RenewHound
Privacy Policy
Last updated 14 July 2026
RenewHound is private by architecture. It has no accounts and no backend server. Your documents and their details live in your own browser and, only if you choose to turn on sync, in a folder inside your own Google Drive. No RenewHound server ever receives, stores, or processes your documents or their metadata — which also means we cannot see, recover, or delete your data for you.
1What data RenewHound handles
Everything you enter is stored locally in your browser (using IndexedDB). Depending on how you use the app, this can include:
- Household members — a name, an optional birth date, and a color or emoji you pick to tell people apart.
- Documents — a title you give it, the document type (passport, license, visa, ID, vehicle registration, insurance policy, warranty, certificate, or other), the issuing country, issue and expiry dates, your reminder preferences, and any free-text notes you add. If you record a document number, RenewHound keeps only the last four characters — never the full number; this limit is enforced in the app's data model.
- Attachments — any scans or photos you upload, kept as files in your browser.
- A random device identifier RenewHound generates to keep your local data organized and to reconcile changes when sync is on. It is not tied to your identity.
The document title, member names, and notes are your own words — treat them the way you'd treat anything you write down, since they're stored as text.
2No accounts, no backend
There is nothing to sign up for. RenewHound is a static web app served as plain files; it has no server of its own that could receive your documents. The app is only permitted to talk to itself and to Google's servers (for the optional features below) — nothing else.
3On-device scanning
When you scan a passport, ID card, or barcode, or import a PDF, all of the text recognition happens inside your browser. The first time you scan, the app downloads the recognition model to your device; after that, your photo and everything read from it stay on your device. The image and the extracted details are never uploaded to us.
4Google Drive sync (optional)
Google Drive sync is off by default. If you turn it on,
your data is copied directly from your browser to your own Google
Drive — it does not pass through any RenewHound server. RenewHound
creates a visible folder named RenewHound/ in your Drive that
contains an index file with your documents and members, a rotating backup
copy, and your attachment files. Because the folder is visible and yours,
you can open, review, or delete its contents at any time from Google Drive.
Narrow access. RenewHound requests a single Google
permission — drive.file — which lets an app touch only the
files it creates or that you explicitly pick. It cannot see the rest of
your Drive, and it never requests Gmail or full-Drive access.
To sign you in, RenewHound reads your Google account's email address once and stores it locally only as a hint so it can reconnect quietly next time. Your Google access token is held in memory for the session and is never written to browser storage or cookies. Google's own handling of your Drive is governed by the Google Privacy Policy.
5Calendar reminders (optional)
You can turn renewal deadlines into calendar reminders. Exporting an
.ics file happens entirely on your device with no network
request. Choosing "Add to Google Calendar" instead opens a Google Calendar
link with the reminder details (such as the document title, the owner's name,
the country, and the expiry date) filled in. That information is sent to
Google Calendar only if and when you click through and save the event.
6Backup & transfer (optional)
You can export your whole vault — documents plus attachments — into a single file to back it up or move it to another device. You can protect that file with a passphrase, which encrypts it on your device before it's saved. The app hands the file to you; it does not upload your backup anywhere. Keep the file and its passphrase somewhere safe, because we can't recover either.
7Analytics
RenewHound uses PostHog, a product-analytics service, to
understand which features are used and where the app breaks so we can
improve it. It is enabled by default. We run a deliberately minimal setup:
we do not use automatic click tracking, page-view
tracking, or session recording. The only thing recorded is a small,
hand-picked set of metadata-only product events — the type
of a document, coarse count ranges (like 1–2 or
6+ rather than exact totals), yes/no flags, how long an action
took, error outcomes, and your chosen app language.
What analytics never sees: names, document titles, document numbers (not even the last four), issue or expiry dates, the country, file names, or the contents of any document or attachment.
To count returning visits without identifying you, RenewHound stores a random anonymous id in your browser's local storage — not in a cookie. It is a meaningless string with no link to your name or your documents; clearing your browser's site data removes it. Because it lives in local storage rather than a cookie, it is not shared across sites and is not sent with ordinary web requests.
Analytics events are sent through RenewHound's own domain, which forwards them to PostHog — no third-party analytics host is contacted directly from the app. PostHog also receives the standard technical details attached to any web request it handles, such as your approximate region and browser type. See the PostHog Privacy Policy. This analytics stream carries none of your document data, which — as described above — never leaves your device or your own Google Drive.
8Feedback
The feedback option opens a pre-addressed message in your own email app, which you send yourself — so whatever you write reaches us only if you send it. If you do, we only learn which category (bug, idea, or other) you picked and your app language for analytics; the message text itself goes through your email, not our analytics.
9Storage, retention & your control
RenewHound stores your data in your browser's local storage, not in tracking
cookies. Your data stays until you remove it: you can delete an
individual document, or use "reset all data" to wipe everything RenewHound
holds in this browser. If you enabled Drive sync, you also delete the
RenewHound/ files directly from your own Google Drive. Clearing
your browser's site data removes the local copy as well.
10Children
A household may include children, and you may record a child's birth date on a member. That information is handled exactly like everything else — kept on your device (and in your own Drive if you sync) and never sent to us.
11Third parties, in short
- Google — only if you turn on Drive sync or use a Google Calendar link, and only with your own account.
- PostHog — receives the metadata-only product analytics described above; never any document data.
- Vercel — hosts the app and, as any web host does, processes the requests needed to serve it.
We do not show ads, we do not sell your data, and we do not share it with data brokers.
12Changes & contact
If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top of this page. For questions about privacy, email feedback@renewhound.app.