Switchback privacy policy

What Switchback handles, and when

Switchback records a browser workflow as a step-by-step guide. It handles page content only while you are recording: after you press Start, until you press Stop, and only in the window where you pressed Start. During a recording it keeps:

• a screenshot of the visible tab each time you act;
• the label of the button, link, or field you used;
• the page’s address and title.

When you are not recording, Switchback has no access to any website and runs no code on any page.

Some things are never kept, whatever the settings:

• Typed text is kept only if you tick “Include typed text” for that recording. Values typed into password fields and fields that look like card numbers, security codes, or other sensitive data are never kept.
• Protected sites are never recorded. Password-manager sites are protected from the start, and you can add others, such as your bank or HR system. Switchback notes that it paused there and keeps nothing else, not even the address.
• Password-manager pop-ups are hidden while each screenshot is taken.

Before each screenshot, Switchback also looks for sensitive fields, email addresses, and phone numbers on the page and marks them for redaction. You can review and change these before exporting.

Where it is stored

Guides and screenshots are stored in your Chrome profile on your computer (in the browser’s local database). Settings are stored in Chrome’s storage for the extension. Nothing is synced to other devices or to any server.

Data stays until you delete it. You can delete a single guide, use Delete everything in Switchback’s settings, or have Switchback delete guides you have not changed for 7, 30, 90, or 365 days. Removing the extension removes its data from Chrome.

What leaves your computer

Nothing, through Switchback. Switchback makes no network requests: its content security policy blocks them, and every release is checked automatically for code that could send data.

When you export a guide as Word, PDF, or Markdown, Chrome saves a file to your Downloads folder. Where that file goes next is up to you. By default, exports remove query strings from page addresses, and redactions are painted into the images.

Permissions

storageAlways

Keeps your settings and the state of a recording in progress.

unlimitedStorageAlways

Screenshots are stored on your computer and exceed Chrome’s default storage limit.

scriptingOnly while recording

Adds the recorder to pages while you record, and removes it when you stop.

Site access (all sites)Only while recording

Lets Switchback take screenshots as you move between pages and sites. Chrome asks you the first time you press Start, and Switchback removes the access when you press Stop.

Sharing, sale, and other uses

Switchback does not sell, rent, or transfer data to anyone, and does not use data for advertising, profiling, or decisions about credit or lending. Because Switchback collects no data, there is nothing to share. Switchback’s use of information follows the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.

Children

Switchback is a work tool and is not directed at children. It collects no personal information from anyone.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new effective date. An update that changed how Switchback handles data would say so in its release notes before it is published.

Contact

Questions about this policy can be sent through the support link on Switchback’s Chrome Web Store listing.

This page covers the Switchback extension only. For this website, see the site privacy notice.