Privacy Policy - WordFokus

Privacy Policy

Last Updated: August 27, 2025

Welcome to WordFokus ("we," "our," or "us"). We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect information when you use our Google Docs add-on, WordFokus ("the Add-on").

1. What Google User Data We Access

To provide its features, the WordFokus Add-on requires access to specific Google user data. We are committed to the principle of "least privilege" and only request access to data that is essential for the Add-on to function. Below is a complete list of the Google user data we access:

  • Your Email Address: We access your primary Google account email address. This is used solely to identify you as a user and to verify your subscription status (e.g., FREE or PRO tier). This allows us to provide you with the correct set of features based on your account level.
  • Content of the Current Google Document: WordFokus temporarily interacts with the content of the single, currently active Google Document in which you have opened the Add-on. This access is required for the core functions of the Add-on, such as inserting the text you have written during a focus session back into your document. The Add-on does not access, read, or store content from any other documents in your Google Drive.
  • Application-Specific Data Stored in Your Google Account: WordFokus uses Google's built-in `PropertiesService` to store data necessary for its operation. This data is stored securely within your own Google account's storage, partitioned for this Add-on's use only. This data includes:
    • User Preferences: Your chosen settings, such as preferred focus mode, font size, or theme.
    • Writing Statistics: Aggregated data about your writing sessions, such as word counts and session durations, which power your personal in-app statistics dashboard.

2. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell your personal data. Our policy is to minimize data sharing wherever possible. We only share data with third parties in the following limited circumstances:

  • Subscription & Tier Verification: We securely transmit your Google email address to our payment and subscription management partner (e.g., Supabase, Lemon Squeezy) to verify your subscription status (PRO or FREE). This is the sole purpose of this data transfer.
  • Anonymous Retention Tracking: To measure user retention and understand if the Add-on is valuable over time, we periodically send a non-identifiable user ID and a timestamp to our secure database partner (Supabase). This "heartbeat" contains no personal information or document content and is used solely to determine application activity.
  • Anonymous Usage Analytics: As detailed in the next section, we share anonymous interaction data with Google Analytics. This data does not include any of your personal information or document content.

3. Data Protection and Security Mechanisms

We are committed to protecting your data. WordFokus employs the following data protection and security mechanisms:

  • Limited Data Access: WordFokus is designed to request the minimum possible permissions. It operates under the `https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly` scope, which ensures it can only ever access the single document you have it open in.
  • Secure Data Transmission: All communication between the Add-on and Google's servers, as well as external API calls, is performed over secure and encrypted HTTPS connections.
  • Secure Google Storage: All your user preferences and writing statistics are stored using Google's `PropertiesService`, which resides within Google's own secure infrastructure. We do not store this data on our own servers.
  • No External Document Storage: Critically, the content of your writing is never stored on our servers. When you use WordFokus, your text is handled temporarily within the browser session and inserted directly back into your Google Doc. Autosaved recovery content is stored temporarily in your document's properties and is cleared after the session.

Our use and transfer of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

4. Anonymous Usage Analytics

To improve the WordFokus Add-on and provide the best possible experience for our users, we collect anonymous data about how the Add-on is used. This helps us understand which features are most popular, identify areas for improvement, and diagnose technical issues.

What We Collect

  • Anonymous Interaction Data: We track anonymous events such as which features are used (e.g., a "Blur Mode" activation), which buttons are clicked, and general usage patterns.
  • Session Metadata: We collect non-personally identifiable metadata about writing sessions, such as the final word count and duration.

What We DO NOT Collect

We are writers ourselves, and we built this tool with privacy at its core. We want to be absolutely clear about what we never collect:

  • We NEVER track or store the actual text you write. Your content is your own and never leaves the Google Docs environment to be sent to our analytics service.
  • We NEVER track or store your document titles or any other personally identifiable information from your documents.
  • We NEVER collect personal information like your name, age, or location through our analytics.

Why We Collect This Data

  • To Improve the Product: Understanding which features are used most helps us prioritize future development and make WordFokus more useful.
  • To Fix Bugs: Usage patterns can help us identify and resolve technical issues more quickly.
  • To Make Data-Driven Decisions: This data allows us to make informed decisions about the future of the Add-on based on real user behavior, not guesswork.

Service Providers

We use Google Analytics to process this anonymous usage data. Google Analytics is a standard, industry-leading service for application analytics.

Device Identifiers

Like most analytics services, Google Analytics uses first-party cookies and other anonymous identifiers (like an application instance ID) to help collect this data. These identifiers are used to distinguish unique users and to throttle the request rate. You can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level.

5. Other Privacy Information

Who We Are

WordFokus is a product designed to enhance writing productivity within Google Docs. For any privacy-related inquiries, you can reach us via our contact email.

Data Retention

We retain your data only as long as necessary:

  • User preferences and writing statistics stored in your Google User Properties are retained until you uninstall the Add-on.
  • Temporarily stored recovery text in Document Properties is cleared upon successful saving or discarding a session.
  • Subscription status information linked to your email is retained by our payment processor for as long as you maintain an active subscription, plus any period required by law.

Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information. Since most data is stored within your Google Account's properties, managing or deleting this data is primarily done by uninstalling the Add-on. For requests related to your subscription information, please contact us at privacy@wordfokus.com.

Children's Privacy

WordFokus is not intended for use by individuals under the age of 13 (or the relevant age of consent in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at: