How to evaluate a privacy-friendly new-tab extension

What a new-tab extension can process

An extension controls the document shown for a new tab. It can process what you type into its own fields, the shortcut URLs you configure and any widget settings. Additional Chrome permissions can expose more capabilities.

The safest review starts with the exact feature set. A shortcut launchpad, account-synced dashboard and news feed need different data paths.

Read permissions in context

Ask whether access is necessary, narrow and explained. Avoid judging only by the length of the install dialog.

• Host permissions allow requests to matching origins; optional host permissions can be requested at feature use.
• Search permission can send a query through the browser-configured search engine.
• Bookmarks or history permissions expose broader browser data and should match a visible feature.
• A lack of permissions does not prove zero network requests; normal web resources can still be remote.

Local storage, sync and remote accounts

Local storage keeps settings in the browser profile. Chrome’s extension storage API also offers sync and managed areas, while some products maintain their own accounts and servers.

Sync can be valuable across devices, but it changes who stores the configuration and how deletion works. Look for a clear export, retention and account-deletion process.

• Chrome extension storage API

Weather, backgrounds and other services

A weather feature must send a location or coordinates to a provider. A dynamic background may request an image service. Favicons can reveal shortcut domains. A quote or news feed creates its own request pattern.

Check whether the feature works only after consent, whether a less precise input is possible and whether disabling it stops requests and clears related cache.

How current products differ

Bonjourr’s documentation states that user-generated data is not collected or stored by its team and that external-service requests pass through its open-source API. Tabliss’s Store listing says it requires no permissions and is open source, while also describing remote background and widget providers.

Momentum’s Store disclosure lists personally identifiable and authentication information and its product includes account-oriented and paid features. Mist keeps configuration local without an account, but directly contacts documented weather providers and Google’s favicon service when those features are used.

These are different architectures, not a one-dimensional privacy score. Recheck each official policy before installing because products and disclosures change.

• Bonjourr privacy documentation
• Tabliss Store listing
• Momentum Store listing
• Mist privacy policy

A practical review checklist

• Identify the publisher and official policy.
• List requested Chrome and host permissions.
• Open developer tools and observe network requests on a fresh tab if you can.
• Test the page with optional widgets disabled and offline.
• Find export, deletion and uninstall behavior.
• Check whether the product is open source, while remembering that source availability is not a security guarantee.
• Revisit the review after major updates.

The limits of “privacy-friendly”

Privacy depends on your threat model. A direct weather request may be acceptable to one person and unnecessary to another. A proxy can hide an IP from a downstream provider but makes the proxy operator part of the path.

Prefer specific statements over absolute claims: local configuration, no extension telemetry, optional service access and named providers can all be checked. “100% private” usually cannot.