Openfeed New Tab privacy
Effective July 22, 2026
The Openfeed New Tab extension replaces Chrome’s new-tab page with a random landscape photograph from Openfeed. It does not read the pages you visit, your searches, browsing history, communications, account information, or form data.
Information stored on your device
The extension stores only the operational state needed to make new tabs load quickly and avoid immediately repeating a photograph:
- a small queue of preloaded Openfeed photographs;
- the identifiers and public attribution details for recent photographs; and
- cached feed metadata and image-orientation results used as a fallback;
- a random anonymous installation identifier; and
- the time of the last successful activity heartbeat.
This information remains in Chrome’s local extension storage, local storage, and browser cache except for the limited activity measurements described below. It is not synced to an Openfeed account or used to identify you. Chrome removes it when you uninstall the extension, and you can remove it earlier by clearing the extension’s site data.
Anonymous activity measurement
When you open an Openfeed new tab, the extension sends an activity heartbeat at most once every 24 hours. The request contains the random installation identifier and extension version. Openfeed immediately converts the identifier to a one-way hash and stores only that hash, the first and most recent activity times, and the version. This lets Openfeed count activated and recently active installations without an account or a raw device identifier.
When the extension displays a photograph, it also sends the photograph’s public Openfeed identifier, the source label extension, and a random one-time event identifier. The server retains only a bounded one-way hash of that event identifier to prevent duplicate counts. These measurements are used to understand extension and photograph usage, maintain the product, and report aggregate counts to Openfeed’s curator.
Network requests
The extension makes HTTPS requests to openfeed.photo to retrieve the public landscape-photo manifest, feed metadata, and optimized image files and to send the anonymous activity measurements described above. It may request a public photograph or avatar directly from the photographer’s website. Clicking a photograph, photographer name, or Openfeed label opens the corresponding website as a normal browser navigation.
Those requests necessarily provide the destination server with ordinary technical request information such as an IP address, user agent, timestamp, and requested file. Openfeed uses this information only to deliver, protect, and maintain the service—not for advertising or cross-site tracking. A photographer’s site is governed by that site’s own privacy practices.
Chrome permissions
- Storage: keeps the local preloaded-photo queue, recent selection state, anonymous installation identifier, and heartbeat time.
- Access to openfeed.photo: downloads the public manifest and optimized photographs.
The extension does not request access to browsing history, tabs, cookies, location, the microphone, the camera, or page contents. It contains no remote executable code, advertising, or third-party analytics.
Sharing and sale
Openfeed does not sell personal information or share extension data for advertising. The extension does not create user profiles or transmit its photo queue, recent selection history, or browsing activity to Openfeed.
Chrome Web Store Limited Use
Openfeed’s use of information received from Chrome APIs adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes, the effective date above will be updated. Questions about the extension or this policy can be sent to hello@openfeed.photo.