The short version
- Open Arc has no account, no Open Arc server and no analytics in the app.
- Your sidebar, history, passwords, cookies, downloads and settings stay on your Mac.
- iCloud sync is optional, off by default, and uses your own private iCloud database.
- Crash reports stay on your Mac until you choose to share one.
What stays on your Mac
Your Spaces, tabs, folders, Favorites and archive, your browsing history, saved passwords, cookies, downloads and settings are stored only on your Mac, in the app's data folder (Help ▸ Troubleshooting ▸ Reveal Open Arc Data). Open Arc keeps a daily backup of your sidebar for the last seven days, also on your Mac (Help ▸ Restore Data).
iCloud sync (optional)
Sync is off until you turn on Settings ▸ Account ▸ Sync Sidebar. When it is on, your sidebar is synced through your own private iCloud database (Apple CloudKit, private database). The developers of Open Arc cannot read it. Names and colors you choose are additionally encrypted before they are stored. Profiles, cookies and signed-in sessions are never synced.
Connections the app makes on its own
| What | When | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Update check | About once a day, and when you choose Check for Updates… (release builds only) | This project's public GitHub repository |
| Ad-block filter list | While "Block ads and trackers" is on: shortly after launch, then daily | This project's public GitHub repository |
| Certificate revocation list | Shortly after launch, then every few hours | Google, as in every Chromium browser |
| Extension updates | For extensions you installed from the Chrome Web Store | Google's Chrome Web Store update service |
| iCloud sync | Only when Sync Sidebar is on | Apple iCloud |
Update checks send no system profile. The ad-block filter list is fetched without cookies.
When you ask for it
- Search and suggestions go to the search engine you chose for the Profile (Google by default; Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo or Ecosia). Turn suggestions off in Settings ▸ Profiles ▸ Include search engine suggestions.
- Page translation sends the page text to Google Translate, only after you choose Translate.
- The Chrome Web Store is Google's service, used when you open it or install an extension.
- Web pages you visit, and the resources they load, go to those sites, as in any browser.
What is turned off
Google sign-in and Chromium sync, Safe Browsing, usage metrics upload, crash report upload, field trials, network time queries, autofill server queries and the engine's other background requests to Google are turned off. Crash reports are written to your Mac (Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Show Crash Reports in Finder) and are never uploaded.
This website
getopenarc.app counts visits with privacy-focused analytics, so we can tell which pages help people. We use Umami and PostHog side by side, and both respect your browser's Do Not Track setting.
- They record page views and four actions: a click on a download button, a language change, opening the migration details and replaying the auto-archive demo.
- PostHog keeps a random anonymous identifier in your browser's local storage. No account, name or email address is collected, and there is no session recording.
- Your language choice is saved in your browser's local storage, so the site opens in that language next time.
- The download button forwards you to GitHub, which serves the installer under GitHub's own privacy statement.
The app itself contains no analytics of any kind.
Contact
Questions about privacy: open an issue on GitHub . The source code of the app is public, so every claim on this page can be checked.