What If Invested

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: January 2025

This Privacy Policy describes how the "What If Invested - Investment Opportunity Calculator" browser extension ("Extension", "we", "our") handles user information.

1. Information We DO NOT Collect

We want to be crystal clear: we do not collect any user data. Specifically, we do not collect:

• Personal Information: No names, email addresses, phone numbers, or identification numbers
• Financial Information: No credit card numbers, bank accounts, transactions, or payment history
• Browsing History: We do not track which websites you visit or your browsing patterns
• User Activity: No click tracking, scroll monitoring, keystroke logging, or mouse position tracking
• Location Data: No GPS coordinates, IP addresses, or geographic information
• Authentication Data: No passwords, credentials, or security information
• Website Content: We only read displayed prices on the current page; we do not collect, store, or transmit any website content
• Personal Communications: No emails, messages, or chat logs

2. Local Data Storage

The Extension stores the following data locally on your device only using Chrome's storage API:

2.1 User Preferences

• Investment Timeframe (savedYears): Your preferred investment duration (default: 10 years)
• Expected Return Rate (savedRate): Your expected annual return percentage (default: 10%)
• Preferred Currency (savedCurrency): Your currency selection for calculations (default: USD)
• Badge Visibility (showBadges): Your preference to show or hide price badges on websites (default: true)

Purpose: To remember your calculation preferences across browsing sessions for a better user experience.

2.2 Cached Exchange Rates

• Currency Rates (cachedExchangeRates): Public exchange rate data from ExchangeRate-API
• Fetch Timestamp (ratesFetchTime): When rates were last retrieved

Purpose: To reduce API requests, enable offline functionality, and improve performance. Rates are cached for 1 hour.

2.3 Session Data

• Detected Prices (detectedPrices): Prices found on the current webpage you're viewing
• Source Currency (sourceCurrency): The currency detected on the current page
• Current URL (currentUrl): The URL of the page where prices were detected

Purpose: To enable communication between the extension's popup and the webpage for quick calculations. This data is temporary and only for the active browsing session.

3. External Communications

The Extension makes requests to one external service only:

3.1 ExchangeRate-API

• Service: https://www.exchangerate-api.com/
• Purpose: To retrieve current currency exchange rates for accurate investment calculations across different currencies
• Data Sent: None. The API request only asks for public exchange rate data (no user information is transmitted)
• Data Received: Public currency conversion rates relative to USD
• Frequency: Maximum once per hour (rates are cached locally)

This is the only external communication the Extension performs. We do not use analytics, tracking pixels, or any other third-party services.

4. How the Extension Works

To help you understand our privacy practices, here's how the Extension functions:

1. Price Detection: When you visit a shopping website, the Extension scans the visible webpage for price patterns (e.g., $49.99, €29.99). This happens locally in your browser.
2. Currency Conversion: If the detected currency differs from your preferred currency, the Extension converts the price using cached exchange rates.
3. Investment Calculation: When you click on a price badge or use the popup calculator, the Extension calculates the future value using compound interest formulas—all performed locally in your browser.
4. Display Results: The Extension shows you what the purchase amount could be worth if invested instead.

Everything happens in your browser. No data is sent to external servers (except the exchange rate API request).

5. Permissions Explained

The Extension requires the following Chrome permissions:

5.1 Storage Permission

Why: To save your preferences (investment years, return rate, currency, badge visibility) and cache exchange rates locally on your device.

Data Stored: Only the information listed in Section 2 above.

5.2 Tabs Permission

Why: To communicate between the popup interface and content scripts running on web pages. This enables:

• Toggling badge visibility across all tabs when you change settings
• Updating displayed prices when you change your preferred currency
• Sending calculation results from the popup to the webpage

What We DON'T Do: We do not access browsing history, track which sites you visit, read tab content beyond price detection, or monitor your browsing behavior.

5.3 Host Permission (https://api.exchangerate-api.com/*)

Why: To fetch current exchange rates for currency conversion.

Data Sent: None (just a request for public rate data).

6. Data Retention

• User Preferences: Stored indefinitely until you clear browser data or uninstall the Extension
• Cached Exchange Rates: Refreshed every hour; old rates are overwritten
• Session Data: Temporary; cleared when you navigate away from the page or close the tab

7. Data Deletion

You can delete all Extension data at any time by:

1. Clearing Browser Data: Go to Chrome Settings > Privacy and Security > Clear Browsing Data > Select "Site settings" and choose the time range
2. Uninstalling the Extension: Right-click the Extension icon > Remove from Chrome. This will delete all locally stored data.

8. Third-Party Services

The Extension uses ExchangeRate-API to retrieve currency conversion rates. Please review their privacy policy at https://www.exchangerate-api.com/terms for information on how they handle data.

We do not use any other third-party services, analytics tools, advertising networks, or tracking services.

9. Children's Privacy

The Extension does not collect any personal information from anyone, including children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Effective Date" at the top. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

If we make material changes to how we handle user data, we will notify users through the Extension or via the Chrome Web Store listing.

11. Your Rights

Since we do not collect any personal data, there is no data to access, correct, delete, or transfer. All data stored by the Extension is under your direct control on your device.

12. Security

All data is stored locally on your device using Chrome's secure storage API. We do not transmit, store, or process your data on external servers. The security of your data depends on your device's security and your browser's security features.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the Extension's privacy practices, please contact us:

• Chrome Web Store: Leave a review or support message on our Extension listing

14. Consent

By installing and using the "What If Invested - Investment Opportunity Calculator" Extension, you consent to this Privacy Policy and agree to its terms.