Hemta Privacy Policy

This policy covers the Hemta app for macOS (including its background download engine) and the Hemta Browser Bridge browser extension for Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers. In this policy, “Hemta”, “we” and “us” mean the developer of these products. Contact details are in section 10.

The extension exists for one purpose: handing downloads from your browser to the Hemta app. To do that it handles the following information, only when you ask Hemta to take a download or when you have turned on automatic takeover of downloads:

• Download links and page addresses. The address of the file, and the address of the page it came from (the referrer), so Hemta can fetch the file the way your browser would have.
• Request headers. Headers of the download request, such as the referrer and user agent. The extension observes them; it does not block or change any request.
• Cookies (optional). The cookies permission is optional and is requested only when you start a download from a site that needs you to be signed in. The cookies for that download’s own address are read once and passed to the Hemta app so the file can be fetched with your session.
• The link under your pointer. A small script on web pages notes which link your pointer is over, so the keyboard shortcut “Download link under cursor with Hemta” knows which link you mean. It is kept in memory only. The extension does not read, collect or change page content.
• Settings. The extension stores its own settings (for example whether to take over downloads, and sites to skip) in your browser’s extension storage on your device. Nothing else is written to storage: no browsing history, no list of downloads.

All of this information goes only to the Hemta app installed on your Mac, through your browser’s native messaging channel. It is never sent to us or to any other server, and it is not used for analytics, advertising or profiling. Cookies and headers are held in memory for the transfer you asked for and are never stored by the extension or by Hemta, and never written to logs.

The extension contains no remote code: everything it runs ships inside the extension package.

• Your downloads stay on your Mac. The download list, history, categories, queues and settings are stored in a database on your computer. They are never uploaded.
• The files you download come directly from the websites you choose, exactly as when you use a browser. Those sites can see your IP address and the request, as they normally would. We are not involved in those connections.
• Cookies and sign-in headers handed over for an authenticated download are kept in memory only, are used only for the site they came from, and are discarded after the transfer. They are never saved to disk or logged.
• Safety checks on files. Hemta marks downloaded files with macOS’s standard quarantine attribute, which records the download source locally on the file so macOS can warn you before you open it.
• Logs. Hemta writes diagnostic messages to your Mac’s system log with web addresses, file names, cookies and tokens marked private. They stay on your Mac.

Hemta itself contacts only these destinations:

That is the complete list. Both update hosts are run by us and are used only for updates. The extension itself makes no network connections to us.

• We do not collect analytics, usage statistics, or behavioural data.
• We do not collect or transmit your download URLs, file names, file contents, download history, browsing history or cookies.
• We do not sell or transfer user data to third parties, other than as part of the approved uses described by the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, and in this product no user data is transferred at all.
• We do not use or transfer user data for purposes unrelated to the single purpose of handing downloads to Hemta.
• We do not use or transfer user data to determine creditworthiness or for lending.
• We do not use advertising identifiers or fingerprinting.

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

Hemta does not send diagnostics or crash reports automatically. If you choose to export a diagnostics bundle to attach to a support request, it is created on your Mac and you decide whether to send it. The export removes download addresses, file names, paths, host names, cookies, headers and tokens.

• On your Mac. Your download list and history stay until you remove them. You can delete a download from the list (optionally together with its file) inside Hemta. Removing the Hemta app and its data folder deletes everything it stored.
• In the extension. Settings are removed when you uninstall the extension. Disabling the optional cookie permission in your browser’s extension settings stops cookie access at once.
• With us. We hold no personal data about your use of Hemta, so there is nothing to export or delete on our side. Update-server access logs contain IP addresses and are rotated after about a week; they are not used for analytics.

The Hemta app and its background engine communicate only on your Mac, using macOS’s own inter-process mechanism and your browser’s native messaging; the engine does not listen on any network port. Only the Hemta extension, identified by its extension ID, is allowed to connect the browser to the app. Downloaded files are written with restrictive permissions and checked before being finalised.

Hemta is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children.

If we change this policy — for example, if we introduce paid plans or accounts that involve sending any information to our servers — we will update this page and the date above before the change takes effect, and describe exactly what is sent. Material changes will also be noted in the app’s release notes.

Questions about this policy or about privacy in Hemta: support@orbitane.com