Privacy Policy
- Your browsing stays on your device. History, bookmarks, tabs, downloads and website data are kept in Sheer's storage on your iPhone or iPad. Sheer has no servers, and the developer can't see what you browse.
- No accounts, no tracking, no ads. Sheer has no sign-up, no analytics, no advertising, no crash reporting and no third-party SDKs, and it never sells data.
- Sheer connects only to do its job: to the websites you visit and the pictures and icons they point to, to your search engine (for searches and, unless you turn them off, suggestions as you type), and to where you install extensions from.
- You decide what's kept. You can delete history and website data for one site or all of them, at any time.
What Sheer keeps
Sheer keeps the following so the browser works the way you expect. None of it is sent to the developer.
- History of the pages you visit in normal tabs: address, title and visit times, for up to 90 days (older visits are removed the next time Sheer starts). Private tabs are never added to History.
- Bookmarks, Favorites and your Reading List, including offline copies, preview pictures and short excerpts of pages you save for later.
- Your open tabs and tab groups, with their back and forward lists and your place in Reader, small pictures of them for the tab switcher, and up to 20 recently closed tabs.
- Downloads, with the address each one came from, until you delete them.
- Website data: cookies, caches and site storage, kept by WebKit, Apple's web engine, as in any browser.
- Site settings you choose, such as zoom, Desktop Site, JavaScript, Shields and permission answers you keep.
- Site icons for the start page, the Library and suggestions.
- Extensions you install, and the data they store.
- Your settings, such as your search engine and browser identity, a photo if you pick one for the new tab background, and counts of what Shields has blocked.
Sheer doesn't collect your name, email address, contacts, advertising identifier or device identifiers, and it doesn't ask you to create an account. Your location, camera and microphone are only ever passed to websites you allow (see Permissions below).
Where it's stored
- On your device, in Sheer's private app storage. Sheer doesn't sync through iCloud or anywhere else, and it has no servers of its own.
- In your device backups. Like other apps' data, most of this is included in your iCloud or computer backups. Tab pictures, site icons and temporary files are not.
Private tabs
- Private tabs are never added to History. Their tab pictures, recently closed private tabs and site settings you change in a private tab are kept only in memory, until Sheer quits. Sheer doesn't fetch site icons for what you type or visit in private tabs, and it covers the screen before iOS takes the picture it shows in the app switcher.
- With Keep private tabs when closing the app on (the default, in Settings › Tabs & Private Browsing), your private tabs (their addresses, titles and back and forward lists) and their website data (cookies, site storage and cache) are saved on your device so they come back after Sheer closes, and can be included in a device backup made in the meantime. They're erased when you close the last private tab. With it off, private tabs and their website data are kept only in memory.
- Files you download in a private tab are deleted when the private session ends.
- Anything you choose to save from a private tab, such as a bookmark, a Favorite or a Reading List item (without an offline copy), is kept like any other.
Permissions
Sheer asks iOS for these only when they're needed:
- Camera and microphone: when a website asks to use them, for example for a video call. You decide for each site.
- Location: when a website asks for it, for example a map. You decide for each site. Sheer itself doesn't use your location.
- Photos (add only): to save an image you choose to your photo library. Sheer can't see your library. A new tab background photo comes through the system's photo picker, which gives Sheer only the photo you pick.
You can change these in the iOS Settings app, under Apps › Sheer. Answers you keep for a site are in that site's settings in Sheer.
What Sheer sends, and to whom
Sheer connects to the internet in these ways:
| Feature | What is sent | To |
|---|---|---|
| Websites you visit | What every browser sends: your IP address, the browser identity (Settings › Advanced) and that site's cookies. Pages often load content from other companies too. Content blockers and extensions can limit what sites learn, but Sheer can't promise a site learns nothing. | Each website, under its own privacy policy |
| Searches | What you search for. | The search engine you choose: Google by default, or Bing, Brave, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Kagi, Startpage or one you add |
| Search suggestions (on by default) | What you type in the address bar, while you type, and your preferred languages. No cookies are sent and nothing is kept. This happens in private tabs too. Web addresses with a path, and local addresses, aren't sent. Turn off Search suggestions, or choose Websites Only, in Settings › Suggestions, and nothing you type leaves your device until you go. | Your search engine |
| Site icons | A request for a site's icon, from the site itself or from the address the page gives for it, without cookies. Not for what you type or visit in private tabs. | That website, or where it keeps its icon |
| Tab previews (on by default) | Open tabs that don't have a picture yet, such as tabs opened in the background, load in a hidden view after Sheer starts and when the tab switcher shows them, so the tab switcher can show what they are. It's a normal visit to that page, with that tab's cookies (a private tab uses its private cookies). Delete History removes tab pictures, so the next time Sheer starts your open tabs load again this way and their sites can set cookies again. Turn off Load previews for unopened tabs in Settings › Memory & Performance. | That website |
| Reading List and images | Saving a page for later fetches its preview picture, without the website's cookies. Saving, sharing or viewing an image downloads it from where it's hosted, with the page's site (not the full address) as the referrer and, for an image on the same site as the page, that site's cookies. | The site the picture is on |
| Extensions | Install uBlock Origin Lite downloads it from the project's releases on GitHub, or from the Chrome Web Store if that fails. A Chrome Web Store link or ID downloads that extension from Google. A link you enter, or a .crx link you tap on a page, downloads from that address, and Sheer asks before adding it. Sheer checks for a newer version of an extension only when you choose Update. | GitHub, Google, or the address you chose |
| Bug reports (only if you send one) | An email you review and send yourself, from Settings › About Sheer › Report a Bug: what you write, your email address, the app and iOS versions, your device model and its memory, your address bar and toolbar layout, the window size, whether Private Browsing is on, the names of your extensions, memory use and how many tabs are open. The current page's address and a screenshot are included only if you switch them on. Reports are used only to fix problems in Sheer. | The developer, by email |
Extensions run on the pages you allow, can make their own connections, and handle data under their developers' own privacy policies. When you add an extension, it gets the access it asks for. It also runs in private tabs unless you turn off Allow in Private Tabs for it in Settings › Extensions.
Requests Sheer makes itself (suggestions, icons, pictures, extension downloads) carry iOS's standard network identification, with the app's name and version and the iOS version, rather than the browser identity you chose.
Translate Page runs on your device with Apple's Translation framework, so the page isn't sent anywhere to be translated. iOS may download a language from Apple the first time you need it.
Apple's analytics. If you turned on Share With App Developers (iOS Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements), Apple may share crash logs and usage statistics with the developer. That's between you and Apple, and you can turn it off there.
What Sheer never does
- It never sells, rents or shares your data for advertising or marketing.
- It never tracks you across apps or websites, and contains no analytics, advertising or crash-reporting code.
- It never sends your history, bookmarks, tabs or downloads to the developer or to any server of its own. They stay on your device.
- It never adds private tabs to History.
Your choices
- Delete history, cookies and website data with ⋯ › Delete History…, then choose a time range. It also clears your open tabs' back and forward lists. To remove single pages, swipe left in Library › History.
- Forget a site with Forget This Site in its Site Settings. That removes its cookies and website data, its History, closed tabs and icon, and its settings.
- Turn off search suggestions (Settings › Suggestions), tab previews (Settings › Memory & Performance) or Keep private tabs when closing the app (Settings › Tabs & Private Browsing), and turn on Ask before downloading (Settings › Privacy & Websites).
- Remove saved items: swipe left on a bookmark, Favorite or Reading List item in the Library. Clear downloads in Library › Downloads, or Settings › Privacy & Websites › Clear Downloads…. Remove site settings in Settings › Privacy & Websites › Websites.
- Extensions: remove one, or keep it out of private tabs, in Settings › Extensions.
- Erase everything by deleting the Sheer app. iOS removes all of its data with it, apart from copies in your backups.
Security
Sheer is built on Apple's WebKit, which runs websites in separate, sandboxed processes. Sheer's data is protected by iOS's built-in encryption of your device. Addresses you type are tried over HTTPS first, and suggestions from the built-in search engines use encrypted HTTPS.
Children
Sheer is a general-purpose web browser and isn't directed at children under 13.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date. A change that affects how your data is used will also be explained in the app before it takes effect.