Privacy Policy

Ambient New Tab browser extension and ambientnewtab.com, made by Rainbase Leads Inc., Brooklyn, New York · Effective October 22, 2026

Ambient New Tab replaces your browser's New Tab page with an animated scene. It is built to run entirely on your computer. The short version: it keeps a few settings on your device, it never collects your browsing history or search terms, it has no ads, and it never tracks you across the web. If you say yes, and only then, it sends us anonymous counts of which themes and features you use (see Anonymous usage stats below). We never sell data, to anyone.

What the extension stores on your device

The extension saves a small amount of data in your browser's local extension storage so your choices survive a restart. None of it is ever sent to us:

• Which theme you chose and your day/night setting.
• Cached thumbnail images of the themes, rendered on your own graphics card for the theme picker.
• Whether you have Pro (see Payments below).
• For the Bitcoin Rocket theme, recent public Bitcoin price points so the chart draws instantly.
• Your shortcuts: the name and address of each site you add under the search box, and whether the shortcut row is shown. If Chrome sync is turned on, Chrome copies them to your own Google account so they follow you to your other computers, like your other extension settings. They never reach us.
• Your focus sessions: when the current session or break ends, and how many sessions you finished each day, for the count shown under the seals.
• Your sound settings: whether scene sound is on, and its volume.
• Your first name, only if you type one into the optional "Your name" box in the Themes panel. Some themes use it for a personal touch; Breath on Glass, for example, writes it on the fogged glass now and then. If Chrome sync is turned on in your browser, Chrome also copies it to your own Google account so it follows you to your other computers, the same way Chrome syncs your other extension settings. It never reaches us. Clear the box to delete it.

Uninstalling the extension deletes all of it.

What the extension never collects

• Your browsing history, the pages you visit, or the contents of other tabs. (If you click "Import my Chrome shortcuts", Chrome lets the extension read its own list of your most-visited sites once, on your device, to fill in the shortcuts; only the shortcuts you end up with are kept, and nothing is sent anywhere.)
• Your search terms. The search box on the New Tab page hands what you type to your browser, which opens it in the search engine you already chose in your browser settings, the same as typing in the address bar; it does not pass through us and we never change that setting.
• Your email, location, or any account information. (Your first name is used only if you choose to type it, and it stays with you as described above.)

Music sync (optional)

"Sync with your music" makes the scene react to audio playing in another tab. It only starts when you click the button, and it asks the browser for permission (tab capture) at that moment. The audio is analysed on your device into a handful of loudness levels (bass, mids, treble, beat) that drive the animation. Nothing is recorded, stored, or transmitted anywhere. Playback continues normally, and sync stops when you stop it, close the tab, or close the browser.

Shortcuts

The shortcuts under the search box are links you add yourself. The New Tab page never contacts those sites: each shortcut shows its first letter, or, if you click "Show site icons" (or "Import my Chrome shortcuts") and allow it, the site's icon from Chrome's own icon cache on your computer. Imported shortcuts keep only the site's address (no search terms or page details) and a short name taken from the site, never the page's title. Turn the row off with "Shortcuts off" in the Themes panel.

Scene sounds (optional, Pro)

Some scenes can play their own nature sound (water, rain, wind, insects). It is off until you switch it on, and the recordings are built into the extension, so nothing is downloaded or streamed. The sound plays only while that scene is on screen, and during a focus session it keeps playing in the background until the session ends. Nothing is recorded or sent anywhere.

Bitcoin price feed (optional)

The Bitcoin Rocket theme draws a live Bitcoin price chart. When you choose that theme, the extension asks for permission to contact api.exchange.coinbase.com, Coinbase's public market-data service, and then fetches public prices from it. These requests carry no personal information from us; like any web request they reveal your IP address to the server, and Coinbase's privacy policy applies to that service. No other theme makes network requests.

Payments

Pro is sold through ExtensionPay, which uses Stripe for card processing. Checkout happens on extensionpay.com, not inside the extension, and we never see or store your card details. ExtensionPay keeps the email address you give at checkout and your payment status so your purchase can be restored later, and it tells the extension whether you have paid; that yes/no is the only thing the extension stores. The extension includes a small script that runs only on extensionpay.com pages to complete this handshake. ExtensionPay's and Stripe's privacy policies govern their handling of your information.

Desktop wallpapers (Pro): when you click Desktop wallpapers, the extension sends ambientnewtab.com the random key ExtensionPay gave your browser (not your name, email or card), once, so our site can ask ExtensionPay whether that key has Pro and give you a download link that works for 24 hours. We don't store the key.

Permissions, in plain terms

• search — send what you type in the search box to your browser's default search engine.
• storage — save your settings on your device.
• offscreen — run the audio analysis for music sync, and play the focus chime and scene sounds, in the background.
• alarms — end a focus session or break on time, count the minutes down on the toolbar icon, and, only if you said yes to usage stats, send them about once a day.
• tabCapture (optional, asked only when you click Sync) — hear the tab you are syncing to.
• activeTab — used only when you click the Ambient New Tab icon on the tab that is playing your music. It gives one-time access to that single tab so music sync can start there. The extension never touches a tab you have not clicked the icon on.
• scripting — used on that same click, on YouTube and YouTube Music only, to add a small audio-level meter to your own tab. It measures loudness so the scene can react and leaves the sound untouched. It does not read the page, nothing is recorded, and nothing leaves your device.
• api.exchange.coinbase.com (optional, asked only when you pick Bitcoin Rocket) — fetch public prices.
• topSites (optional, asked only when you click "Import my Chrome shortcuts") — read Chrome's list of your most-visited sites once to fill in your shortcuts.
• favicon (optional, asked only when you click "Show site icons" or "Import my Chrome shortcuts") — show your shortcuts' icons from Chrome's own icon cache.

This website

ambientnewtab.com is a static page with no accounts and no cookies. Its only form that sends us anything is the gift form (see Gifts below). "Email me the link" simply opens your own mail app. We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to count visits; it sets no cookies, does not fingerprint you, and shows us only aggregate numbers such as page views and country. Our hosting provider (Cloudflare) may keep standard server logs, such as IP addresses, for security, as any website host does.

If you remove the extension, your browser opens a short goodbye page on this site with one optional question about why. Each answer is an ordinary link to another page here, so all we see is how many times each page was viewed, the same aggregate count described above. The extension itself sends nothing when it is removed, and you can simply close the tab.

Gifts

If you buy Pro as a gift at ambientnewtab.com/gift, what you type (their name, your name, a note, and optionally their email address) is stored with your payment in our Stripe account, along with the email you give Stripe at checkout. We use it only to make the gift code and to email the gift. We email you a copy of the gift card and code. If you gave the recipient's email, we email them the gift card once and never contact them again unless they buy or redeem Pro themselves. These emails are sent through Resend. Please only enter someone's email if they would expect a gift from you. To have gift details deleted, email [email protected].

Anonymous usage stats (optional, off unless you say yes)

Ambient New Tab asks you once whether to share anonymous usage stats: on the welcome card when you install it, or in a small card later if you installed it before we asked. Nothing is recorded or sent unless you say yes. You can change your answer at any time with the "Anonymous usage stats" switch at the bottom of the Themes panel. Turning it off deletes anything not yet sent, and the random id described below, from your computer.

If you say yes, the extension keeps a short list on your device and sends it to ambientnewtab.com about once a day. It holds only:

• Which theme is on your screen each day, and how many days it has been your pick.
• Which theme you pick in the Themes panel, which one it replaced, and how long you had that one.
• When you open the Themes panel, which locked Pro themes you preview there and for how many seconds, and when you click through to the Pro checkout (and from which button or theme).
• When you start music sync or turn a scene's sound on or off, and on which theme.
• When you start a focus session, and whether it ran to the end or was ended early, with its length in minutes.
• The date (no time of day), the extension version, whether you have Pro, and a random id made on your computer when you first say yes. The id lets us count how long a theme is kept; it is not linked to your name, email, payment, or ExtensionPay account.

It never includes the pages you visit, your searches, your shortcuts, the name you type in the Themes panel, your email, or anything else you type. We do not store your IP address or your location with the stats. We use the stats only to decide which themes and features to make and improve, we see them only as totals and averages, we keep them for at most 400 days, and we never sell them, share them with advertisers or data brokers, or use them for advertising. They are stored in our Cloudflare account.

The use of information received from the extension adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Children

The extension and site are not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version is posted here with a new effective date. If a change would make the extension collect anything new, we will say so inside the extension and ask before it starts, the same way we ask about usage stats.

Contact

Rainbase Leads Inc. · Brooklyn, New York · [email protected]