Stowshelf).
• Google's favicon service: when a saved site has no icon we know of, or its icon fails to load, the small icon on the card loads from www.google.com, which receives that site's domain name (not the page) and your IP address.
• OpenStreetMap: place search in the Save sheet sends what you type, and the coordinates of your last saved place, to komoot's Photon service (or OpenStreetMap's Nominatim if Photon is down), and saving a Google Maps link sends its coordinates there to look up the address. The map tiles behind saved places on cards and our landing page load from OpenStreetMap's tile servers, and the Map page loads its map from OpenFreeMap; both see the map areas you view and your IP address.
• Unsplash serves the photos on our landing page, so it sees your IP address when that page loads. Nothing you save goes there.

We also disclose data when the law requires it.

You can delete any pick at any time, or clear everything by removing site data in your browser. To delete your account, its synced picks and its sign-in data, use Profile → Delete account, or email hello@stowshelf.com.

Stowshelf isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their data.

If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top of this page. Significant changes will be noted in the app.