Privacy Policy

Nowly consists of three parts: a browser extension, a Windows native application, and a website (marketplace). The extension detects media content in your browser and passes it to the native app, which sends it directly to the Discord client on your machine via a local Windows named pipe (IPC). None of this data ever touches our servers.

The browser extension stores the following data locally in chrome.storage.local — it never leaves your machine:

• Installed presences (metadata, signed bundles, activation state).
• Current activity (content title, platform, duration, thumbnail).
• A debug log (timestamps, actions, visited URLs).
• Onboarding state and a local snapshot of your Discord profile (ID, username, avatar) used solely for UI display.
• Display preferences and per-presence settings.

This data stays on your device and can be erased by uninstalling the extension or by using the reset option in the extension settings.

The native Nowly application writes a log file to %LOCALAPPDATA%\NowlyClient\nowly-host.log containing timestamps and activity information sent to Discord. This file is stored locally, can be deleted at any time, and is never sent to our servers.

The Nowly website uses Vercel Analytics for anonymous audience measurement. No third-party cookies, cross-site trackers, or profiling tools are used. Collected data is limited to:

• Pages visited and visit duration.
• Device type and browser (non-identifying information).
• Approximate country (inferred from IP, which is not stored).

No personally identifiable information is collected through the website.

A Redis database (hosted on Upstash) stores aggregated, anonymous statistics for each presence:

• Total installation count.
• Active user count.
• Average rating (rating sum and vote count).
• Current version, creation date, and last update date.

These statistics cannot identify any individual user. They exist solely to inform you about each presence's popularity and status.

Nowly communicates with the Discord client via a local IPC interface. The following information may be transmitted to Discord solely for displaying your Rich Presence:

• The platform name (e.g. YouTube).
• The content title you are watching.
• The channel or author name.
• Playback state (playing / paused).
• Duration and elapsed time.

This information is visible to anyone who can see your Discord profile. Nowly has no control over how Discord processes this data once received. Please refer to Discord's Privacy Policy for more details.

Nowly uses the following third-party services:

• Vercel — website hosting and anonymous analytics.
• Upstash — Redis database hosting (aggregated statistics).
• Chrome Web Store — browser extension distribution.
• Ko-fi — donation platform (no personal data is shared with Ko-fi by Nowly).
• Discord — Rich Presence display (local communication only).

The Nowly website does not use any cookies for tracking or profiling purposes. No third-party cookies are set. Language preference is preserved through Next.js routing (no persistent cookies).

Presence packages are cryptographically signed (ECDSA P-256) before distribution. The extension verifies the signature before installing or running any presence, ensuring only authorized code executes on your machine.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the right to access, rectify, and delete your personal data. Since no personal data is collected on our servers, these rights are exercised locally by uninstalling the extension or deleting the native application log files.

For any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, please reach out via the GitHub repository or on Ko-fi.