PRIVACY,
by design.

01 / Single purpose

TRACE has one purpose: help users inspect and understand the visual design properties of an element they intentionally select on the active webpage. This includes computed typography, color, effects, dimensions, transitions, CSS animation information and visible media metadata.

02 / What TRACE processes

When you activate TRACE, it temporarily reads computed styles, limited visible text and accessibility metadata from the element under your pointer. For images, GIFs, video, audio, canvas, SVG, embeds and CSS backgrounds, TRACE may also read source and rendering metadata exposed by the page. Where the browser permits it, TRACE samples visible pixels locally to calculate color palettes. Inspection data is not uploaded for remote analysis. Only a compact design recipe is synced when you explicitly save it while signed in.

03 / Account and library storage

Signing in with Google is optional. Google supplies TRACE with your verified account identifier and email address; TRACE never receives your Google password. Signed-in accounts store the trial date, monthly Full Read count, subscription status and up to 32 compact saved design recipes in TRACE’s database. Saved URLs are stripped of credentials, query strings and fragments and reduced to a safe page reference. Media bytes, browsing history and complete page contents are not stored. Signed-out users continue to use Chrome storage on their device and Chrome profile. You can delete saved references from the TRACE library and can sign out at any time.

04 / Permissions

• activeTab: temporary access to the current tab after an explicit click or keyboard shortcut.
• scripting: loads the inspector only into the active tab after that user action.
• storage: saves preferences, usage state and reference-library data.
• downloads: saves a media file only after you explicitly click its preview or download control.
• identity: opens Google Sign-In only when you request it and keeps that session available across browser restarts.

TRACE does not request permanent access to all websites.

05 / Payments and service providers

If you purchase a paid plan, Stripe processes subscription checkout and billing information. TRACE stores only Stripe customer and subscription identifiers, subscription status and renewal timing; card details stay with Stripe. Google processes optional sign-in, and our hosting provider stores the limited account and library records described above. Standard short-lived security logs may include an IP address, browser information, requested route and timestamp so the service can prevent abuse and diagnose failures. TRACE has no advertising, product analytics or remote media-analysis service and does not sell personal information, browsing history or saved references. The 14-day Pro trial requires no card, and installing TRACE never starts a charge.

06 / Limited use

TRACE’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs and Chrome APIs adheres to the applicable Google API Services and Chrome Web Store User Data policies, including their Limited Use requirements. Data is used only to provide or secure the user-facing features described here.

07 / Contact

Questions, deletion requests and privacy requests can be sent to privacy@tracereader.app.