Who We Are
Arcaneum Focus is a browser extension built and maintained by The Arcaneum, an independent project dedicated to the craft of reading. We are not a data company. We have no advertising partners, no analytics vendors, and no investor obligations that would incentivise us to collect your data. This policy describes precisely how the extension behaves.
Commercial licensing does not change any of this. Licensed and unlicensed users receive identical software and identical privacy protections.
What We Do Not Collect
- No analytics, telemetry, or usage data of any kind
- No record of which articles you read, how long, or when
- No crash reports sent to our servers
- No cookies
- No advertisements
- No sale, sharing, or monetisation of your data
- No account or personal information required to use the extension
There are no third-party analytics services embedded in the extension. The extension makes no outbound network requests to any server operated by The Arcaneum.
Data Stored on Your Device
Arcaneum Focus saves data exclusively to your browser's local storage. This data never leaves your device, except for a small set of preferences that may optionally sync through your browser's own sync service (see Browser Sync below).
| What is stored | Why | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Highlights and their colours | Persist your annotations between sessions | Local storage |
| Notes attached to highlights | Persist notes between sessions | Local storage |
| Sticky notes and their positions | Persist page notes between sessions | Local storage |
| Idea connection board state | Persist your concept maps between sessions | Local storage |
| Scroll position per article | Restore your reading position on return | Local storage |
| Reading Queue (URLs and titles) | Save pages you intend to read later | Local storage |
| Theme preference | Remember your chosen reading theme | Synced preference |
| Font and size preferences | Remember your typography settings | Synced preference |
| Auto-activate reader mode setting | Remember whether reader mode is automatic | Synced preference |
You can inspect or delete all stored data at any time via the Clear data button in the extension popup, or by uninstalling the extension entirely.
Browser Sync (Optional)
Your display preferences — theme, font, and auto-activate setting — may be synchronised across your devices if you have browser sync enabled (for example, Chrome Sync with a Google Account, or Microsoft Edge Sync with a Microsoft account). This synchronisation is operated entirely by your browser's vendor and is governed by that vendor's privacy policy. The Arcaneum has no access to this synced data.
Your reading data (highlights, notes, scroll positions, sticky notes) is stored in local-only storage and is never synced across devices.
Browser Permissions
Arcaneum Focus requests a small set of browser permissions. Here is exactly why each one is needed:
Active tab access
Needed to read the content of the page you are currently viewing when you activate reader mode. The extension only accesses a tab's content at the moment you explicitly trigger it — no passive or background reading occurs.
Tab information
Used to determine whether the current page is a PDF or an article, and to restore your annotations and reading position when you return to a page. The extension does not monitor your browsing history.
Script injection
Required to display the reader interface and annotation tools on a web page. No scripts are injected without an explicit action from you.
Local storage access
Saves your highlights, notes, positions, and preferences on your device. No data is transmitted to any external server.
Access to all URLs
Required so that reader mode can be activated on any web page or PDF you choose to open. The extension only activates on pages you explicitly open — it does not passively monitor or interact with pages you are browsing.
Third-Party Libraries
Arcaneum Focus includes two open-source libraries, both of which run entirely inside your browser and transmit nothing to any external service:
Text-to-Speech
The text-to-speech feature uses your browser's built-in speech synthesis capability. No audio is sent to The Arcaneum's servers. Depending on your operating system and browser, speech may be processed locally or may use a cloud voice service provided by your OS vendor (for example, Google, Apple, or Microsoft). The Arcaneum has no involvement in or access to this processing. Consult your browser and operating system privacy settings to control this behaviour.
Citation Generator
The citation generator reads author, title, publication date, and URL from the page already loaded in your browser, and constructs a formatted citation locally. No data is sent to any external service.
Export Features
Exporting your highlights and notes — to Markdown, plain text, or PDF — generates files directly in your browser, which are then downloaded to your local file system. No content is uploaded to or processed by any server operated by The Arcaneum.
Children's Privacy
Arcaneum Focus does not knowingly collect any information from anyone, including children under the age of 13. As the extension collects no personal data whatsoever, it poses no privacy risk to users of any age.
Changes to This Policy
If we update this policy, we will revise the date at the top of this page and note the change in the extension's release notes. Because the extension collects no personal data, material changes to data practices are not anticipated. Continued use of the extension after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
Your Rights
Because Arcaneum Focus does not collect or hold any personal data on any server, there is no personal data for us to provide, correct, or delete on your behalf. All data stored by the extension exists exclusively on your own device and is fully under your control. You can delete everything at any time using the Clear data button in the extension popup, or by uninstalling the extension.
Contact
If you have questions about this policy or the extension's data practices, write to us at hello@thearcaneum.org.
“Your reading is yours.”
The Arcaneum™ · Arcaneum Focus