Privacy Policy
Introduction
Welcome to Petiole. This Privacy Policy is provided by Petiole, Inc. ("Petiole," "we," "our," or "us"), a company based in New York, United States. It explains how our desktop application and Chrome browser extension (together, the "Software") handle information when you use Petiole to capture information as markdown files and manage your professional contacts.
Information We Collect
Information You Provide
Petiole is built to keep your contact data on your own device. We do not store your markdown files, contact data, or LinkedIn profile information on our servers, and we do not sell this data. We do use a small number of third party service providers to keep the Software running and to understand basic usage patterns, described in the "Third Party Service Providers" section below.
Local Storage
Petiole stores the following information locally on your device:
Configuration Settings: Extension settings and preferences are stored locally in the browser's storage; desktop preferences are stored locally by the desktop application
File System Access: When you use the extension with folder access, the browser saves the directory path you select for storing markdown files in site settings
Hidden Configuration Files: Configuration files necessary for operation may be stored in a hidden folder within the directory you select
Markdown Files: Profile data you capture from LinkedIn is saved as markdown files in the directory you specify on your computer (via the extension, the desktop app, or both)
Your contact data and markdown files remain on your device and under your control.
Usage Analytics
We use PostHog, a product analytics service, to help us understand whether Petiole is working reliably and which features people use. This is limited to information about how the Software performs and is used. It never includes your contact data, markdown files, or LinkedIn profile content. See "Third Party Service Providers" below for full detail.
How We Use Information
Petiole is designed so your contacts stay local. In practice:
We do not collect, access, or transmit your contact data or markdown files to our servers
We do not sell your information or share it with third parties for advertising purposes
We send limited, pseudonymous usage analytics (described below) to improve reliability and prioritize features. This analytics data is not linked to your name, email, or LinkedIn account
We only access LinkedIn profile pages when you are actively visiting them and choose to capture information
Data Capture Process
Petiole captures information from LinkedIn profiles only when:
You are actively visiting a LinkedIn profile page
You choose to use the capture feature
The extension reads the HTML of the page you are viewing to extract profile information. This is not automated scraping; it only occurs when you manually trigger the capture function. Extracted profile content is saved locally and is not sent to PostHog or Cloudflare.
File System Access
When you use folder access (extension File System Access API, or a directory you select in the desktop app), Petiole may:
Save markdown files to a directory you select
Read files from that directory for the contact manager feature
Store configuration files in a hidden folder within your selected directory
If file system access is not granted in the extension, you can still download files using the standard browser download ("save as") functionality.
Chrome Web Store Limited Use
Petiole’s use of user data complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. User data is used only to provide and improve Petiole’s disclosed purpose, which is capturing LinkedIn profiles to local markdown files and managing those contacts, and to measure the reliability and performance of that functionality. We do not sell user data or use it to serve personalized or interest-based advertising.
Third Party Service Providers
Petiole relies on a small number of third party providers to operate. Your contact data and markdown files are never sent to these providers.
Website: Framer
Our website, petiole.app, is hosted on Framer. Framer includes a built in analytics tool that counts visitors, pageviews, and top pages for the website. To do this, Framer takes each visitor's IP address and browser user agent and hashes them together with a secret that rotates and is deleted every day, so no raw IP address or persistent identifier is stored, and no cookies are used for this purpose. For more detail on how this works, see Framer's GDPR and cookies FAQ.
Analytics: PostHog
We use PostHog, Inc., a product analytics service hosted in the United States, to understand whether Petiole is working reliably and which features people use. Events may include install and update signals, approximate daily activity, button and surface interactions related to saving contacts, and sanitized error diagnostics. Events are associated with a random identifier stored on your device, not with your name, email, or LinkedIn account.
PostHog may also enrich events with approximate location information derived from the network connection (such as country, region, or state) before discarding the raw IP address. We do not use analytics to collect your browsing history, LinkedIn profile content, contact/markdown files, or raw IP addresses. We do not use PostHog data for advertising, and we do not sell it. We share analytics events with PostHog only so it can provide this service to us under a Data Processing Agreement. For more information, see PostHog's privacy policy.
Hosting: Cloudflare
We use Cloudflare R2 object storage to host installer and update files for the Software, served through our own subdomain, releases.petiole.app. Because this subdomain is proxied through Cloudflare's network, Cloudflare may process basic connection information, such as IP address and user agent, in order to route and deliver these files. Cloudflare does not receive your contact data or markdown files, since that data is stored only on your device.
We may add or change service providers from time to time. If we do, we will update this section and the effective date above.
Data Retention
Contact data and markdown files are stored only on your device for as long as you keep them. You can delete them at any time.
Usage analytics events are retained for up to seven years under our PostHog Cloud Pay-as-you-go plan's data retention limits. The Data Processing Agreement with PostHog governs how PostHog processes this data on our behalf. If you have questions about retention, contact us at privacy@petiole.app.
Data Security
Your contact data and markdown files remain on your device. Analytics events are transmitted to PostHog over HTTPS. We recommend:
Using strong passwords for your computer and browser profile
Being mindful of where you store your markdown files
Regularly backing up your data
Children's Privacy
Petiole is intended for professional use and is not designed for or directed at individuals under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 18.
Changes to this Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify users of any material changes by updating the effective date and, if appropriate, through the Chrome Web Store listing or extension notifications.
Your Rights
Depending on where your data lives:
You have complete control over contact data and markdown files stored on your device
You can delete extension data by uninstalling the extension and removing files from your selected directory; you can uninstall the desktop app and remove local files the same way
You can modify or delete your markdown files at any time
An in-app opt-out for usage analytics is on our roadmap. Until that setting ships, Petiole does not offer a per-installation analytics opt-out in the Software (we do not require an account or collect your email, so we cannot reliably match a support request to a specific analytics identifier). You can stop further analytics from an installation by uninstalling the Software. You may also email privacy@petiole.app with privacy questions
Contact Us
If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
Petiole, Inc.
127 West 83rd Street #31
New York, NY 10024
United States
Email: privacy@petiole.app
Website: petiole.app
Consent
By using Petiole, you consent to this Privacy Policy.
Last Updated: August 24, 2026