Privacy

Last updated October 24, 2026

HomePageCloud is a free, ad-free personal homepage. We keep this simple.

What we collect

• Your email address to create your account, confirm it's you, and send account emails (like password resets).
• Your phone number, only if you choose to give it.
• Your IP address when you sign up (and when you sign in), to protect the service from abuse.
• The links, sections and notes you save, so we can show them to you on any computer.

Visit statistics (Google Analytics)

On our public pages only (the home page, About, How-to Guide, Help, Setup, Save, this Privacy page, Terms, and sign-in and sign-up) we use Google Analytics to count visits: which of those pages were viewed, roughly where from (country or city), and the type of browser and device. It's anonymous and used only to improve the site. It tells us how many people read the Guide, not who you are or what you do on your own homepage: we never see your browsing or the sites you visit.

• Never on your personal homepage. Google Analytics isn't loaded on your homepage, account, import, backup or admin pages, and it never receives your links, titles, notes or email address.
• Page addresses are sent without anything after the “?”, so sign-in, reset and confirmation links never reach Google, and visits aren't linked to your account.
• Google's advertising features (Google signals and ad personalization) are turned off. No ads.
• Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track are honored: if your browser sends either one, Google Analytics isn't loaded at all.
• Blocking Google Analytics (for example with an ad blocker) doesn't affect anything on the site.

Link titles and icons

When you add a link without a title, our server visits that page once to read its title. Site icons are fetched by our server (from Google's public favicon service) and cached, so the websites you save never see your visit to your homepage. If you upload a picture as a link icon, we store a small resized copy (with photo metadata removed) that only you can see, and delete it within 30 days after you remove the icon or the link, or right away when you delete your account.

Importing bookmarks

When you upload a bookmarks file, our server reads it to show you a preview. The uploaded file itself is not kept. The list of links found is kept for up to one hour so you can finish reviewing it, then deleted; only the links you choose to import are saved to your homepage. We can't see your browser's bookmarks unless you upload them.

The optional browser extension

If you install the HomePageCloud extension for Chrome or Edge, it reads your bookmarks only when you click Scan my bookmarks (they go to your import preview and are kept on our server for at most an hour unless you import them), notices when you add a bookmark so it can offer to save it, and reads the current page's address and title only when you click its toolbar button. It talks only to this site, using your normal sign-in, and never changes your bookmarks.

Click counts (“Most used”, optional)

There's an optional, private click count for the Most used row. It's off unless you turn it on in Account → Privacy & usage. When it's on, clicking one of your saved links adds one to that link's count and notes when it was last clicked. Only you see it. We don't record which sites you visit after the click or anything else about your browsing. Turning it off deletes the counts. (Accounts created before October 22, 2026 had it on by default and keep whatever they have set.)

Weather (optional)

You can show the current weather next to the date on your homepage. It's off unless you turn it on in Account → Weather. When it's on, we store only the place you chose (for example “Simpsonville, SC”), its location rounded to two decimal places (about 1 km), and whether you want °F or °C. Your browser never contacts a weather service: our server looks up the weather from Open-Meteo using only that rounded location, and keeps the result for up to 30 minutes. A place you type into the search box is sent from our server to Open-Meteo's place search. If you click “Use my location”, your browser asks your permission first and rounds the position before sending it to us, and we ask the U.S. National Weather Service (api.weather.gov) for the nearest town's name. These services never receive your name, email address, IP address or anything else about your account, and we don't share your place with anyone else or use it for anything else. “Remove my place” (or deleting your account) deletes it.

Site usage totals

To keep the site fast and easy to use, we count how often features are used, as hourly totals for the whole site (for example “12 imports today” or “30 views of the setup page”). These totals aren't linked to you or your links. We also note roughly when each account was last active (to the nearest few minutes) so we know how many people use the site. Neither is shared with anyone.

Server logs

Like nearly every website, our web host keeps standard server logs for security and troubleshooting: your IP address, browser type, the time, and the address of each request to this site. Those addresses can include the website name of a link icon being loaded, or the page you chose to save with the ☁ Save button. Your links open directly in your browser, not through our site, so the logs don't show where you go.

Backups

When you click Download a backup, the file is created for you on the spot and is not kept on our server. When you restore a backup, we read the file to show you a preview. The checked contents are kept for at most one hour so you can confirm, then deleted. We also keep a few automatic snapshots of your homepage (for example, right before a restore or an import) so changes can be undone. They're deleted with your account.

Google Drive backup (optional)

If you connect Google Drive, we ask Google for the narrowest access available (drive.file). It lets us see and change only the files HomePageCloud creates, which are your backups in a “HomePageCloud Backups” folder. We can't see any other files in your Drive. We store an encrypted access token and your Google email address so we can save backups when you ask. Disconnecting (or deleting your account) revokes that access at Google and deletes the token. Your backup files stay in your Drive. You can also remove access any time at myaccount.google.com/permissions. Our use of information received from Google APIs follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

What we don't do

• No ads. Ever.
• We don't sell or rent your data to anyone.
• We don't use your links, click counts, weather place or Google Drive data for advertising, and we don't share them with anyone.

Cookies

We use a cookie to keep you signed in. If you tick "Remember this computer", a longer-lasting cookie keeps you signed in on that computer until you sign out. On the public pages listed above, Google Analytics sets its own first-party cookies (named _ga) to tell new visits from returning ones. They are not set when Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track is on. Our sign-up and sign-in forms may use Cloudflare Turnstile to block bots.

Feedback messages

If you send us a message through Feedback, we keep what you wrote, the topic you chose, your email address (so we can reply), the page you came from, your browser type and IP address (to stop spam), and we email a copy to ourselves so we can answer it. We use it only to reply and to improve HomePageCloud. Messages you sent while signed in are deleted with your account; ask us and we'll delete any others, including our emailed copy.

Your choices

You can change your details, sign out other devices, or delete your account at any time from your account settings. Deleting your account removes your links, sections, notes, uploaded icons, click counts, snapshots, feedback you sent while signed in, and any Google Drive connection. Download a backup first if you want to keep a copy.

Contact

Questions? Email info@homepagecloud.com.